Skillet Salt Cod Casserole (Bacalhau à Brás)

March 10, 2016March 10, 20162 Comments

It is said that there are over 700 different ways to prepare Portuguese style cod fish. Bacalhau à Brás is one of the more popular and certainly one of the most famous ways to enjoy this versatile ingredient.

One might wonder why salt cod is so important and prevalent to the Portuguese cuisine. But, one must only think about the historical aspect of the Portuguese culture to understand it. The Portuguese have long been famous sea-faring people. From the great Prince Henry the Navigator to Ferdinand Magellan, the Portuguese ruled the seas and for a short time in history were the most powerful nation in the world because of it. So what sustained all those great sailors? Why… salt cod of course. While I’m sure the Portuguese had other foods among their mighty ships, salt cod was an easy sustainable and very easily stored source of protein for the men who braved the oceans for centuries. It could be kept in a ship hold for months or even years if need be and if they ran out all they need do is make more right out on the ocean.

This particular dish is not something I would call a “weeknight” meal. There are several stages to preparing the recipe not least of which includes soaking the cod overnight and changing out the water several times to tame down it’s saltiness. Then there is the preparing of the potatoes which in my recipe are first par boiled and then fried. Then making the sautéed onions, garlic and pepper and preparing the eggs. Do this on a Friday night for lent or on a Sunday for lunch and you are sure to be pleased!

These are bits of salt cod soaking in water. I soaked them over night and changed the water 3 times before I used it in this dish.

This is one bit of cod. Place on a plate to work with it. Or you can place a bunch in a bowl, but be sure it has been drained.

The goal is to break apart the fish into small chunks, but not to shred it.

This should be your end result. This is now ready to add to your recipe.

Crack eggs into a large-ish bowl.

Beat well with a fork.

Fresh flat leaf parsley is very needed in this recipe for it’s freshness and taste. If you have curly leaf, that’s ok… but best is Italian Flat Leaf.

Roughly chop parsley.

Very thinly slice your onions.

Thinly slice and then dice your garlic.

Add cold/room temperature water to new potatoes and parboil for 10 minutes.

Once potatoes have been boiling for 10 minutes, drain water and allow to cool before working with them.

Cut in half to further allow for cooling.

The peels should easily come right off without taking any actual potato with them, in other words, you should be able to just remove the skin without any flesh.

Cut potatoes into a thin match stick type french fry.

Heat oil to the point of forming bubbles on the end of a wooden spoon when inserted. Or you can test oil by placing one piece of potato in and if it bubbles right up, the oil is ready. Once this happens keep heat to med/high.

Once fries come to this color, remove and place on some paper to drain. Lightly salt with kosher salt right away. (Do not over do it with the salt, remember the cod will be salty on its own.)

Sautée onions in olive oil over medium heat.

Once onions start to take on some color, add in garlic.

Add in some Pimenta Moida. (if you don’t have this handy, add in 1 tsp. dried pepper flakes.

Continue sautéing.

Add in prepared chunked cod. Stir to marry the flavors.

Add in reserved french fries.

Add egg and stir quickly so this doesn’t turn into an omelet.

Add in some parsley.

Once egg has almost set, add olives and finish with more parsley and a drizzle of olive oil.

Bacalhau à Brás

Serves 6

Ingredients:

1 – 1 1/2 lbs. salt cod tid bits, soaked, drained and chuncked

7-8 medium new potatoes, par boiled, peeled and cut into matchstick fries

8 lg. eggs, well beaten

4 onions, thinly sliced in rings

4 garlic cloves, sliced and chopped

4 Tbs. pimenta moida (alternatively 1 tsp. crushed red pepper flakes)

1/2 cup chopped Italian flat leaf parsley, plus more for garnish

1/2 cup olive oil, plus more to finish dish

1 cup vegetable oil for frying potatoes only

1 cup olives (optional)

Directions:

Fry dry cut potatoes in either a skillet with 1 cup of veggie oil or in a deep fryer until golden. Drain on pepper towels and lightly salt.

Sautée onions in a skillet with olive oil over med. heat. When onions start to take on color, add in garlic, sautée another minute. Add in Pimenta Moida, sautée another minute. Add in chunked cod, continue to sautée a few minutes. Add french fries and stir to incorporate. Add in egg and stir to coat all ingredients in the skillet. Immediately add parsley and stir. Cook until egg is almost set. Garnish with additional parsley, olives and drizzle with fresh olive oil. Serve hot.

***Gluten-free

Portuguese Corn Flour Flatbread (Bolo de Sertão)

June 17, 2015June 18, 2015

I made this quick bread last night to go with my fried fish dinner and I must say, it was super easy. It’s got a very plain simple flavor, which to me, is perfect to go with my salty vinegary topped fish! And with three ingredients I already have on hand, it was perfect for my busy week night. It was also pretty special to me because it brought me back to my Vavó’s kitchen.

When I asked my mother for the recipe that my Vavó would make anytime she would make fish, she explained that growing up in Portugal, this was the bread people would make when they ran out of baked corn bread. She explained that corn bread was the standard and that wheat bread was saved on special occasions for those who could afford it. She told me that she remembers her mother always making Bolo de Sertão on her clay flat pan. She said she would put a little flour in the pan and cook it really slowly. Then she would wrap it in a kitchen towel to keep it warm. If for nothing else hearing these stories of my mother’s youth and my Vavó were worth learning this lovely little bread recipe.

Start with two cups of corn flour. I used white corn flour.

Add in kosher salt.

Sift the two together using a wisk.

Now, make a well in the flour and pour in boiling hot water.

I mix with a wooden spoon just to cool the water a bit and then when it is ready to handle, start kneading by hand.

You want it to come together. This doesn’t take long.

It should resemble a play-doh when ready. If it’s crumbly add a tsp of boiling water at a time until incorporated and your dough looks like this. If your dough is too loose… do the same with flour.

Flour your pan… you want to use a heavy bottom skillet, clay pan, or cast iron are great… but I used my big, non-stick and it did great.

Form your dough into a disk… I did mine by hand, but you could use a rolling pin if you prefer. Either way, it should be about 1/2″ thick.

Cook on medium/low heat for about 20 minutes.

Flip and cook an additional 20 minutes.

Remove from pan and serve warm… wrap in a kitchen towel until dinner if your fish isn’t ready quite yet.

Recipe for Corn Flour Flatbread (Bolo de Sertão):

(Serves 4-8)

2 cups corn flour

1 1/2 tsp. kosher salt

1 1/2 cups boiling water

Directions:

Sift flour and salt together. Form a well in the center of the flour. Add in boiling water. Let sit for a minute. Mix together and when cool enough to touch, knead with hands until it comes together like clay. (If too dry add in one teaspoon of boiling water at a time, if too loose, add in one teaspoon of flour at a time)

Form into a disk and flour heavy bottom skillet. Cook over medium low heat for about 20 minutes until some color is achieved on each side. Cut into 8 pieces and serve with your favorite fired fish.

Enjoy!

*note: this is a gluten-free bread recipe.

Pan Fried Sea Bass Portuguese Style (Garoupa Frita com Molho)

May 6, 2015May 19, 2015

Summers in a Portuguese household can be just about guaranteed to involve fried fish. My mother and Vavó didn’t like the house smelling like fish, so we had this plug in electric skillet that they would take out into the back yard and do all the fish frying. Then they would dip the fish into a corn flour and the fish would sizzle away into deliciousness. And always there would be a rich salty mohlo (sauce) to put over it. It’s one of those culinary memories that just becomes engrained into who you are. (Come to think of it, I think I need to get one of those electric skillets so my kids can have the same type of memory!)

It wasn’t often that they would fry up Striped Sea Bass, the fish they would fry up usually included something with a head still attached. But, Striped Sea Bass is my favorite fish and living in New England, we are lucky enough to have a vast variety of locally caught fish at our disposal. If you aren’t quite as lucky, what you want to look for is a medium bodied fish (not as delicate as a Tilapia, but not as heavy as a Tuna or Swordfish… you want a Sea Bass or a fresh Codfish) that is descaled, but still has skin.

A couple of notes before we begin. In this recipe, I have added a bit more crunch by using corn meal instead of flour, but if flour is what you have, use it, it will be delicious. Also, I am using a homemade crushed red pepper that we make ourselves. Our red pepper is not so much for spice, as in the grinding process we remove most of the seeds, but more for taste. If you the crushed red pepper you have available to you has seeds, taste it to be sure of it’s heat level before you add quite as much I do here (unless you enjoy a bit of spice). If you absolutely do not have Portuguese or even Spanish crushed red pepper at your disposal, you will want to get a red Pablano peppers (if you can find them, if not green will do). Then grind or chop the pepper, place in a bowl preserving as much of the juice from the process as you can, salt it and let it sit

Let’s start with the Mohlo (sauce) as this can be made several days in advance if need be.

Dice up a medium onion.

Chop up a couple cloves of garlic.

This is the homemade ground red pepper.

Saute the onions for 3-4 minutes over medium/high heat in olive oil (this does not have to be extra virgin olive oil, any press will work fine). Then add in the garlic and saute another minute. Add in pepper.

Turn burner to medium/low heat and continue to saute another 3-4 minutes.

Add in flat leaf parsley.

Continue to saute another 1-2 minutes until it all comes together.

Now onto the fish:

This is Striped Sea Bass. It’s big enough for about 3 portions.

Cut from skin side down.

Although, as I stated, there is enough for three portions. My husband and I are eating with our two toddlers, so they each get a half portion.

Season the flesh side of the fish with kosher salt and fresh cracked black pepper.

This is yellow corn meal. As you can see, it is grainy in consistency.

Add into a bowl.

Season the corn meal with kosher salt and fresh cracked black pepper.

Be sure to nicely coat each side of the fish.

In a skillet heated to med/high heat and about a half a cup of veggie oil, place fish skin side down. Be sure pan is good and hot before you place fish in. Then don’t touch it! Wherever you place it, it stays! You don’t want to break the skin by fussing with it.

This will take some patience. Do not fuss with the fish. You are going to want to be sure each side has contact with the pan for at least 3-4 minutes until golden.

Once your fish looks like this, drain on a clean paper towel or brown paper bag.

Plate and pour warm molho over the top. Serve with white rice or boiled white potatoes. Enjoy!

Recipe for Pan Fried Sea Bass (Garoupa Frita com Molho):

(serves 2-3)

For fish:

3/4 lb. Stiped Sea Bass

1 cup yellow corn meal

1 pinch kosher salt

1 pinch fresh cracked black pepper

1/2 cup vegetable oil

For Molho (sauce):

1 medium onion, diced

2-3 cloves of garlic, chopped

1/4 cup ground red pepper

1/4 cup chopped Italian flat leaf parsley

1/2 cup olive oil

Directions:

For Molho: Heat Olive oil in a skillet over medium/high heat. Saute onions 3-4 minutes. Add in garlic, saute 1-2 minutes. Add in pepper. Turn down heat to medium/low. Continue to saute for 3-4 minutes. Add in parsley. Saute 3-4 minutes until all comes together. Set aside. (Can be refrigerated up to a week)

For Fish:

Portion out fish into 2-3 portions (or 4 if eating with toddlers). Season with salt and pepper on flesh side of fish. Season corn meal with salt and pepper. Coat fish in corn meal. Heat skillet with vegetable oil over medium/high heat. Start by placing fish, skin side down. Do not touch for 3-4 minutes. Repeat on all sides until golden. Drain on paper.

Serve by pouring 2-3 Tbls. of Molho over fish. Enjoy!