Salada de Bacalhau

Salada de Bacalhau com Batatas

We sure love our cod fish don't we? I was handed a binder of  over 100 bacahlau recipes from my mother to look through. Overwhelming, but I will be sure to try many of them out and share with you! So for starters if you have never tried to make bacahlau on your own, this recipe to me is the easiest. 

Ingredients:

1 lb salted dried codfish 

4 large potatoes

Evoo

White or Red Vinegar

Half Red or Yellow Onion Chopped

1/4 cup of chopped fresh parsley

4 whole cloves of garlic peeled

1/2 cup of chick peas

1/2 cup of black eyed peas

1/3 cup of green or black olives 

3-4 eggs

s+p to taste

Start off by soaking your piece of salted cod in water in a cool place or in the fridge. Soak 24-48 hours. Changing the water up to 8 times. This process will rid of the excess salt that is used to preserve the fish.

After fish has been soaked, you start by boiling potatoes until cooked through. About 20 minutes. Test with sharp knife. If knife goes through potato easily, they are ready. 

Place them gently onto your serving platter and cut each half in half again. Drizzle evoo and season with s+p.

While water is still boiling place your fish and garlic into the pot and boil for 15 minutes. 5 minutes in I place the eggs inside the water to cook them as well. (side note: you can also cook the potatoes with the cod and add the cod half way through the cooking process, but i take the safe route and wait it out.) 

While fish and eggs are cooking. Combine your chick peas, black eyed peas, onion, parsley, evoo, vinegar, olives, s+p and mix well. 

After 15 minutes, remove cod and place in separate dish to cool. Once cool enough to handle, remove skin and bones. I smash the garlic cloves and spread on the fish for flavor ;-) 

Break apart cod into small or large pieces over the potatoes. Drizzle evoo. 

Pour delicious mixed beans, olives, onions, etc all over the potatoes and fish. Slice eggs and layer on top how ever you want. 

This Recipe feeds 4 people. 

Easy right?

Enjoy! 

Pasteis de Bacalhau

In my family we eat a variety of fish throughout the week, but the one fish that is sure to be made more than once a week is bacalhau. So bare with me with all these bacalhou recipes :P Here is a special treat that is usually made for big parties and special events. It's cod fish fritters. Crunchy on the outside and warm and smooth inside filled with potato and fish. Check it out! 

Pasteis de Bacalhau

Ingredients:

1 lb salted cod fillets
1 lb of potatoes
1 onion, finely chopped
2 garlic cloves, finely chopped
1 tbsp parsley, chopped
3 eggs, lightly beaten
s+p

Start by soaking the cod for 24 hours. I usually change the water a couple times to help rid the salt.

The next day, clean the fish by removing the skin and bones and boil in hot water for 15 minutes. Drain well and put the fish on a clean dish towel. Dry and rub it hard with the dish towel to shred it very thin. You can shred with fork if you'd like. 

Boil the potatoes in their skins, so they do not absorb water. Peel them and mash or sieve.
Put the chopped onion, garlic and parsley in a bowl. Add the shredded cod and mashed potatoes. Season with salt and pepper. Add the lightly beaten eggs and mix well.

Shape the pasteis using 2 spoons to the shape of a large egg. Like so. 

Carefully place in the hot oil (370°F), turning them to get nicely browned all over. When cooked, lift them with slotted spoon and place them on paper towels. 

Hope you enjoy!

Bacalhau Ao Forno Com Batatas

Bacalhau Ao Forno Com Batatas

Ingredients: 

1lb of Bacalhau/dried cod

1/2 cup of good olive oil

1/4 cup of fresh chopped parsley

2 plum tomatoes

1 whole onion

1 large baking dish

4 cloves of minced garlic

4 medium potatoes sliced thin

3 tablespoons of water

1 teaspoon of smoked paprika 

s + p

Start off by boiling the bacalhau for 30 minutes. Remove from water and drain. When cooled remove all bones. Bones are fairly large and easy to remove. 

Next layer the bottom of the baking dish with half of your sliced onions. Followed by a layer of all the potatoes. Remember to salt and pepper each layer. Then layer your tomatoes.

Top the tomatoes with the boneless bacalhau and minced garlic. You can break apart the bacalhau into small pieces or keep in large chunks. Over the bacalhau layer the rest of your onions. Pour 3 tablespoons of water.  Sprinkle paprika all over. Finally chopped parsley and olive oil to coat. 

Bake at 375 degrees 

for 25 minutes covered and the last 5 minutes uncovered. 

Sardinhas

Why wait till the feast to eat some sardines. Bring the feast to you! Just don't forget to apologize to the neighbors. As soon as these babies start to sizzle on the charcoal grill, you hear windows slam shut. Sorry! Sardines can not be cooked on anything else but a charcoal grill. We buy them at our local Portuguese grocery store in a frozen bag for $5 each. Nine come in a bag. Two bags is plenty for 4 people. Serve with pop secos and a cold drink and you are good to go. While it's on the grill throw some course sea salt on them. If charcoal starts to flame put it out with a little water. We keep a water bottle handy to squirt when we see a flame. You don't want the fire, you want the smokey flavor. They are a little tricky to eat because of the bones, but so worth it. My American husband loves them, so they are not just for Mediterraneans.

We cooked ours in a this fire pit for lunch today :) 

Hope you get to enjoy some sardinhas this summer. 

Peixe Caldeirada

TGIF Amigos!
In the Azorean culture we eat lots of seafood. Think of all the fresh fish that was accessible to them living on the islands. Mediterranean diets are full of heart healthy fats. Growing up we ate all kinds of fish, cooked all kinds of ways. When I ask my mother what she put in a certain dish it's typically always the same ingredients: cebola, alho, azeite e vinho. The only question I need to ask next time is "how" did you cook it?
The dish I'm sharing with you tonight is called Peixe Caldeirada. Same ingredients as piexe assada no forno, but with different cooking methods the flavors come out so different. It's kinda dangerous how good it is. You can eat up 3 pop secos soaking up the juice and not even know it. Here's my families Peixe Caldeirada recipe. Your family might cut the potatoes different, but this is how we do ours :)


Peixe Caldeirada 

2 medium onions sliced thin 
8 garlic cloves chopped or grated 
8 medium potatoes sliced thin 
1 bunch salsa chopped (that's parsley not what you dip chips in) 
1 bay leaf 
1/4 cup white wine (will make potatoes hard if you add in the beginning. wait till half way in cooking process) 1/2 cup good olive oil
Fish - We like to use tile, mackerel or red snapper. Use Whole fish or very thick steaks
8 tomatoes sliced thick half teaspoon paprika salt and pepper to taste

1. Peel potatoes and slice thin, layering them on bottom of large dutch oven or pot. 
2. Slice tomatoes thick and layer over potatoes. 
3. Slice onions thin and layer over the tomatoes into rings. Important to have onions and tomatoes on top of potatoes so the juices can run down and cook potatoes thoroughly.
4. Go ahead and add a quarter of your grated garlic over the onions.
5. Season cavity of fish with s+p, fresh grated garlic and parsley. 
6. Place the fish on top of your potato, tomato and onion layer.
7. Continue making another layer on top of fish with potato, tomato,and onion the same way.
8. Sprinkle parsley over.
9. Add bay leaf inside so you can't see it.
10. sprinkle paprika over . 
11. Drizzle good olive oil all over 
12. Cover and cook on low for 45 minutes to an hour. You want to cook this low and slow so all the flavors are absorbed well into the fish.
13. Half way through taste to see if it needs more salt. Add your white wine now as well. 
14. Sprinkle rest of parsley before serving.  
Please serve with Portuguese rolls to soak up all that juice.

first layer of potatoes 

next layer onions

then layer tomatoes

Next Fish and parsley 

Add your top layer of potatoes, tomatoes and onions and drizzle olive oil

Cover and simmer low for 45 minutes to an hour

Hope you enjoy it!  Please share if you do, we would love to see your stories and pictures!