BACALAO FOR SPRINGTIME

 

Hello, springtime! Welcome to spring flowers and rain showers, to orange blossoms and artichokes. Oh, hello Holy Week too. Let’s bring them all together in a bowl—salt cod for a Lenten meal and spring’s fresh vegetables, artichokes, fava beans, and green onions. 

This recipe combines salt cod and spring vegetables with fideos, a kind of pasta. The dish comes from Albacete and Murcia (eastern Spain) where it is a traditional dish for Semana Santa, Holy Week, which begins tomorrow with Palm Sunday. 

Fideos are the same as vermicelli noodles, only in Murcia they are known as aletría. This word comes from the Arabic, itriyya, meaning threads of dried pasta. In case you were wondering where pasta came from, yep, the Arabs (Moors) introduced pasta made with hard durum wheat to Spain (and southern Italy) back in medieval times.

Pasta with Salt Cod

Aletría (Fideos) con Bacalao

Fideo noodles cook right in the pan with vegetables and cod. Saffron adds a sunny yellow.

Fresh artichokes, fava beans, green onions, potatoes and cauliflower go into this pasta dish.

Start this recipe two or three days before you intend to serve it as the salt cod needs to be soaked for 36 to 48 hours. Soaking in several changes of water rehydrates the flesh and removes the salt.

Most cuts of dry salt cod will have skin and bones. Soaking followed by a plunge in boiling water make it easy to pull the softened flesh away from the bones. If you start out with 12 ounces of dry cod, you’ll have 7 to 8 ounces of fish pieces after removing skin and bones. 

The artichokes can be cooked in the pan along with the potatoes or, if preferred, cooked separately and added to the dish at the end. (Frozen artichoke hearts can be substituted for the fresh ones.)

Peeled fava beans.

Fava beans: to skin or not to skin? Home cooks (and me) use the shelled favas as they are, with the outer skins. But they are a lovely spring green if you first blanch them in boiling water, then pinch the inner fava from its skin. And they don’t need additional cooking, can be scattered on top of the fideos. (When I prepared the dish that appears in the photos, I added half the favas, unskinned, to the pan with the cauliflower. The remainder I peeled the skins and added the green favas to the pasta at the end of cooking.)

 

Green onions don't have a bulb.

Use green onions—also called scallions—if they are available (cebolletas in Spanish). Chop some of the green part as well as the white. They need only a minute to sauté. If you’re lucky enough to find green garlic shoots, substitute them for the garlic cloves. 

Green garlic shoots.

Use No.4 fideos, the fattest ones, or else the Catalan-style pasta called fideua, which are short, thin noodles with pinholes. If fideos are not available, use spaghetti broken into 2-inch lengths.

Cod (left) has been soaked and bones removed.

Serves 4.

12-16 ounces dry salt cod

6 cups water

4 tablespoons olive oil

1 tablespoon pine nuts

1 cup chopped green onion

2 cloves chopped garlic

Pinch of saffron threads

¼ teaspoon cumin

½ teaspoon pimentón (paprika, not smoked)

½ cup peeled and chopped tomato

2 medium artichokes 

2 medium potatoes (8 ounces)

½ teaspoon salt

1 cup cauliflower florets

1 cup shelled fava beans

1 cup fideo noodles (4.5 ounces)

Chopped parsley, to serve

Cut the piece of cod crosswise into 3 or 4 sections (include fins too). Rinse them in cold water to remove excess salt. Place them in a nonreactive container and cover with cold water. Cover and refrigerate 10 to 12 hours. Drain the cod, rinse it, and cover with fresh water. Refrigerate. Change the water every 10 to 12 hours until de-salted, usually 36 to 48 hours. (Thin pieces or cut-up cod may need less soaking.) 

Bring 6 cups of water to a full boil. Place the pieces of cod in the water and immediately remove the pan from the heat. Let the cod soak 5 minutes. Lift it out with a slotted spoon. Save the water for cooking the pasta.

When the cod is cool enough to handle, use fingers to pull off skin and all the bones. (Skin and fins can be added to the reserved water and cooked 5 minutes.) The cod will naturally break up into bite-size pieces. Reserve them.

Heat the oil in a large pan or deep skillet. Fry the pine nuts until golden and skim them out. Add the onion and garlic to the pan on medium heat and sauté until the onion is softened, 2 minutes. Add the saffron, cumin and pimentón. Immediately add the chopped tomato. Keep frying the mixture until the tomatoes are reduced, 5 minutes.

Prepare the artichokes by removing outer leaves. Cut them in half and add the halves to the pan. Peel the potatoes and cut them into irregular 1-inch pieces. Add the potatoes to the pan. 

Strain the cod water (discard any solids) and add it to the pan. Season with salt. Bring to a boil and simmer 10 minutes. Add the fava beans and cauliflower and cook 5 minutes. (Potatoes should be tender.) Raise the heat so the water comes to a boil and add the fideo noodles. Lower heat to medium and cook the pasta 10 to 12 minutes until it is al dente (or according to package directions). The pasta should be a little soupy, not dry. 

Add the pieces of cod to the pan and mix with the noodles. (If using pre-cooked artichokes, tuck them in now as well.) Heat thoroughly. Remove the pan from the heat and allow it to set 5 minutes. Scatter the pine nuts on top and sprinkle with chopped parsley to serve. 

For another version of this dish, make the cod dumplings in this recipe for Chickpeas and Spinach with Salt Cod Dumplings. After frying the dumplings, add them to the fideos to finish cooking.

More recipes for springtime and Holy Week:

Broth with Fish and Clams.

Cod Fritters with Molasses.

Springtime Vegetable Stew with Dumplings.

Sweet Toasts (Torrijas).

Creamy Rice Pudding.

Rice with Peas and Cuttlefish.

Bread Rolls with Egg (Hornazos).

CAMPAIGNING FOR ARTICHOKES

 

Municipal elections across Spain are only a week away, but the only campaign slogan I’m signing on with is “Ni un solo día sin alcachofa”. Not a single day without artichokes. I endorse this platform, the promotional campaign of Alcachofa de España. I could eat artichokes every day. 

Although the season for fresh-cut artichokes, which begins before Christmas, is coming to an end, it’s a vegetable readily available in jars and frozen all year round.

The English name, artichoke, comes from the Spanish, alcachofa, which, in turn, derives from the Arabic, al-kharshûf, meaning a thistle. The artichoke plant, a mutation of another thistle, the cardoon (cardo), probably originated in Egypt/North Africa. 

Spain is the second largest producer of artichokes in Europe. Murcia (eastern Mediterranean coast) is the largest growing region for this delectable vegetable.

Discard outer leaves and top half of the artichoke.

Prepping artichokes can be complicated—remove outer leaves, pare the stem, cut the leaves off down to the heart, extract the fuzzy choke. Or, simple—just cook them in boiling water until a leaf pulls off easily and let each person dismantle his/her own. Either way, an artichoke produces a lot of debris, good for the compost bin. 

Don’t worry too much about artichokes’ tendency to oxidize and darken. Definitely don’t soak them in acidulated water, as that takes away their very special flavor. Prep them as close as possible to when you’re ready to cook them. If possible, drop them into the cooking water or oil as they are trimmed. If cutting up the artichokes stains your fingers, rub them with a cut lemon, not the artichokes. 

Here’s a recipe for artichokes as they are prepared in Córdoba. They are first sautéed, then braised in the wine of the region, fino from the Montilla-Moriles wine region of Córdoba. Montilla is a fortified wine much like Sherry, another Andalusian wine that is made in Jerez, for which it can be used interchangeably. The artichokes are even better cooked in amontillado, which is more full-bodied and mellow than fino.  Although artichokes are famously difficult to pair with wine, they go just fine with fino. 

This is a vegetarian version of this dish. However, if you order it in a Córdoba tavern, it will probably include slivers of serrano or ibérico ham (from the Córdoba region of los Pedroches) as a garnish with the finished artichokes. In this case, they may be braised in a ham or chicken stock instead of plain water. 

Artichokes braise in a sauce with garlic, saffron and  fino wine from Montilla-Moriles (Córdoba). 

Artichokes, Córdoba Style

Alcachofas a la Cordobesa

Serves 6 as a starter.

8-10 medium artichokes (2 ½ pounds)

Water

Parsley

1 slice lemon

¼ teaspoon saffron threads

3 tablespoons hot water

1/3 cup olive oil

¼ cup chopped onion

4 cloves chopped garlic

1 teaspoon flour

½ cup fino Montilla or Sherry wine

1 cup water

1 teaspoon salt 

Freshly ground black pepper

Sprigs of fresh mint

Scoop out fuzzy choke.

Trim the artichokes. Pare the stem. Remove two or three layers of outer leaves. Cut the artichoke crosswise about a third from the bottom. Discard upper leaves. Use a melon baller to scoop out the fuzzy choke in the center. Drop the artichoke bottom as prepared into a bowl filled with water to which a a few stems of parsley and lemon slice have been added.

Crush the saffron in a mortar. Dissolve in the hot water. Reserve.

Sauté artichokes with garlic, onions.

Heat the oil in a cazuela or wide pan. Sauté the onion and garlic on medium heat until softened, 4 minutes. Drain the artichokes. Cut each one in half (or quarters, if they are very large). Add the artichokes to the pan and turn them in the oil for 1 minute. Sprinkle with the flour. Stir in the wine and allow the alcohol to cook off, 1 minute. Add the saffron water, 1 cup of water, salt, pepper and one sprig of mint. Cover and cook until artichokes are very tender, 20-25 minutes. Add additional water, if needed, so there is always some sauce in the pan. Discard the cooked mint.

Serve the artichokes hot, room temperature or cold with the sauce in which they cooked. Garnish with sprigs of fresh mint.

The white fluff is an artichoke flower bearing seeds.

Optional version of Córdoba-style artichokes is finished with serrano or ibérico ham. 

More recipes with artichokes:

Meat-Stuffed Artichokes.

Crispy Fried Artichokes.

Artichokes Confit.

Artichoke and Orange Salad.

Mushroom and Artichoke Mélange (Menestra).

Artichokes with Shrimp and Clams.

Vegetable Stew with Artichokes and Dumplings (Pipeo).

Artichokes with Romesco.

Rice with Fish and Artichokes.

THE JOY OF SPRINGTIME VEGETABLES

Springtime vegetable cornucopia.

At the market, a heap of peas in their pods drew me in. Now that I have no vegetable garden (lamentably, due to rooting wild boars), I miss the pleasure of picking and shelling peas, a few to eat raw, a double handful to sauté in olive oil. The market peas, of course, were not as fresh and sweet as those just picked, but, still, they had a springtime allure. 

I added more spring vegetables to my basket—fat artichokes, fava beans, leafy lettuce and spring onions. All of the fixings for pipeo, a vegetable stew from the inland village of Casarabonela (Málaga, southern Spain). That pueblo, on rich agricultural land in the foothills of the Sierra de las Nieves, has an annual Pipeo festival (this year, on April 22). 

Pipeo is a plato viudo, a “widowed” dish, bereft of meat or fatty sausages. It once was a thrifty way to feed a family, using seasonal vegetables from the kitchen garden, given substance with bread dumplings. Being vegetarian, it is well-suited for Lenten meals, when observant Catholics refrain from eating meat. 

Pipeo is a lovely springy dish. Serve it as a starter, vegetarian main or even a side.  

This vegetable stew has artichokes, peas, fava beans, romaine and potatoes plus bread dumplings. 

Dumplings made of bread crumbs add substance to an all-vegetable stew.

Springtime Vegetable Stew with Dumplings

Pipeo

The name of this dish, pipeo, comes from "pipas," meaning "pips" or "seeds", as the peas, fava beans and almonds are all "pipas." 

The dumplings, called tortitas or pelotas, are first fried until browned, then cooked in the stew. I might add some grated nutmeg, freshly ground black pepper, even some powdered ginger, the next time I make the dumplings. 

Add the artichokes to the pan first, as they take longest to cook. Follow with the fava beans, lettuce and potatoes. Add the peas last. Tiny green peas, called lagrimas, or "tear drops," hardly need cooking at all. Use them to garnish the finished pipeo. The sauce for the vegetables is thickened with a typical majao, a paste of crushed garlic, almonds and fried bread. Make the majao in a mortar or speed up the process by using a blender. 

Pipeo is a dish with pips.

Serves 4.

3 tablespoons olive oil

1/3 cup almonds

2 cloves garlic, peeled

1 slice bread, crusts removed

½ cup chopped spring onions or scallions

1 tablespoon pimentón (paprika)

3 medium artichokes (18 ounces) or 4 smaller ones

5 cups water

1 teaspoon salt

1 bay leaf

1 large potato (10 ounces)

½ romaine lettuce

1 cup (4 ounces) shelled fava beans 

1 ¾ cups (8 ounces) shelled peas

½ teaspoon cumin

For the dumplings:

2 eggs, lightly beaten

1 clove garlic, minced

2 tablespoons finely chopped parsley

1 teaspoon salt

1 cup fine dry breadcrumbs

Olive oil for frying

Fry garlic, almonds, bread.

In a cazuela, deep skillet or stew pot, heat the 3 tablespoons of oil on medium heat. Fry the almonds and 2 cloves of garlic, turning, until they are golden. Skim them out and reserve. Add the bread to the oil and fry it until golden on both sides. Remove.

Add the chopped onions to the oil remaining in the pan. Sauté gently 4 minutes. Remove the pan from the heat and stir in the pimentón.

Trim artichokes.

Trim the artichokes by removing several layers of outer leaves. Cut off and discard the top two-thirds of the artichokes, leaving the bottoms. Cut the bottoms in quarters. With the tip of the knife, cut away the fuzzy choke in the center. Drop the artichoke pieces, as they are prepared, into the oil in the pan. 

Cover the artichokes with 4 cups of the water. Add the salt and bay leaf. Bring the water to a boil, reduce heat and cover the pan. Cook the artichokes 5 minutes.

Make the majao.

Meanwhile, peel the potato and snap it into small pieces. Slice the lettuce crosswise. Add the potatoes, lettuce and shelled fava beans to the pan with the artichokes. Keep the liquid bubbling gently. Cover and cook 10 minutes.

In a mortar or blender, crush the fried almonds, garlic and bread with the cumin. Add the remaining 1 cup of water to make a smooth mixture. Add the almond mixture to the pan with the shelled peas. Cover and cook 5 minutes or until all of the vegetables are tender.

While the vegetables are cooking, prepare the dumplings. Place the beaten eggs in a bowl. Add the minced garlic, parsley, salt and breadcrumbs. Combine all the ingredients to make a soft dough (add a little water, if needed). Roll or pat the dough into (8 to 10) walnut-size balls. 

Fry dumplings, then cook in the sauce.

Heat oil in a skillet to a depth of ½ inch. Fry the dumpling balls until they are golden brown on all sides. Remove them to drain on a paper towel. 

When the vegetables in the stew are tender. Add the dumplings to the pan. Cook them 5 minutes (or longer for soft and spongy dumplings). Let the stew rest 10 minutes before serving.  

More recipes for peas:

Sauté of Peas with Ham.

Rice with Peas and Cuttlefish.

Potato and Pea Salad with Mint.

Tortilla with Peas and Fava Beans.

Another spring vegetable stew: Menestra.

Another dumpling recipe for Lent:

Chickpeas and Spinach with Cod Dumplings.

GARLIC: LESS IS MORE

 

Only a few cloves of garlic to flavor a simple oil sauce.

Two big wild-caught sole (each almost a pound and a half) called for a really simple preparation. I roasted them whole and served the fish with a refrito de ajo, olive oil with garlic. 

“Refrito” means “refried,” but the preparation is not actually refried. It’s more of a value-added technique—a couple of cloves of sliced garlic infuse the oil with subtle flavor.  A little goes a long way. The golden garlic chips are a bonus. Add parsley or vinegar or pimentón if you like. But a refrito is, basically, just garlic and oil. 

I needed only two or three cloves of garlic for the refrito. In three heads of garlic, I found not a single clove that was usable! They were shrivelled, discolored or hardened and, in one case, actually moldy.  

All of the garlic, both purple and white varieties, was recently purchased. I’m guessing that somewhere on the supply chain, the garlic had been kept in storage too long or subjected to heat and light. In the natural cycle, by late winter, properly stored garlic will begin to germinate, showing a sliver of a green sprout in the center of the cloves. It’s still perfectly usable. But these exemplars were long past sprouting. 

Option: remove germ in garlic.

Some cooks recommend removing the germ, as it, supposedly, is slightly bitter. Other cooks sniff at the idea. A Spanish campesino advised me to always remove the germ if the garlic is to be used raw, as in gazpacho, para que no se repite, so that it doesn’t “repeat,” in other words, so you don’t burp up garlic fumes for the rest of the day.  

How to use refrito? Spoon it, still warm, over grilled, baked or poached fish and shellfish. Spread it on steak or lamb chops, with or without the addition of some red pepper flakes. Add chopped parsley to the refrito and serve with boiled or baked potatoes. Ladle the oil over vegetables—it´s especially good with artichokes, broccoli, cabbage, cauliflower, brussels sprouts, spinach, chard, green beans. Add diced serrano or ibérico ham to the garlic oil and toss it with cooked artichoke hearts. Add a spoonful of vinegar to the oil and drizzle it over lentils or other legumes. Slather it on wedge salad. Dress cooked rice with it. Toss it with hot, cooked pasta.

Cooked artichoke hearts dressed with refrito de ajo to which diced serrano ham has been added. 

Bright broccoli is dressed with garlic oil, finished with flaky salt.

Add chopped parsley or other fresh herbs to the garlic oil. Spoon it over boiled or baked potatoes.

Garlic oil with ham is the topping for split pea soup. The garlic oil is the perfect last touch for legumes of any sort. 

Roasted sole finished with garlic oil and parsley. Minimalist. (Photo by Sharman Haley.)

Garlic Oil

Refrito de Ajo

Use enough oil so that the garlic floats in the oil. Moderate the temperature so the garlic doesn’t brown too fast. The garlic-infused oil can be strained and saved for another use—homemade mayonnaise, salad dressing, fried potatoes.

Don’t salt the garlic oil, as the salt won’t dissolve in the oil. But, be sure to sprinkle salt over the food after adding the garlic oil. 

3-4 cloves garlic

½ cup extra virgin olive oil

Coarse or flaky salt, to serve

Optional additions

1 tablespoon Sherry vinegar

1 tablespoon finely chopped parsley or other fresh herbs

1 teaspoon pimentón de la Vera (smoked paprika)

2 tablespoons diced serrano ham

Red pepper flakes or a small red chile

Peel the cloves of garlic. Remove green germ in the center of the cloves, if desired. Slice the garlic crosswise, about 1/8-inch thick. 

Remove garlic and oil from the heat when garlic turns golden. The garlic will continue to cook in the hot oil.

Heat the oil on medium-high in a small skillet. Add the sliced garlic and let it become golden. Remove the skillet from the heat. Add optional additions to the hot oil. Immediately pour oil and garlic into a heat-proof bowl. 

Serve the garlic oil hot or room temperature. Spoon it over the prepared food and sprinkle with salt to taste. 

Variations on garlic-olive oil sauces:

Garlic-Pimentón Sauce (Ajada).

Garlic-Oil Dressing for Grilled Foods (Aliño).

Garlic-Parsley-Oil for Fish (Aliño).

Garlic-Herb Sauce (Chimichurri).

ARTICHOKES—TO CELEBRATE SPRING HOLIDAYS

The sun peeps out from behind the clouds and, right on cue, the folks renting the house next door for Easter week are splashing in the pool. Me, I’m still wearing a warm sweater and wool socks. Indoors, the house takes a long time to warm up. 

Orange blossom.

But, it’s definitely springtime. Wildflowers are abloom and orange blossoms perfume the garden. It´s a week of spring holidays. Easter, Passover and Ramadan all are celebrated this week. 

A friend brought packs of matzo (unleavened bread for Passover) from the U.S. (thanks, Jesse), so we are having a mini-seder, all vegetarian. It seemed only appropriate to serve Sephardic foods, in honor of the Jewish communities of medieval Spain and of those who have returned to Spain.  

This recipe for artichoke-orange salad was given to me by a Sephardic acquaintance from North Africa whose family, a few centuries ago, was from Toledo. They resettled in Spain in the1980s. She told me the salad is served for Passover. 

Salads of vegetables with oranges are very typical in Spain and in Morocco. This one might also include spring fava beans and, in Turkey, green almonds. It can be prepared up to three days before serving. Serve it at room temperature, as a starter or side dish. 

Artichoke bottoms are cooked with citrus and olive oil, served room temperature with sliced oranges.

Mint leaves add a fresh flavor to the artichokes.

Serve the salad as a starter or side dish for a spring holiday meal.

Trimmed artichokes are tender enough to eat the whole piece. 

Artichoke and Orange Salad

Ensalada de Alcachofas con Naranjas

I’ve used medium-sized artichokes. Trimmed down to the bottoms, they are cut in half before cooking. If you’ve got really big artichokes, cut them in quarters. You need to remove all the exterior leaves and fibrous choke so that the whole piece of cooked artichoke is edible. 

If available, use sour (bitter) Sevilla orange juice instead of lemon to cook the artichokes. The acidic juice keeps the artichokes from darkening. Use ordinary sweet oranges to finish the salad. 

Serves 6.

2 lemons (or sour oranges)

10 medium artichokes (3 pounds)

2 oranges

1 teaspoon salt

¼ cup + 3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

1 clove garlic, slivered

1 tablespoon Sherry vinegar

Romaine leaves to serve

2 tablespoons chopped fresh mint to garnish

Put the juice of ½ lemon (about 1 tablespoon) in a bowl and fill with water. Snap off 3 or 4 layers of the outer leaves from the artichokes. Cut them about a third of the way from the bottoms, discarding the upper leaves. Using a spoon or melon baller, scoop out and discard the fuzzy choke. Cut the bottoms in half. Place each artichoke bottom as prepared into the lemon water. If desired, the stems can be peeled and cooked with the artichoke bottoms

Pull off three or four layers of outer leaves. 

Use a spoon or melon ball tool to scoop out the fuzzy, fibrous choke in the center.

Place the artichokes in a saucepan just large enough to hold them. Peel and slice 1 lemon and 1 orange and tuck the slices in with the artichokes. Pour the juice of remaining half lemon over them. Cover with 6 cups of water. Add the salt, oil and slivered garlic.

Bring to a boil, then simmer, covered. Artichokes are done when an outer leaf pulls off easily, about 20 minutes. Let them cool in the liquid.

The artichokes can be refrigerated, covered, in their liquid up to 3 days. Bring them to room temperature to serve.

Before serving, drain the artichokes in a colander or use a slotted spoon to remove just a few. Discard the pieces of cooked orange and lemon. Arrange the artichokes on a bed of romaine leaves. Peel and slice the remaining orange and tuck the slices in with the artichokes. Stir together the 3 tablespoons of oil and vinegar. Spoon the dressing over the artichokes and oranges. Sprinkle with mint.

Artichoke salad served at the seder dinner.

Spring herbs for our seder table. I've gathered parsley, dill, wild fennel, celery, mint and cilantro.

Happy Easter. Happy Passover. Blessed Ramadan. Peace.