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).

GET YOUR BACALAO SOAKING NOW!

The first processions of Holy Week are already in the streets. The faithful are fretfully checking the weather forecasts for the coming week, hoping and praying that their favorite pasos, images of Christ crucified and the grieving Virgin Mary, will not be prevented by rain from leaving their sanctuaries.

So, people, it’s time to put your bacalao to soak if you want to serve it for Viernes Santo, Good Friday (this year on March 30).

Bacalao—dry salt cod—is the traditional food during Lent, the weeks preceding Easter, and, especially for Holy Week when the religiously observant abstain from eating meat. Of course, all fish and shellfish as well as legumes and dairy foods make up Lenten meals. But in olden days, before refrigeration made fresh fish available inland from ports, long-keeping salt cod was about the only fish available. For that reason, it continues to be the favored food for the season.

Chunks of bacalao cook with saffron rice. White beans, peas and olives make a "cobblestone" effect.

This year I’m preparing a bacalao dish with rice from the eastern regions of Valencia and Murcia. It’s called arroz empedrado, or “cobblestone rice,” because fat white beans look like cobblestones on the surface of the rice. (See the links at the end of this post for more bacalao recipes from other regions of Spain.)

Once fairly inexpensive, bacalao (from Scandanavia—there is no cod in Spanish waters) is pricey. I paid €9.00 for a piece of about 500 grams ($11.00 for one pound). And that was not bone-free fish!

If you buy boneless lomo, the center “loin” of cod, you will need less than if you are cutting a piece from a whole or split that has fins and spines.

Bacalao needs to be soaked in several changes of water to rehydrate the flesh and remove the salt, usually 36 to 48 hours. Thicker pieces may need longer soaking; thin pieces and scraps need less. (It’s ok to taste uncooked cod to decide if it’s sufficiently de-salted.) If cod is de-salted sufficiently before you are ready to cook it, drain it, wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate.

The rice is paved with"cobblestones" of white beans, green peas and purple cuquillo olives.

Like paella, rice with cod and vegetables is cooked "dry," not soupy.

Rice with salt cod is typical for Lenten meals, but is a delicious dish any time of the year.

After soaking and gentle cooking, dry salt cod is moist and flaky.

Rice with Salt Cod and “Cobblestones” (Beans)
Arroz Empedrado con Bacalao

Two or more days before cooking the rice and cod:
Wash the cod under running water. Place it in a glass bowl and cover with fresh water. Cover and soak the cod, refrigerated, for 36 to 48 hours, changing the water every eight hours. Each time you change the water, rinse the cod and squeeze it gently before adding fresh water. 

This piece of cod has been soaked 48 hours.

Use a boning knife to cut away any bones or dark membrane—but don’t remove the skin. The skin will keep the pieces of cod from disintegrating while cooking and gelatin in the skin gives consistency to the finished dish.

You can use the bones and trimmings to make a very simple stock in which to cook the rice. Cover them with 6 cups of water. Add parsley, sliced onion, a strip of lemon peel and bay leaf. Bring to a boil and simmer 30 minutes. Strain the stock and reserve 4 cups of it for the rice.

Use cooked or canned white beans, well drained. This recipe has chard, but other vegetables such as cauliflower, artichokes or green beans can be used instead. I’ve added green peas and purple-black Valencia cuquillo olives for some cobblestone color!

This rice dish is cooked “dry,” like paella. If you prefer, use more stock or water and make it meloso, somewhat the consistency of risotto. However, don’t stir the rice after the bacalao and beans have been added. 

Fresh chard leaves, de-salted cod, tomatoes, onions, cooked white beans, cuquillo olives, green peas, medium-round-grained rice and saffron are the ingredients for this rice dish that is cooked like paella.

Serves 4-6.

12-16 ounces dry salt cod, soaked for 48 hours in several changes of water
¼ cup olive oil
½ cup chopped onions
2 cloves garlic, chopped
½ cup chopped red bell pepper
1 cup (packed) chopped chard, leaves only
1 tomato, grated
2 cups medium round grain rice
1 teaspoon pimentón (paprika, not smoked)
4 cups fish stock or water
¼ teaspoon saffron threads, crushed
¼ cup peas, fresh or frozen
2 cups cooked or canned white beans, drained
Salt to taste
Cuquillo olives to garnish

Cut the cod into 6 to 8 chunks. Pat them dry. Heat the oil in a paella pan, large skillet or flat-bottomed wok. Place the pieces of cod skin side down in the oil and fry them about 1 minute, without turning. Remove and set aside.

Add the onion, garlic and red bell pepper to the pan. Sauté on medium heat for 3 minutes. Don’t allow the onions to brown. Add the chard and the tomatoes. Sauté for 3 minutes more. Stir in the rice. Add the pimentón. Add the fish stock or water. Add the saffron. Bring the liquid to a boil. Cook the rice on medium-high heat for 5 minutes.

Add the pieces of cod to the pan, skin side up. Add the peas and beans. Taste the liquid and add salt if necessary. Lower the heat and cook the rice without stirring until it is almost tender and most of the liquid has been absorbed, about 14 minutes. Rotate the pan over the heat and shake it occasionally to keep the rice from sticking on the bottom. (Add a little additional liquid if necessary.)

Scatter olives on top of the rice. Remove from heat, cover with a dampened cloth and allow the rice to set in the pan 5 minutes before serving.

More recipes with bacalao:

Salt Cod with Cauliflower and Garlic Sauce.

Cod Fritters with Molasses.

Salt Cod in Garlic PilPil Sauce.

Salt Cod, Catalan Style.

Chickpeas, Spinach and Cod Dumplings.

Salt Cod Brandada.

Cod and Potato Stew.

Salt Cod Arriero with Pine Nuts.

IF IT'S GOOD FRIDAY, IT MUST BE BACALAO--PART 2

Tortillitas are pancake-like fritters of salt cod, drizzled with molasses.

I hear the solemn drumming. The village streets are slicked with candle wax after processions have passed. Holy Week is here again. That means it’s time again for bacalao—dry salt cod—the meal of choice for Viernes Santo, Good Friday.

Truthfully, cooking salt cod but once a year is not sufficient to really get a handle on it. Last year I prepared and photographed my salt cod recipe before tasting it. Later, I added tasting notes to the blog, saying that the cod needed additional soaking time before cooking. You can read Part 1 of “IF IT’S GOOD FRIDAY, IT MUST BE BACALAO  here   Actually, I did make salt cod another time and it wasn’t even Good Friday, as a delicious dip called brandada that is ever so easy. That recipe is here.

Bacalao--salt cod--at the Barcelona market.

Last year, having just come back from a few days in Barcelona, I was inspired to prepare a Catalan dish with salt cod, bacalao a la llauna. This year, for Bacalao Part 2, I am making a traditional Málaga dish that’s been popularized in tapa bars--tortillitas de bacalao con miel de caña, cod fritters with molasses.

If this sounds unusual, trust me, it’s absolutely brilliant. Flaked cod is combined in a saffron-tinged batter, fried in olive oil, then drizzled with just a little dark-sweet molasses. The sweetness complements the cod’s saltiness. Delicious.

Why molasses? In southern Spain, in the coastal areas of Málaga and Granada, sugar refineries, established at the end of the 1500s, thrived for several hundred years, spawning related industries such as rum distilleries. Cane syrup, a light molasses, entered the local culinary tradition.

Instead of molasses, you could use honey, corn syrup or even your favorite pancake syrup in this recipe. In fact, you need very little. It is the intriguing contrast of salty and sweet that makes this an outstanding dish, typical of Holy Week in Málaga.


Tasting notes: I used small, boneless pieces of salt cod for this recipe. Twenty-four hours of soaking was sufficient, leaving just enough salt to contrast with the batter. Taste the cod after soaking--if it's not salty enough, add salt to the batter.

To Prepare Bacalao

   
Scrape off surface salt and wash the fish in running water. Put it in a bowl and cover with water. Soak the bacalao, covered and refrigerated, 24 to 36 hours, changing the water three times. Each time you change the water, wash the fish under running water, squeeze it gently and wash out the container.

After soaking, place the pieces of bacalao on a clean towel and cover with another to soak up excess water. Remove scales and bones. The skin may be required for some dishes, as its gelatinous quality thickens the sauce. Big chunks are usually cooked whole, but scraps can be cooked, de-boned and used in fritters and fish balls.

To pre-cook bacalao, place it in enough water to cover and bring it just barely to a simmer. Hold it at a simmer for five minutes.

Saffron, garlic and parsley flavor the cod fritters.

Cod Fritters with Molasses
Tortillitas de Bacalao con Miel de Caña

Makes 30 fritters.

1/4 pound dry salt cod, soaked for 24 hours in several changes of water
pinch of crushed saffron
2 tablespoons chopped parsley
1 clove garlic, minced
1 egg, separated
2/3 cup flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
olive oil for frying
2 tablespoons molasses

Drain the salt cod and put it in a pan with water to cover and bring just to a simmer. Do not boil. Remove from heat. Drain and save the liquid. When the cod is cool enough to handle, remove any bones and skin and flake or chop the fish.

Measure 1 cup of the reserved liquid. Add the saffron to it and allow to infuse for 10 minutes.

Combine the parsley, garlic, saffron and egg yolk. Beat in the reserved saffron liquid, then the flour combined with the baking powder. Add the flaked cod. The batter should be the consistency of pancake batter. Let the batter rest for 15 minutes or up to 2 hours.

Beat the egg white until stiff and fold into the batter.

Heat oil in a skillet to a depth of 1/4 inch. Drop batter by tablespoons, turning to brown on both sides. Add additional oil as needed so that the bottom of skillet is always covered. Drain the fritters on absorbent paper. Serve them hot or room temperature, drizzled with molasses.

Sweet molasses complements salty cod.