BACALAO FOR LENTEN MEALS

Do you observe Lent? Fish on Fridays and abstinence from luxuries and alcohol are some of the observances for the 40-day period preceding Easter (April 20, 2025). Spain, a predominantly Catholic country for the past 500+ years, has hundreds of special dishes and sweets for cuaresma, Lent. They are called comida de vigilia, or meals of abstinence, and include, besides fish, vegetarian and dairy dishes. Heading the list are the many recipes for bacalao, dried salt cod. 

Bacalao is dry salt cod.

Why cod, a fish that is not even captured in Spanish waters? Medieval Basques who engaged on long whaling expeditions, invented the method of salt-curing cod, making it an important food that would keep on long ocean voyages. Salt fish became an important item of trade. Before the days of refrigeration, unless you lived within a few hours by mule from a coastal port or on the banks of a trout stream, salt-cured fish was the only fish available. For observant Christians eating fish on Fridays meant salt cod and other salt fish as the only alternative to meat during Lent. 

Garden chard ready to cut.

Anyone interested in the history of cod should read Cod: A Biography of the Fish That Changed the World by Mark Kurlansky (Penguin Books, 1998).

My annual tribute to bacalao this Lenten season is an Andalusian potaje of bacalao, chickpeas, and chard. Chard because I am blessed with a small plot of chard (acelga) that needs harvesting right now.  

Potaje, which means “pottage,” is neither a soup nor a stew. It’s soupy and almost always contains legumes and other vegetables, sometimes with meat and sausages, sometimes vegetarian, and, this time of year, often with bacalao or fresh seafood. 

A hearty main dish with chickpeas, potatoes, vegetables, and cod.

A serving of potaje with eggs and crushed croutons.

Lenten Stew with Chickpeas, Bacalao, and Chard

Potaje de Cuaresma con Bacalao y Acelgas

Bacalao is sold whole, in pieces (the thick lomo or loin is the choicest cut), and in migas or scraps. In specialty shops you can find it already desalted and ready to use. 

If you are starting with dry salt cod, allow two or three days to desalt it. Wash the pieces of salt cod to remove surface salt. Place them in a glass container and cover with cold water. Cover the container and refrigerate. Soak the cod for 36 hours, changing the water twice daily during the soaking period. Drain well and keep refrigerated until ready to cook it.

If you’re starting with dried chickpeas: Put the chickpeas to soak in hot water for 8 hours or overnight. If your water is very hard, use bottled water or add a pinch of baking soda to both the soaking water and the cooking water. Add the chickpeas to a saucepan of hot water and bring to a boil. Add a whole tomato and onion. Cover the pan, reduce the heat, and simmer until tender, about 90 minutes. Drain the chickpeas, saving the cooking liquid and the cooked tomato and onion. One cup of dried chickpeas yields approximately 3 cups cooked. Puree the tomato and onion in a blender and use them in the recipe instead of the chopped onion and crushed tomatoes.

Serves 4-6.

1 pound desalted salt cod

12-16 ounces chard

¼ cup olive oil

1 cup chopped onion (or cooked onion)

½ cup diced carrot

3 cloves garlic

½ teaspoon smoked pimentón (paprika)

Pinch hot pimentón or cayenne (optional)

1 teaspoon cumin

½ cup crushed tomatoes (or cooked tomato)

4 cups drained, cooked chickpeas

5 cups water, chickpeas cooking liquid or fish stock

1 bay leaf

Salt to taste

2 medium potatoes, diced

Croutons of fried bread

Hard boiled eggs to garnish

Chopped parsley to garnish

Cut the cod into 1-inch pieces. Discard any skin and bones. Refrigerate the cod until ready to cook.

Wash chard and separate leaves and stalks. Strip away any stringy fibres from the stalks and chop the stalks. Shred or chop the leaves. 

Heat the oil in a soup pot and sauté the onion, carrot, and garlic until softened, 5 minutes. Stir in the pimentón and cumin. Add the tomatoes and chickpeas. Cover with the water and add the bay leaf and salt to taste. Bring the water to a boil and add the potatoes and chard. Reduce heat to medium-low and simmer, partially covered, until potates are tender, 15 to 20 minutes. 

Immediately before serving add the pieces of cod to the pot. Cover and cook 2 minutes. Remove the pan from the heat and allow to settle 5 minutes. Lightly crush the croutons with a rolling pin or in a mini food processor. 

Serve the potaje in bowls garnished with quartered egg, the crouton crumbs, and parsley.

More potajes for Lenten meals:

Spinach and Chickpeas with Cod Dumplings.

Chickpeas with Shrimp and Seafood Sausage.

Cuttlefish and Chickpea Stew.

Lenten Fennel Potaje with Beans. (vegetarian)

Spinach with Chickpeas. (vegetarian)

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).

THE ITERATIONS OF A COD SALAD

 

A Catalan springtime salad with salt cod, tuna, olives and a romesco dressing.

And, suddenly, it is spring! I’ve moved from soup to salad in the space of a week. Because it’s also the start of Semana Santa, Holy Week leading to the Easter festival, I am having my annual bacalao fest. 

Bacalao is dry salt cod. This year I have simplified prep by purchasing a package of bacalao desalado y desmigado—salt cod that has already been desalted and separated into small pieces. (See below for how-to proceed if you’re starting out with whole pieces of salt cod.) I looked to Catalonia for the salad inspiration.

Following are three salad recipes that all include cod. You can make each one separately or you can make a double portion of the first, simple, iteration and morph it into the more complex salads. 

The first iteration: esqueixada is shredded cod with chopped tomatoes and spring onions, studded with olives, dressed with extra virgin olive oil.

Ringing the changes: this is empedrat, meaning "cobblestones," so called because the salad is studded with cobbles of beans, olives, diced cod. 

Add chunks of tuna and strips of anchovies to the basic cod salad and serve it on a bed of escarole with a dressing of romesco sauce. This is xató, the same salad pictured at the top of the page.

Shredded Cod Salad

Esqueixada de Bacalao

Esqueixada looks a little like “exquisite,” but in fact means “shredded”—what you do to the salt cod after it has been desalted by soaking. 

Scraps of desalted cod for salad.

In theory, desalted cod does not need cooking, but I prefer to simmer it briefly to soften it and to eliminate any off-flavors. Add the desalted cod to simmering water for 1 minute. After draining well, pick through the scraps of cod to make sure there are no bits of bones remaining. 

If good salad tomatoes are not available this early in the season, try using cherry tomatoes in this salad. 

To emphasize the Catalan flavor, use Catalan Arbequina olive oil and olives and a Penedès (or cava) white wine vinegar.

Serves 4 as a starter.

1 (packed) cup pieces of desalted cod (8 ounces)

1 large tomato

1 or 2 spring onions or several scallions (½ cup chopped)

3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

½ tablespoon white wine vinegar

Salt to taste

½ cup pitted black olives

First variation:

¼ cup diced green bell pepper

¼ cup diced red bell pepper

Bring a pan of water to a boil. Reduce heat to a simmer. Add the cod and simmer 1 minute. Drain the cod, refresh in cold water and let it drain well in a colander. Pick through the pieces of cod, removing any bits of skin or bone and pull the flesh into bite-size pieces.

Peel tomatoes for salad.

Peel the tomato and cut it into small dice. Place the tomato in a bowl. Slice or dice the onions or scallions and add to the tomatoes. Add the shredded cod, saving a few larger pieces to garnish the salad. Add the oil, vinegar and salt to taste. Mix in the olives. Chill the salad.

To serve, spread the salad on a platter. Place a few larger pieces of cod on top. 

Same salad with added green and red peppers.

The first variation of the salad calls for the addition of diced green and red pepper to the tomatoes and spring onion mix. They add color and crunch.

“Cobblestone” Salad with Cod and Beans

Empedrat

Add cooked white beans and hard-cooked eggs to the original cod salad for a substantial lunch dish.

In Catalonia, this would be made with small white beans called mongetes. Any white beans or black-eyed peas can be used. If using canned beans, drain and rinse them before dressing with oil and vinegar. Make the esqueixada salad, above, with the olives. Add it to the beans and garnish with hard-boiled eggs. A new iteration. This would make a good lunch salad.

Serves 4.

2 cups cooked and drained white beans

1 clove garlic, minced

3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

1 tablespoon white wine vinegar

Salt

Freshly ground black pepper

Finely chopped parsley

2 cups of esqueixada cod and tomato salad (recipe above)

2 hard-boiled eggs

Place the beans in a bowl. Add the garlic, oil and vinegar. Season to taste with salt and pepper. 

Immediately before serving, add 1 tablespoon parsley to the beans. Spread the beans on a platter. Spoon the esqueixada (cod, tomatoes, onions, olives) over the beans. Cut the eggs in half and garnish the platter. Sprinkle with additional parsley.

Cod and Tuna Salad with Romesco Dressing

Xató

This salad includes some of the same ingredients as the original esqueixada—cod, tomatoes, olives—with the addition of tuna and anchovies. They are spread on a bed of escarole and dressed with romesco sauce. 

Romesco dressing for the xató salad.

For the romesco dressing:

Make this sauce with all almonds or, if you like hazelnuts, use part almonds, part hazelnuts. It’s customary to toast them lightly, giving them depth of flavor and making them easier to grind in a mortar. (I quit on the mortar and switched to the food processor.) 

The basic recipe makes a thick, heavy sauce. To make it easier to mix with salad ingredients, thin the romesco with water. (The un-thinned sauce makes a sensational dip, for chips or celery sticks.)

Ñoras are a dried, bittersweet pepper (not hot). Reconstitute them by cooking/soaking, then scraping the pulp from inside the peppers. If ñoras aren’t available, use a heaping tablespoon of pimentón (sweet paprika) stirred to a paste in 2 tablespoons of water. 

The romesco dressing can be made in advance and kept at room temperature for 1 day. If to be stored longer, refrigerate, covered, but bring to room temperature before using.

Almonds and ñora peppers.

2 ñoras (see above for substitution)

½ cup almonds and hazelnuts

1 slice baguette

2 tablespoons white wine vinegar

2 cloves garlic

½ teaspoon salt

Pinch of cayenne

Pinch of dried mint

1/3 cup extra virgin olive oil

¼ to ½ cup ñora liquid or water, to thin the sauce

Scrape pulp from ñoras.

Remove stems and seeds from the ñoras. Place them in a small pan with water, bring to a boil and simmer 5 minutes. Remove the pan from the heat and allow the ñoras to soak 1 hour.

Skim the ñoras out, saving the liquid. Spread the ñoras open on a cutting board. Scrape the pulp from the shells. Discard the skins. Chop the pulp.

Lightly toast the almonds and hazelnuts in a small skillet. Place the slice of bread in a small bowl and add the vinegar. Soak the bread until it is softened. Squeeze it out and discard the vinegar.

Grind the almonds/hazelnuts in a mortar or food processor. Add the pulp from the ñoras (or the pimentón paste), the garlic, salt, cayenne and mint. Process until smooth. Add the oil and process until emulsified. Add enough liquid to thin the sauce to the consistency of heavy cream.

For the xató salad:

You can use the Esqueixada salad (recipe above) with its cod, tomatoes and olives. Use a slotted spoon to add it to the greens so the excess dressing doesn’t thin the romesco.Otherwise, start with pieces of cod and add tomatoes and olives.

Escarole or other salad greens

1 cup esqueixada or pieces of desalted cod

½ cup drained chunks of light tuna

Anchovy fillets

Black olives

Sliced tomatoes

Romesco dressing

Spread the escarole on a platter. Scatter the pieces of cod and tuna on top. Add strips of anchovies, olives and tomatoes.  Top with spoonfuls of romesco dressing or serve the dressing separately for each person to mix with the salad.

Mix the romesco dressing with the greens and pieces of fish.

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A whole split of bacalao--dry salt cod.

To prepare bacalao from scratch:

Start desalting the salt cod one to three days before you intend to use it (less time for smaller pieces). 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 48 hours, changing the water three times a day. 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, fish balls and salads.

More recipes with romesco:

Artichoke Salad with Romesco.

Grilled Onions with Romesco (Calçotada).

Another "cobblestones" recipe (plus links to eight more bacalao recipes):

Rice with Salt Cod and Beans.

Another salad with salt cod:

Andalusian Orange and Cod Salad.

WOULD YOU CALL THIS POTATO SALAD?

 

A traditional Málaga salad--potatoes, oranges, olives and cod.

So, is this a potato salad? It’s got potatoes, yes. Plus onions, olives and—oranges! The dish is dressed with extra virgin olive oil, vinegar and orange juice. It’s topped with flakes of cod or, if you prefer, chunks of tuna. It’s a very traditional salad in southern Spain, where I live, but nothing like the creamy mayo-based potato salads you’d find at a church supper in Midwest America, where I grew up.

In Spain, this is a winter-spring potato salad, much like the best known potato salad, patatas aliñadas, with cut-up oranges substituted for out-of-season tomatoes. If you visit Málaga, you’ll find it in tapa bars where it’s called ensalada malagueña.

This salad is served as a tapa.

The local olives are cracked, green, brine-cured ones. But black olives instead of green add contrast. Also, you can substitute chunks of tuna for the cod.

Last week I cut up a side of bacalao, salt cod, to prepare Bacalao con Tomate. In that recipe, I advised you to “save the thin and scrappy bits for another use.” The saved scraps of cod are perfect for this salad. But, if salt cod was never on your shopping list, use canned tuna. Or use diced smoked ham. Wouldn’t that be a pretty dish on the Easter table? 

In Spain, you can buy packaged migas of bacalao, “crumbs” of salt cod. If you’re starting out with pieces of cod (see last week’s blog about how to pre-soak them), poach the pieces in water to cover just until white foam starts to form. Do not let the cod boil. Drain and rinse the cod. While still warm, use your fingers to flake the cod, discarding all skin and bones.

Málaga Salad with Oranges, Potatoes and Cod

Ensalada Malagueña

Serves 4 as a starter.

2 medium potatoes

Salt

4 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

2 large oranges

1/3 cup chopped spring onions or scallions including some of the green tops

2 tablespoons orange juice

1 tablespoon Sherry vinegar

Salad greens (optional)

½ cup flaked cod or tuna

Green brine-cured olives

3 tablespoons chopped parsley

1 hard-boiled egg, quartered (optional)

Cook the whole potatoes in lightly salted water until they are tender when pierced with a skewer. Drain and allow the potatoes to cool.

Peel the potatoes, cut them in half lengthwise and slice them crosswise. Place the potatoes in a bowl and add 1 tablespoon of the oil and ¼ teaspoon salt. 

How to peel oranges.

Prepare the oranges. Slice off top and bottom. Set the orange upright on cutting board and use a sharp knife to cut downwards, following the contour of the orange, removing skin and white pith.

Cut segments.

Either slice the oranges crosswise or use a thin-bladed knife to separate the segments from their membrane. Reserve the juice. 

Combine 2 tablespoons of reserved orange juice, 1/2 teaspoon salt, the remaining 3 tablespoons of oil and the vinegar in a small bowl. Arrange the salad greens, if using, on a serving platter. Spread the potatoes on the platter. Arrange the oranges on top. Add the pieces of cod. Stud with olives. Drizzle the orange juice dressing over all the salad. Sprinkle with parsley. Garnish with quartered egg, if desired.

More salads with oranges:

Orange and Cod Salad (Salmorejo).

Potato-Orange Dunking Salad (Mojete).

More potato salads:

Potato Salad with Seaweed Mayonnaise.

"Russian" Potato Salad.

Potato Salad with Lemony Dressing (Aliñadas)

Purple Potato Salad.

Moroccan Potato Salad.

Some other ways to use up scraps of salt cod:

Cod Fritters with Molasses (Tortillitas).

Chickpeas and Spinach with Cod Dumplings.

HOMAGE TO BACALAO

 

Salt cod is poached in olive oil, finished in a tomato sauce with olives.

As Semana Santa rolls around again, I am preparing my annual homage to bacalao—dry salt cod—one of the most emblematic foods for Holy Week in Spain. During Lent, the religious observe days of vigilia, or fasting days, when meat is proscribed. In bygone times, before refrigeration, often salt cod was the only fish available. So this fish—which is not even fished in Spanish waters—has become part of the Holy Week culture. Every region of the country has its distinctive bacalao recipes. 

Salt cod is to fresh fish sort of like ham is to fresh pork. Salt-curing alters the taste and texture of the fish. Cod must be soaked in water to rehydrate it and remove much of the salt.  Salt cod is not “raw,” as the curing process, in effect, cooks it. It only needs to be gently heated, just until the flakes sort of slide apart. 

This year I’m preparing a traditional Andalusian bacalao recipe, cooking the cod with a tomato sauce with olives. Instead of the traditional way of first flouring and quick-frying the pieces of cod, I am preparing them in confit, poached in olive oil at low temperature. 

The cod confit can be made in the oven or in a heavy pan or cazuela on top of the stove. I decided it would be easier to control the temperature in the oven. In any case, you’ll need an instant-read or deep-frying thermometer to check the temperature of the oil. Remember, the cod doesn’t need cooking. It only needs to heat until, when prodded with a fork, the flakes separate easily. 

Poaching oil can be used to fry potatoes to accompany the cod and sauce.

Instead of parsley, I'm using sprigs of wild fennel to garnish the cod in tomato sauce. A touch of spring.

Cod is perfectly cooked when flakes easily separate. 

Salt Cod with Tomato Sauce and Olives, Andalusian Style

Bacalao con Tomate y Aceitunas a la Andaluza

Start this recipe two days in advance of serving, as the salt cod needs to soak covered in water for 36 hours.

A side of salt cod. This weighed about 25 ounces and, after filleting and trimming, yielded four fillets and thinner scraps to be saved for another use.

Takes patience to remove fins, spine and small bones from the cod. Easier--buy lomo, center-cut fillets. 

Fillets ready! I saved the two smallest pieces for another recipe.

You can buy lomos de bacalao, thick, center-cut pieces, almost boneless, or a whole side of salt cod. If you start out with a whole fish, after soaking, use a filleting knife to remove fins, center spine and bones. Do not remove the skin, as the gelatin in the skin helps to thicken the tomato sauce. Divide into four thick pieces. Save the thin and scrappy bits for another use.

Use good extra virgin olive oil for the confit. You’ll need a little of the poaching oil to make the tomato sauce. The remainder can be used for another purpose—for example, to fry potatoes to accompany the cod. It’s good, too, in mayonnaise or dressing for tuna or other seafood salad. 

Serves 4.

1 pound salt cod fillets

1 ½ cups extra virgin olive oil (more, as needed)

4 cloves garlic

¾ cup chopped onion

3 cups chopped or crushed canned tomatoes

1 bay leaf

Sprig of thyme, fennel or oregano (optional)

¼ teaspoon salt

Black or green olives, pitted

Chopped fennel or parsley, to garnish

Hard-boiled eggs, quartered, to serve

Fried potatoes to accompany (optional)

36 hours before serving:

Cut the cod into four more or less equal portions. Do not remove the skin. Rinse the cod in running water and place it in a non-reactive container. Cover the cod with cold water. Cover the container and refrigerate. Drain and cover with fresh water four times during the soaking period, about 36 hours total.

To cook the cod:

Drain the cod, squeezing it gently to expel retained water. Pat the pieces dry. Pour some of the oil into a baking dish just large enough to hold the pieces of cod in a single layer. Place the cod in the dish, skin side down, and add the remaining oil to completely cover the cod. Lightly crush 3 of the cloves of garlic and add them, without peeling, to the baking dish.

Cod ready when flakes separate.

     Place the baking dish in the cold oven and set the temperature to 225ºF. After the oven reaches temperature, let the cod cook 10 minutes. Test the temperature of the oil (use an instant-read or deep-frying thermometer). Keep testing every 5 minutes until the oil reaches 140ºF and the cod flakes easily when prodded with a fork, approximately 30 minutes total.  

     Remove the baking dish from the oven. Lift the cod fillets out onto a plate and tent them with foil.

Poaching oil covers the cod fillets.

Ladle ¼ cup of the oil into a pan and heat gently. Chop the remaining clove of garlic and add to the oil with the onion. Sauté on moderate heat 5 minutes. Add the tomatoes, bay leaf, sprig of herbs and salt. When the tomatoes begin to bubble, reduce heat and partially cover the pan. Simmer the sauce until thickened and reduced, 30 minutes.

Discard bay leaf and sprig of herbs. Use an immersion blender to blend the sauce until fairly smooth. Add the olives to the sauce and reheat. Place the cod fillets in the sauce and reheat them very gently.

Serve the cod and tomato sauce garnished with chopped fennel or parsley. Add quartered egg. Accompany, if desired, with potatoes fried in some of the oil that was used to poach the cod. 

More recipes with bacalao:

Salt Cod in Garlic PilPil Sauce.

Chickpeas, Spinach and Cod.

Valencia Rice with Cod and "Cobblestones."

Cod Fritters with Molasses.