Bacalhau com Broa
It’s not easy to find a salt cod recipe without potatoes. I couldn’t find this particular well-known one in my Portuguese cookbooks, so I translated it from this recipe and video instead. I rearranged it a bit. Note that broa (a.k.a. broa de milho) is a leavened cornbread with some grain flour in it.
Ingredients
- 1 ½ lb. salted cod (weight after soaking one day)
- 1 onion, sliced
- 3 cloves garlic, sliced
- ½ c. (about 3 oz.) oil cured olives, or to taste (optional)
- 1 lb crumbled broa or corn bread (or enough to cover the baking dish)
- oil to moisten the corn bread
- salt and pepper to taste
- chopped cilantro to taste
Directions
- After soaking, put the cod in a pot, cover with water, and bring to a boil.
- Simmer for about 15 minutes.
- Meanwhile, fry the onions in another pan (preferably a flat-bottomed one that can go from the stove to the oven and fits the fish in one layer), allegedly for 15 minutes.
- Preheat the oven to 350°.
- Fish the fish out of the water. This is a good time to de-bone it if it has bones or fins.
- Add the fish, garlic, some of the cilantro, and any olives to the onion pan.
- Fry the fish another ten minutes or so.
- Make a paste of the crumbs, remaining spices, and oil.
- Arrange the fish in the (baking) pan, skin down if it has skin, and cover with the paste.
- Bake 20 minutes or until the crumbs are nicely browned.
Variants
I actually used corn meal with some egg, almond milk, and baking powder to form a crust, but I’d do it the right way next time.
The olives are also my variant from the recipe cited.
