Bacalhau Good Friday dinner

Shopping List for 4 adults

500 to 600 g dried salted cod (dry weight) 800 g firm potatoes 1 large onion 4 cloves garlic 100 ml extra virgin olive oil 25 ml dry white wine or white wine vinegar 100 ml whipping cream 8 pcs. black olives without stone 8 pcs. green olives without stone 8 pcs. bay leaves 1 bunch chopped parsley 2 large ripe tomatoes 1 large red bell pepper 1 tsp. grated horseradish 4 hard-boiled eggs (optional) Coarse black pepper from the mill Season with salt, if necessary

I am an angler in Scandinavia Home Recipe No. 77   Bacalhau Good Friday dinner Bacalhau means cod in Portuguese The illustrated meal is made for only 2 people

Procedure without liability: For Bacalhau is used clipfish, which is a salted and dried cod. Before you can use the clipfish, it must be diluted well. It takes 24 to 48 hours, depending on the thickness of the clipfish and also how hard/dry and salted the fish is. In the old days one bought a whole clipfish of 5 kg for no money, because it was considered "dog food", read poor man's food in Denmark. This is by no means more considered poor man's food. I would think that 1 kg costing well over DKK 100.00 I will return with a price. In southern Europe, Spain and Portugal and other Catholic countries it is a delicacy and a must to eat fish during Lent (no meat). However, it is not the only reason to eat Bacalhau, for it tastes good when the cooking is done by the recipe. Try it yourself, buy a pack of clipfish from your fishmonger and look for the package with the thickest pieces of cod. Fillets cut into pieces of 8 cm and placed in a large glass / plastic bowl with cold water and placed in a refrigerator at 5 °C. Every 6 hours replace the water with fresh cold water. You will see that cod swells and thickens every time. It is essential to have control over the temperature so as not to spoil the cod, but do not worry if you follow the recipe, there is no danger. When the time is up - 24/36/48 hours - you can taste a small piece of cod, and evaluate the results. Must taste salty, not too salty. Clipfish is sold with the skin on, and it must be removed before the dinner is made in the oven. This can be done either before the clipfish is diluted or after it has been diluted. I did it after dilution with no problems put a knife in between the skin and the flesh and pull the skin gently off. If you take the skin off before dilution, you may save 6 hours, since the fish pulls water in from both sides. Bring plenty of water to a boil in a large pot with bay leaves. When the water boils turned down the heat and the diluted clipfish are put in. Let it simmer for 5 to 10 minutes, then take the fish up in a towel to allow to drain and cool down. (Not paper towel for it glue to the fish). When the fish have cooled remove large fish bones and skins. Is it large fillets, they can eventual be cut into small (bite-sized) pieces. Save the fish a little longer. In the same pot with the same water put the potatoes and a tsp. salt, only boil for 15 minutes, so they do not cook out (mashed potatoes), but is still a la dente. Peel the potatoes and cut them into suitable slices. On a hot frying pan heat some olive oil and sauté the onion first, then the garlic. Do not brown but just be clear and golden. Preheat the oven to 200 ° C. In an ovenproof dish allocated half of the potatoes in the bottom pour whipping cream over and season with freshly ground black pepper. Place the fish over the potatoes pour white wine over season with freshly ground black pepper. The rest of the sliced potatoes and onions to be evenly distributed on top of the fish. Add tomato slices, pepper strips, chopped olives and sprinkle a bit of parsley on. Pour olive oil over. Place the dish in the oven for 30 minutes covered with aluminum foil, and then removing it, and the fish is baked about 15 minutes more. Remove the dish from the oven and pour dropwise rest of the olive oil over. Serving: Place the dish on table and serve it steaming hot. Garnish: The dish can be garnished with hard-boiled eggs in boats and chopped parsley. It is part for Easter. Drink: A cold white wine is well suited to the dinner. Use the same white wine, which is used for the dinner. Hints: There is also another form of dried cod Stockfish. Stockfish is not salted, but must also be diluted before use. Perhaps only overnight, I have not tried it yet.