When my best friend came to visit, I put him to work one night. He is an excellent cook and I begged for something special.

He said he maid a mean Bacalao. I hadn’t had Bacalao in a long time so I let him with my pots and pans. Watching him making it made me wondered: It’s so easy to make why haven’t I thought of this a long time ago??

Bacalao is a Portuguese dish, made traditionally with salted dried cod, it has many different variations. In portugal it’s said to have a recipe of bacalao for each day of the year. This is one isone of the most simple recipe called Bacalao con natta (with cream).

Ingredients:

2 lb of salt dried cod (I found mine at luca’s on Valencia st.)

4 lb of mashed potatoes

2 onions chopped

1 head of garlic chopped

1 cup of chopped parsley

1 cup of heavy cream

Salt and pepper

bread crumbs

The first thing you have to do is to re-hydrate the fish by cutting it in big chucks and covering it with water. This process can take up to 2 days depending on the fish. Ours only took 24 hours, as you re-hydrate the fish it will loose it’s saltiness too.

Poach the fish in boiling water for a few minutes, drain it and set aside. This is a good time to check if your fish is salted or not by tasting it.

In a pan sweat the onions in a little bit of butter without giving them color. When the onion become tender add the garlic and parsley chopped and let cook for about 1 minute. Set aside to cool off.

In a big mixing bowl add all your ingredients (except the bread crumbs) and use your hand to mix it all together. Add slowly the heavy cream to give it moisture but you don’t want the mix to be runny. It should have the consistency of mashed potatoes. Salt and pepper to taste.

Note: most salt cod won’t loose their saltiness while you re-hydrate them so it is important to taste your fish and make sure it’s not too salty. If the fish is still too salty you have to let it sit in cold water a bit longer changing frequently the water.

Put your mixture in a oven safe dish and top with the bread crumbs.

But it under the broiler for a few minuted to give a bit of color to the bread crumbs and keep in the warm oven until ready to serve.

Eric served his Bacalao with a green salad, it was a perfect dish for a rainy Sunday night!

Bon Appétit!