There is 1001 ways to prepare salted, cured codfish in Portugal and an old saying quotes that a Portuguese housewife has to know 365 recipes to get married. Nowadays it is enough to know what ingredients goes well with salted cod, and combine them in many, many different ways. This dish is a version of the more classic “Bacalhau com broa”. It contains some key ingredients: olive oil, garlic, eggs and the portuguese corn bread “broa”. If you can´t get hold of this bread, you can use breadcrumbs instead. The bread is used to make a delicious crust on the codfish while it bakes to perfection in the oven.
The recipe is from Restaurante Sociedade in Parede outside Lisbon.
4 persons
40 minutes
Fairly easy
Ingredients
4 Cod loins, Terra do Bacalhau
A bundle of green asparagus
400 g small potatoes
4 fresh eggs
200 g of “broa”, or breadcrumbs
10 Azeitonas pretas
1 dl of olive oil, extra virgin
Olive oil, to roast potatoes
Mint leaves, chopped, to taste
1/2 tsp sweet pepper
Bay leaf
4 garlic cloves, chopped
1 tsp white wine vinegar
Salt, to taste
Pepper, to taste
How to:
- Soak the cod according to instructions.
- Pre-heat the oven at 200 °C.
- Place the potatoes on a baking tray, add olive oil and bay leaf and season with salt and pepper, mix with the fingers so that the potatoes are covered with oil. Leave in the oven for 30 minutes. You can eventually cook them a bit longer, just lower the temperature to 160 °C after 20 minutes and let the cod loins cook together with the potatoes in additional 20 minutes.
- Place the cod loins on a baking tray with a little olive oil.
- Add the broa bread and the olives together with the extra virgin olive oil and the mint leaves in a blender and blend until the texture is even. Place the mix on top of the cod loins, sprinkle some olive oil and the garlic on top and leave in the oven for 20 minutes at 160 °C.
- Bring water to a boil and add the vinegar, then lower the heat until it gently simmers. Crack the eggs into separate cups and slip them into the water to poach for 4 minutes, 5-6 if you cook all four at once. Use a slotted spoon to remove the egg from the water.
- Fry the asparagus on medium heat together with olive oil and some garlic.
- Serve the cod with the potatoes, egg on top.
