2021-02-23

Baccalà alla Vicentina

Irene found the site of a "brotherhood" dedicated to one dish, based on dried cod. I love bacalao/baccalà so this was like catnip to me. Dried (or salted) cod is re-hydrated, dusted with flour and parmesan, cooked in milk with oil, onions, and anchovies for quite a long time. It looks rich, and is served with polenta.





There's a recipe ("an edible mummy?") and helpful video; this alternate edit of the video provides more detail. The chef is using whole sides of dried fish, dusting the insides which he first bashes to tenderize on a log.  We can easily find smaller portions of "salt cod" rather than the air dried "stockfish", and both are frequently used in this dish. We'll use a more simple technique of layering, taken from another recipe, since our fish portions and dinner size is smaller. 

For two:

150 g      Onion (1 medium), chopped medium
120 ml     Olive Oil, enough to cover Onions generously
  4 clove  Garlic, sliced
 22 g      Sardines/Anchovies, chopped fine, desalinated if dried

350 g      Baccalà, desalinated boneless filets (skinless)
dusting    Flour
 20 g      Parmesan Cheese, fine grate
sprig      Parsley, fine chop
           Salt
           Pepper
450 ml     Whole Milk, hot (probably a bit much)
glug       Olive Oil

Cook the Onions, Garlic, Sardines/Anchovies until the onions are softened but not browned.




While that's cooking, you can preheat the oven (120C/250F) and prep the fish.



Dust the Bacalà with the Parmesan, Flour, Parsley, Salt, and Pepper.
Layer into the baking dish that has the cooked Onions.
Cover with Milk, and add a glug of Olive Oil on top.


Cover and cook very low, 120C/250F for 3 hours, without stirring;
the fish will probably break apart but we don't want a mush.

Serve with polenta, we like ours firm-set then grilled to brown a bit.

No comments:

Post a Comment