Friends of ours mentioned enjoying this while traveling in Portugal and it sounded like fun since I enjoy Bacalao. It turned out well: very rich, creamy, with soft potatoes -- a fine dish for cooler weather.
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| Crusty gratin with creamy bacalao and potatoes |
This recipe is based on several I found: Crumb-Snatched, We Travel Portugal, Authentic Food Quest, and Portuguese Soul Kitchen. Most boil the fish in water but AFQ's cooks it in milk which makes more sense: it flavors the milk rather than diluting the fish. All the recipes call for Mozzarella for the gratin, but that seems too pizza-like so I used Parmesan and another cheese which I had on hand; you could use only Parmesan.
I'm using frozen Bacalao/Bacallà al punt de sal for convenience, and because it's less expensive than the dry salt cod I reserve for dishes like Pil Pil. If you use dry Bacalao, you'll need to hydrate for 2-3 days in several changes of water. Some recipes suggest using store bought shoestring fries instead of frying potatoes yourself, which I think is clever, but I'm not stooping to that yet.
This serves 2 generously.
300 g Bacalao al punt de sal, thawed
200 g Milk
1 Bay Leaf
45 ml Olive Oil
1 large Onion, yellow or white, peeled, sliced
2 clove Garlic, sliced
300 g Potato, peeled, cut into 1 cm cubes
20 g Butter
20 g Flour
100 ml Cream
Nutmeg, grated
Salt
Pepper
25 g Cheese, Pecorino Romano, grated
25 g Cheese, Parmesan, grate
5 sprigs Parsley, chopped
If using dried Bacalao, hydrate it 2-3 days in multiple changes of water.
To save time, cook the Bacalao at the same time as you sauté the Onions, then make the bechamel while frying the Potatoes.
In a pot, simmer the Bacalao in the Milk with the Bay, covered on low for 10 minutes.
Drain, reserving the Milk.
Discard any skin, bones, and the Bay.
Flake the fish with fork or fingers.
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| Onions and garlic on left, bacalao and milk on right |
In a skillet, sauté Onion and Garlic in 15 ml Oil until tender.
Add cooked Bacalao and fry 5 minutes; reserve to a cazuela or baking dish.
Coat the bottom of the same skillet with 30 ml Oil and fry the Potatoes until golden and barely cooked through; cover the skillet after developing the crust to speed the cooking.
In the same pot as you cooked the Bacalao, melt Butter and add Flour, whisk to create a paste and cook the Flour for a few minutes.
Slowly add the fishy Milk and cook, whisking continuously until you get a sauce a little thicker than heavy cream
Add the Cream and Nutmeg, then adjust with Salt and Pepper.
Remove from heat.
Preheat the oven to 200C.
Layer the Potatoes on the Onions/Bacalao in the cazuela and shake to distribute evenly.
Top with the bechamel, and even out again.
Top with grated Cheese.
Bake at 200C for 20 minutes until cheese is melted and browned.
Garnish with Parsley.
Serve with a dry white wine.
2026-01-11 Where's the fish?
I made this with Bacalao al punt de sal but the fish seemed to get lost. I think I simmered it too high in the milk, so it fell apart. Next time use a bare simmer, perhaps a little 5 minutes instead of 10, since it's sautéed later. I cooked the Onion, then the Bacalao and Potatoes, in a carbon steel pan and the fish stuck a bit, shredding it further; consider using a pan that's fully non-stick.
Irene said it was too rich, that the Cream muted the flavor. Reduce it, or omit it, from the Bechamel. We could probably back out the Cheese for the gratin just a bit.
