Bacalao — Salt Cod Stew with Tomato and Peppers

Name: Bacalao — Salt Cod Stew with Tomato and Peppers
Prep time: 35 min
Cook time: 2 d 1 h 10 min
Total time: 2 d 1 h 45 min
Cuisine: Spain and Portugal, adopted in Norway
Ingredients: 600 g (1⅓ lb) boneless salt cod (klippfisk), dried salt cod, thick loin pieces if possible; 800 g (1¾ lb) waxy potatoes, peeled, in 1 cm slices; 4 tbsp olive oil, 60 ml, plus more to serve; 2 onions, about 300 g, halved and sliced; 4 cloves garlic, sliced; 2 red bell peppers, in strips; 1 tsp smoked paprika (pimentón), sweet or bittersweet; ¼ tsp chili flakes; 2 cans (2 × 14 oz) chopped tomatoes, 2 × 400 g; 2 tbsp tomato paste; 2 bay leaves; 250 ml (1 cup) water; 80 g (½ cup) pitted black olives; 1 bunch flat-leaf parsley, chopped; freshly ground black pepper

Salt cod, potatoes, peppers and olives: the Iberian braise Norway adopted

Serves: 4
Hands-on: 35 min
Total: 2 d 1 h
Level: Some skill

Norway has dried and salted cod for Portugal and Spain for centuries, and the rich tomato stew made from it is generally thought to have come back home with that trade to become a Norwegian Friday-night classic called simply bacalao. Salt cod (klippfisk) is cooked fish's opposite: firm, intensely savory, and silky once soaked. Start soaking two days ahead; the stew itself is easy.

Ingredients

600 gboneless salt cod (klippfisk) (1⅓ lb)dried salt cod, thick loin pieces if possible
800 gwaxy potatoes (1¾ lb)peeled, in 1 cm slices
4 tbspolive oil60 ml, plus more to serve
2onionsabout 300 g, halved and sliced
4 clovesgarlicsliced
2red bell peppersin strips
1 tspsmoked paprika (pimentón)sweet or bittersweet
¼ tspchili flakes
2 canschopped tomatoes (2 × 14 oz)2 × 400 g
2 tbsptomato paste
2bay leaves
250 mlwater (1 cup)
80 gpitted black olives (½ cup)
1 bunchflat-leaf parsleychopped
freshly ground black pepper

Diet: Gluten-free, Dairy-free, Pescatarian
Allergens: fish
Origin: Spain and Portugal, adopted in Norway
Season: Autumn, Winter

Method

Two days ahead, rinse the salt cod and cut it into 6–8 cm pieces. Put it in a large bowl of cold water, skin side up, and refrigerate.
Change the water 2–3 times a day for 36–48 hours. Taste a flake from the thickest piece: it should be pleasantly seasoned, like well-salted cooked fish, not briny. Thin pieces need only 24 hours. 2 days
Drain the cod, remove any skin and bones, and keep it in large chunks.
Heat the olive oil in a wide heavy pot over medium heat. Cook the onions with a pinch of pepper, stirring now and then, until soft and pale gold, 10–12 minutes. Add the garlic and peppers and cook 5 minutes more. 15 min
Stir in the paprika, chili flakes and tomato paste and cook 1 minute, until brick red and fragrant.
Add the tomatoes, bay leaves and water. Bring to a simmer, then layer in the potato slices, pushing them under the sauce. Cover and simmer gently until the potatoes are just tender to a knife, 20–25 minutes. 22 min
Nestle the cod into the sauce with the olives. Cover and keep at a bare simmer — just a few lazy bubbles — until the cod is opaque and flakes into large, glossy petals and reaches 60°C (140°F) in the center, 8–10 minutes. Don't stir hard, or it will shred. 9 min
Taste the sauce before seasoning — the cod brings salt, so you may need none. Add pepper. Rest 5 minutes off the heat, scatter with parsley and drizzle with olive oil. 5 min

Why it works

Salting and drying concentrate cod's flavor and reshape its proteins, so soaked klippfisk cooks up firmer and more savory than fresh fish and holds together in a long stew. Soaking pulls the salt back out through diffusion, which is why the water must be changed and thick pieces take longer. The potatoes simmer first because they need far more time than the fish, and the starch they shed thickens the sauce.

Common mistakes

Under-soaking: the stew becomes inedibly salty and can't be rescued. Always taste a flake before cooking.
Boiling the cod hard makes it stringy. Keep the heat low once the fish goes in.
Salting the sauce early. Season only at the end, after the cod has released its salt.

Variations

With fresh cod: If you can't find salt cod, use 600 g thick fresh cod loin salted with 8 g (1⅓ tsp) salt for 30 minutes, rinsed and patted dry; cook 6–8 minutes to 55°C (131°F).
Portuguese-style: Add a handful of chickpeas and finish with sliced hard-boiled eggs.

Make ahead and storage

Like most stews it is even better the next day; cool quickly and refrigerate up to 2 days, then reheat gently without boiling. The soaked, uncooked cod can be frozen.