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Active Time
40 min
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Total Time
1 3/4 hr (plus 3 days for soaking cod)
The Spanish eat salt cod often and, given the excellence of their cod, it's no wonder — the dried fish is snowy white, delicate, and, once rehydrated, tender enough to eat raw. Though you can't get the same thing here, the salt cod from the Spanish specialty store La Tienda is very good (they selllomo— the center cut — which we prefer over the chewy, skinny end pieces), and its turnover is high, so there's no concern that the fish has been sitting on the shelves too long.
Ingredients
Makes 12 servings (as part of tapas buffet)
Soak and poach cod:
Step 1
Cover cod with 2 inches of cold water in a large bowl and soak, chilled, changing water 3 times a day, up to 3 days (see cooks' note, below).
Step 2
Drain cod and transfer to a 3-quart saucepan, then add 6 cups water. Bring just to a simmer and remove from heat. (Cod will just begin to flake; do not boil or it will become tough.) Gently transfer cod with a slotted spatula to a paper-towel-lined plate to drain. Cover with a dampened paper towel and chill while making confit.
Make confit and cook fish:
Step 3
中石油在一个12英寸的锅烹调大蒜moderately low heat, turning occasionally, until golden, 10 to 15 minutes. Add tomatoes and sugar and cook, stirring frequently, until tomatoes break down into a very thick sauce and oil separates, 45 minutes to 1 hour.
Step 4
Mash garlic cloves into sauce and add salt and pepper to taste. Spread sauce in a 3-quart gratin dish or other flameproof shallow baking dish and arrange fish over sauce.
Step 5
Preheat broiler.
Step 6
Whisk together mayonnaise, crème fraîche, and water and spread over each piece of fish. Broil fish 5 to 6 inches from heat just until mayonnaise mixture is lightly browned, about 2 minutes.
• Brands of salt cod differ in their degree of saltiness: A less salty variety may need only 1 day of soaking, while another could require up to 3. To test it, simply taste a small piece after 1 day; you want it to be pleasantly salty but not overwhelming.
• Confit can be made 2 days ahead and cooled, uncovered, then chilled, covered. Reheat before using.
Leave a Review
Reviews (13)
Back to TopI made this dish as part of my Christmas eve seafood dinner. My husband and I loved it. I did manage to find the center cut cod, it was being sold at the regular grocery store down the street. Perhaps just for the holidays. I followed the soaking instructions exactly, and sliced the cod after the soaking. For the confit, I decided to use my garlic press for the garlic rather than attempting to smash the cloves after cooking. I felt the garlic would be better distributed that way. So, I only cooked the small pieces of garlic in the oil for a minute before adding the tomatoes. There is absolutely no way for this mixture to achieve confit consistency in 45 minutes. Especially over low heat. It took me more like 2 or 3 hours. I added a small amount of red pepper flakes for a bit of heat, which I recommend. The mayonnaise mixture browned very nicely. I subbed sour cream for the creme fraiche, which worked fine. The garlic, tomato, and cod flavors were much too strong for the difference to be detected. So I would not look all over town for creme fraiche, just use sour cream. The presentation is very pretty.
AllisonT
Philadelphia
12/25/2011
I made this dish this weekend. I liked the idea but found the confit bland and thin for my tastes. I adjusted by cooking much longer than the recipe specified - 3 hours on a very low light until the sauce thickened. I also added some red pepper flakes and a bit of orange zest.
twistyhair
Arlington, VA
2/28/2011
This recipe is one of the simplest and most delicious you'll find out there. We tried with non center cut salt cod. The presentation was still decent and the taste was outstanding. The creme fraiche we didn't find at the local grocer so googled it for a substitute. The recommendation was to use Mexican Style sour creme and it worked perfectly.
EricKlunder
Seattle, WA
10/8/2009
This dish is absolutley delicious -- served with rosé. One caveat, however: I had never worked with salt cod before attempting this recipe, so I followed the instructions to the letter. NEVER try to cut salt cod into smaller pieces before soaking, as indicated in this recipe. Three stiches in my index finger later (and reading through other salt cod recipes) I realize it needs to tenderize before safely taking a knife to it. So tasty it's almost worth it, though...
sshellman
Tampa, FL
6/12/2009
I made this for Christmas Eve for our Seven Fish dinner and it was great! Everyone loved it and said it was a refreshing spin on the traditional baccala we used to eat as kids. Will definitely make again next year.
tracypie5
San Francisco
12/31/2008
Absolutely fabulous combination of flavors. Well written recipe - easy to do. I added browned cubed potatoes to the confit just before layering with the fish and used equal parts mayo and yogurt with chopped parsley for the topping.
Anonymous
Boston, MA
2/24/2008
在宴会上,巨大的冲击甚至用仪表ently sub-par chewy end pieces (which I poached in milk). I accidentally chopped the garlic before cooking (did not ruin anything) and used heavy cream and sour cream in place of mayo and creme fraiche, but this was one seriously delicious fish dish. And not too labor-intensive, if you ignore the soaking and cooking time.
squishface
Brooklyn, NY
9/29/2007
I'm not sure I should really be rating this recipe since all I did was use it as an inspiration for my own salt cod experiment, but I did love it as a concept to work with. I didn't use the mayo, used just a splash of regular cream, added black olives, and instead of poaching the cod beforehand, I just added it to the tomato mixture and simmered in that. It was a hit with the guests, and I would definitely use this flavor combination again with salt cod.
icexpat
Reykjavik, Iceland
8/4/2007
I haven't made this recipe, but I want to answer the question about creme fraiche. It's a French product that now can be found in most supermarkets in the dairy case by the sour creams. It's similar to sour cream, and if you can't find it, sour cream can make a good substitute for it.
texasgirl1
Coupeville, WA
3/21/2007
Anyone know what creme fraiche is???
Anonymous
boston, Ma
3/21/2007
This is an easy and elegant Tapas. One of my favorites.
DaveCox
Columbus, OH
10/31/2005
delicious and simple...
rajivp
San Francisci, CA
4/26/2005
The confit was outstanding--and so simple. The salt cod was disappointing, though I don't think I had center-cut pieces as was recommended. I would make this again using shrimp or fresh fish instead.
budra
Albany, CA
1/9/2005
