Bacalhau à Zé do Pipo – Codfish & Pototao Casserole

 

 

Salted Cod or Bacalhau as it is known in Portugal is a major ingredient in the Portuguese diet since the discovery of Newfoundland in 1497.

Fisherman began fishing its cod-rich Grand Banks and Bacalhau was nicknamed Fiel amigo (faithful friend).

The fish became popular in Portugal and other Catholic countries, when it was substituted on days of fasting from eating meat on Fridays, Lent, and other festivals.

Today, the legend is that the Portuguese have 365 or more recipes for bacalhau, one for each day of the year.

The recipe originates from the city of Porto, Portugal, and is named after its creator, Zé do Pipo, who owned a famous restaurant in that city during the 1960s. He won a national cooking contest with this dish. Since then, many restaurants have adopted it in their menus which has it made it extremely popular!

 

 

Bacalhau à Zé do Pipo

Ingredients:

1 lb Bacalhau (de salted – cut into 4 portion loins)

8 large potatoes

1/2 cup of olive oil

1 large sliced onion

1 diced garlic clove

1 bay leaf

2 tbsp butter

1 cup milk

1 egg yolk

1/2 cup mayonnaise

1 small roasted red pepper

black olives

1 tsp salt

pepper

parsley

1/4 cup flour for frying codfish

 

Instructions:

Peel and cook potatoes in boiling salted water for about 25 minutes. Remove from heat, drain potatoes, add the milk, butter, egg yolk and pepper and mash. Set the potatoes aside.

Coat the codfish in flour and fry in the olive oil on medium – low heat until golden brown. Place on paper towels to soak off excess oil.

Saute the onions, garlic and bay leaf in the same olive oil that you cooked the fish in, until lightly browned. Remove the bay leaf.

Place the codfish portions in a large oven safe casserole dish or in individual serving size dishes.

Coat the codfish with the onions and surround with the mashed potatoes.

Coat the codfish with a few tablespoons of the mayonnaise, the top each with a slice of red pepper.

Bake at 350 for about 20 minutes or until the mayonnaise is golden brown.

Garnish with olives and parsley.

Watch this video for the preparation instructions.

photo credits:http://chefdelucca.com/site/?p=487