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Bacalhau no Forno com Migas – Oven Backed Salt Cod with Migas

by Tia Maria · Published January 22, 2015 · Updated January 22, 2015

Bacalhau no forno com migas. (Oven backed salt cod with migas)

Guest Post by: Nelson De Sousa

In Danbury Connecticutt there is a great Portuguese Restaurant called “The Atlantic”. I ate there on a recent business trip and had the “Bacalhau a Lagareiro”. The chef there prepares this cod dish in by caramelizing the onions and garlic in olive oil in a pan before pouring it over the grilled codfish. I decided to adapt this recipe for home preparation on a weeknight.

“Bacalhau a Lagareiro” is typically grilled over a charcoal fire which is not so time friendly for a weekday night and obviously not weather friendly for those in northern climates in the winter…hence my adaptation for weeknight preparation no matter what the weather is. I am also not a big fan of potatoes…I love them fried but hate them boiled or baked so I decided to pair this dish with Migas which is a stir fry of sorts made with broccoli rabe, Portuguese corn bread, black eyed peas and pine nuts.

Easy to make on weeknight…in fact I made this in under 1 hour!

Ingredients:
3 to 4 salted cod pieces (previously soaked in daily rinses of fresh water for 3-5 days)
2 onions
13 garlic cloves
2 bunches broccoli rabe chopped
2 cans black eyed peas
1 loaf Portuguese corn bread
Portuguese Olive Oil
Portuguese Olives
Pine nuts (optional)

Instructions:

Boil Cod Fish but don’t overcook it you just want to blanch it. Remove and let drain.

Caramelize 2 onions cut into wedges and like 10 whole gain cloves in Portuguese Olive oil. You want brown not burnt.

Set cod in a Pyrex baking dish and cover with olive oil, onions and garlic. Bake at 400 degrees for about 30 minutes.

Meanwhile sauté 3 whole garlic cloves on olive oil until brown but not burnt. Remove garlic cloves then add the inside (not the crust) of Portuguese corn bread. You want to rip the bread by hand into the finest pieces you can.Let the bread fry for 5 minutes then add chopped broccoli rabe. Cover and let cook until broccoli rabe is wilted and cooked.

Add canned black eyed peas and pine nuts and a little of the water from the black eyed peas can. Stir and cover for 5 minutes on low to medium heat. Garnish cod with Portuguese olives.