Portuguese Salt Cod and Potato Casserole with Molho Cru 葡萄牙鹽漬鱈魚馬鈴薯派佐荷蘭芹油醋醬

My try at a recipe from George Mendes’s cookbook, My Portugal. It is also published on Saveur website - Portuguese Salt Cod, Potato and Egg Casserole.

I am way less familiar with Portuguese food, so when I am in the mood for some changes, I often look up Portuguese recipes to try. This one is fairly easy to make, and as a Taiwanese I am always trying to sneak seafood into our dinner.

The “casserole“ consists of layers of potatoes, lightly caramelised onions, flaked salt cod, olives and hard-boiled eggs - a combination of simple and clean flavours with nice texture. I made a Portuguese chimichurii sauce (molho cru) to go with the casserole for dinner. Paired with glasses of wine. It was delightful.

I did find the portion suggestion on the original recipe (says it serves 4) a bit bizarre, and made some adjustment. I also could not find salt cod, so I just made a quick improvised one myself. There is a video of George Mendes making salt cod and this dish on Saveur website as well - George Mendes Makes the Case for Salt Cod. We ate the leftover salt cod with polenta, a tomato sauce and the rest of the molhu cru. Salt cod is my new obsession now.

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And here is the recipe…

Ingredients

serves 2

for casserole

• 200 g salt cod, flaked

• 1 small white onion, half rings

• 3 garlic cloves, minced

• 2 bay leaves

• 2 large potato, peeled and thinly sliced (2 mm)

• 1/2 cup pitted black olives, sliced

• 2 hard-boiled eggs, sliced

• salt

• pepper

• parsley, for garnish

for molhu cru (Portuguese chimichurii sauce)

• 1/2 small white onion, finely chopped

• 3 garlic cloves, minced

• 6 tbsp olive oil

• 3 tbsp red wine vingegar

• 1 chilli, minced

• 1/2 tsp smoked paprika

• 1 cup parsley, minced

• salt

• pepper

Method

for casserole

1. Make quick salt cod: Cover skinless, boneless cod fillet with salt and cure in the fridge overnight. Discard the water that leaks out, rinse off excessive salt on cod, pat dry, then cook in olive oil in a pan. Flake the cod with a fork. (Noted: The traditional method is to salt cure the cod for 48 hours, rinse off the salt then dry completely for up to two weeks, then soak the cod in water to rehydrate it before using.)

2. Cook sliced onion in a pan on medium heat until soften, then add garlic and bay leaves, turn the heat down a bit to avoid burning garlic. Cook until onion is golden brown, almost caramelised. It took me about 15-20 mins. Discard the bay leaves.

3. Boil a small pot of water for hard-boiled eggs. Put eggs in after water is boiled and cook for 10 mins. Peel and slice.

4. Preheat the oven to 160°C.

5. Brush the bottom of your chosen bakeware with olive oil. Layer potato slices, overlay slightly, brush with olive oil and season with salt and pepper, then layer half of the cooked onions, half of the flaked salt cod, half of the sliced eggs and 1/3 of the sliced olives. Press everything down with a spatula. Repeat one more time and finish with another potato layer on the top, drizzle with olive oil and season with salt and pepper. (Noted: The original recipe has 1 more layer than mine and the distribution of ingredients is therefore slightly different.)

6. Cover the casserole with foil and bake for 40 min. After 40 mins, take off the foil and grill at 180°C for 10-15 mins until potatoes are golden brown, check every 5 mins.

7. Garnish with remaining sliced olive and parsley.

for molhu cru

1. Cook chopped onion and minced garlic in a pan with olive oil on medium low heat for 5 mins, so they are slightly cooked but still the same colour. (There is no need to cook them if you can eat raw onion and garlic. I can’t due to IBS.)

2. Mix everything together, season with salt and pepper as you taste. I use a non-electric milk frother to properly whisk up the oil and vinegar. Leave in the fridge for at least 2 hours.

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某天晚餐嘗試做了這個來自George Mendes的食譜書《My Portugal》裡的食譜，該食譜也有在Saveur網站上刊登：葡萄牙鹽漬鱈魚、馬鈴薯和水煮蛋派。

葡萄牙料理對我來說很是陌生，所以每當想要嘗試做點新東西時，我常搜尋葡萄牙食譜來找靈感。這個食譜很簡單，又有魚！剛好適合我總是想要吃海鮮的台灣胃。

這個派有著一層層的切片馬鈴薯、微焦糖洋蔥、鹽漬鱈魚、橄欖和水煮蛋，是清爽的風味組合。我另外做了葡萄牙荷蘭芹油醋醬，再配上幾杯紅酒，當成兩人的晚餐剛剛好。

原食譜的建議份量和我做起來不太一樣，所以我有稍作調整。另外因為買不到現成的鹽漬鱈魚，我自己做了簡易版本。Saveur網站上有食譜書作者George Mendes做這個食譜和鹽漬鱈魚的小短片：George Mendes發揚鹽漬鱈魚。因為買來的鱈魚份量比較多，剩下的鹽漬鱈魚我們隔天搭配義式玉米粥、自製蕃茄香料糊和剩下的荷蘭芹油醋醬享用。超喜歡鹽漬鱈魚的風味和口感！

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食譜

材料

兩人份

鹽漬鱈魚馬鈴薯派

• 200 g 鹽漬鱈魚，用叉子壓碎

• 1 顆 小黃色洋蔥，切成半月型

• 3 瓣 大蒜，切碎

• 2 片 月桂葉

• 2 顆 大馬鈴薯，去皮切成2毫米厚的片狀

• 1/2 杯 去籽黑橄欖，切片

• 2 顆 全熟水煮蛋，切片

• 鹽

• 黑胡椒

• 荷蘭芹，最後裝飾用

葡萄牙荷蘭芹油醋醬

• 1/2 顆 小黃色洋蔥，切碎

• 3 瓣 大蒜，切碎

• 6 大匙 橄欖油

• 3 大匙 紅酒醋

• 1 根 小根辣椒

• 1/2 茶匙 醃燻紅椒粉

• 1 杯 荷蘭芹，切碎

• 鹽

• 黑胡椒

做法

鹽漬鱈魚馬鈴薯派

1. 快速鹽漬鱈魚：去皮去骨的鱈魚片兩面灑滿鹽，放進冰箱鹽漬過夜。倒掉鱈魚脫的水，沖洗鱈魚表面多餘的鹽，擦乾，用橄欖油在平底鍋上煎熟。用叉子將魚肉壓碎。（註：傳統的做法是鹽漬48小時後沖洗掉表面多餘的鹽，擦乾，讓魚肉完全風乾約兩週，在使用前要先泡水讓魚肉恢復水份。）

2. 中火煮半月型條狀的洋蔥煮到洋蔥變軟，加入大蒜和月桂葉，火力調小一點免得大蒜燒焦，煮到洋蔥完全軟化變成金黃色微焦糖化的狀態，大約需15到20分鐘。月桂葉取出扔棄。

3. 煮一小鍋水來煮水煮蛋。水滾後放入蛋，煮10分鐘，就有全熟水煮蛋。取出後剝殼並切片。

4. 烤箱預熱至攝氏160度。

5. 烤盅底層刷上一層橄欖油。放入馬鈴薯片，稍微重疊，再刷上一層橄欖油並灑鹽和黑胡椒，然後鋪上一半的洋蔥、一半的鹽漬鱈魚、一半的切片水煮蛋和三分之一的切片黑橄欖。用鍋鏟壓緊。重複上述步驟一次，最後再以一層馬鈴薯片層結尾，淋上橄欖油並灑鹽和黑胡椒。（註：原食譜多了一層，所以鋪料的份量比例不太一樣。）

6. 用錫箔紙包住烤盅，放入烤箱烤40分鐘。40分鐘後拿掉錫箔紙，烤箱轉成單上火攝氏180度烤到馬鈴薯變金黃色，大約10到15分鐘，最好是每五分鐘查看一次以免烤焦。

7. 最後撒上剩下的切片黑橄欖和切碎的荷蘭芹。

葡萄牙荷蘭芹油醋醬

1. 中小火煮切碎的洋蔥和大蒜，煮約五分鐘，讓洋蔥和大蒜不是完全生的但還維持原色。（如果能吃生洋蔥和生大蒜的人可以省略這步驟，我只是腸躁症無法吃生洋蔥和生大蒜。）

2. 混合所有材料。我用手持非電動的奶泡器打油醋打到混合均勻。放冷藏至少兩小時。

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