It’s not about the ornaments, trees, and home décor. It’s about what else that adorns grocery shelves comes the Season to be Jolly.
Last week, I spied chestnuts in the produce area of LaComer. 420 pesos a kilo. That’s almost $25 USD for 2.2 pounds. Not as pricey as pine nuts, but expensive nonetheless.
German and Polish imports edge out candies from Spain. I ask a small group of Mexicans comparable to my station why there is so little turrón. One says “It’s the economy,” to which his wife remarked “But people buy German chocolates, and they’re even more expensive.” The rest said “It’s because no one likes turrón anymore.”
Moving on to bacalao, I recalled how huge tables of sides of bacalao announced that the Buen Fin-Reyes marathon was underway. It always smelled like someone died. Then there were no more tables of those giant sides of bacalao, just a couple to decorate the few boxes of bacalao, neatly filleted. What’s with that? One man says “It’s the economy,” to which his wife replies “Bacalao is too much trouble to prepare.” And the rest chime in “It’s because no one likes bacalao anymore.”
What’s this world coming to?
I still love bacalao, and I love making it. Be warned: bacalao falls in the category of eggplant and okra. People either love it or hate it, and there’s no middle ground. It’s too expensive to waste on the unappreciative, so it pays to vet those guests before serving.
And even though this isn’t a recipe blog, it’s still mine, and I can post whatever I like. And today it’s my non-original, purloined from various and forgotten sources, recipe for bacalao Vizcaya.
The beauty of this dish is how it can be modified to suit everyone’s taste. It looks difficult, but it’s actually very easy to prepare.
Ingredients:
2-3 lbs. bacalao (legitimate dried Norwegian salt cod, without bones). Don’t buy the flat board-like sheets. Use the thicker, more expensive filet, because there’s less waste.
4 lbs. tomato. Preferably Roma, although any kind of red tomato will work.
6 cloves garlic (or more). Maybe even an entire head if you love garlic.
1 medium or large white or yellow onion
1 red bell pepper, sliced (optional)
¼ cup raisins (optional)
200 grams almonds (or more), peeled and slivered, or at least just peeled
500-600 grams green olives, chopped. I prefer olives, with pits, because it takes people longer to eat. If using pitted olives, use a smaller amount.
1 small bottle capers (optional)
1 lb. new or very small potatoes (optional)
Italian parsley to taste, chopped
3-4 chilies güero, Hungarian wax or yellow banana peppers, pickled, fresh or roasted, cut into strips (optional)
1 glass of brandy (approximately 1/4 cup)
Neutral -flavored cooking oil. Olive oil is nice, but the strong flavors will overwhelm it, and no one will notice if you’re using canola instead.
Note: This dish requires approximately 48-72 hours ahead. Once fish is ready to prepare, plan on serving the day after preparation; the dish improves with a day’s rest in the refrigerator.
Directions:
Starting 2 days before cooking, soak the bacalao in water in an enamel, glass or non-reactive vessel. Drain and change the water every 6 hours. Or whenever you think about it.
After the final bath, drain the water again. Simmer the fish for 10-15 minutes in water. Drain. Reserve 1 cup of the cooked fish water, which may be used to thin the sofrito later.
Flake the fish, removing any bones or connective tissues, and set aside.
Cook the almonds lightly in a small amount butter, and then slightly toast them. This step can be done a day or so ahead.
Boil and peel the potatoes. This step can be done a day or so ahead.
Zap the garlic, tomato, and onion in a food processor/blender until finely pureed. Using skillet large enough for all the ingredients together, fry the blended mixture in a small amount of cooking oil to make a sofrito.
Add in sliced bell pepper. Cook the sofrito until about 75% of the liquid is gone. The sofrito can be prepared months ahead of time and frozen until needed.
Add the fish to the sofrito & bell pepper, along with the almonds, boiled potatoes, chopped parsley, raisins, and the brandy.
Stir, and cook covered just a few minutes for everything to heat up and the flavors to mix. Add the olives. If you don’t like olives, you could add drained capers. If you don’t like either, then skip the olives and capers.
Do not add any salt, because there’s still some residual salt in the fish.
Refrigerate for a day or so for the flavors to meld. If it seems a little dry, make some more sofrito and add it to the mixture. Or add a small amount of leftover fish cooking water.
Serve at room temperature with lots of crusty white bread. Or if it’s cold outside, slightly warmed.
Refrigerated, the dish should be good for about a week. This recipe makes a huge quantity! And, sans the potatoes, it freezes well.
Red Shoes are Better than Bacon 