Bacalhau à Lagareiro
Codfish Lagareiro style or Bacalhau à Lagareiro is a traditional dish from Portugal. It is said to have originated in the Beira Litoral region, although some believe it may have come from Minho or Trás-os-Montes. The story goes that it was invented in the oil mills, possibly by olive mill workers who used new olive oil produced in the autumn to water the cod. According to popular tradition, the owner of a mill near Viseu created the recipe by cooking cod in a large quantity of fresh olive oil and adding small potatoes. Sounds delicious!
Originally it was made with salted cod, breaded with yesterday’s, crumbled bread, and savored with raw or roasted garlic, Later on, Punched Potatoes, or Batata a Murro, was added to the recipe – this was an ingredient introduced in Portugal during the Age of Discoveries.
Punched Potatoes or Batatas a Murro, is a Portuguese recipe and culinary technique for cooking new potatoes.
The name punched potatoes comes from using new potatoes with the skin on. New potatoes are, as the name says, still small potatoes that were harvested before reaching maturity, these after being cooked or roasted take a small hit (or punch) so that the potatoes open, become tender, and can be well seasoned with olive oil. These are often boiled and then roasted to make the skin even crispier. Sounds delicious!
Ingredients:
| Ingredients |
Units |
Grams |
Ounces |
Pounds |
Teaspoons |
Tablespoons |
Cups |
| Codfish |
2 loins soaked |
1000 |
35.27 |
2.20 |
175.7 |
70.5 |
4.2 |
| Small potatoes |
15 |
1000 |
35.27 |
2.20 |
175.7 |
70.5 |
4.2 |
| Virgin olive oil |
|
240 |
8.47 |
0.53 |
42.2 |
16.9 |
1.0 |
| Salt and pepper |
To taste |
|
|
|
|
|
|
| Fresh parsley |
To Taste |
|
|
|
|
|
|
| Garlic cloves |
10 finely sliced |
|
|
|
|
|
|
| Onion |
1 sliced |
|
|
|
|
|
|
| Bay leaves |
4 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
Preparation:
Firstly preheat your oven to 180°C (350°F).
In an oven tray, preferably clay, drizzle a bit of olive oil on the bottom. Place the washed potatoes on it, and season them with salt and pepper to taste. Mix well and add a bit more salt and pepper to ensure even seasoning. Preheat the oven to 180°C (350°F) and roast for 30 minutes.
Or for a quicker way of preparing your potatoes, you can season your potatoes with salt and pepper to taste and cook them in the microwave, at medium temperature, for 5 minutes. This will not fully cook them but will soften your potatoes.
Either way, to finish the preparation of the potatoes you will need to lightly punch them, to make punched potatoes which traditionally accompany this cod. The reason why they are lightly punched is to allow all the flavours to permeate the potatoes to make them tastier.
Meanwhile, in a frying pan, heat the 250 ml or 4 ounces of virgin olive oil with the sliced onion and 4 bay leaves. Stir and let it heat thoroughly.
When the onion starts to soften, add the sliced garlic let it heat slightly, and reserve.
To assemble the oven tray and the last step of this recipe, spread the punched potatoes around the tray and leave the center for the star of this recipe – the Cod.
In the center of the tray, spread 2 serving spoons of the sauté. Place the cod loins on top and cover everything with the remaining sautéed mixture.
Take this tray to the oven, maintaining the temperature at 180°C (350°F). Roast for an additional 25 minutes.
After 25 minutes and when the cod is cooked, remove the tray from the oven and finally, sprinkle everything with freshly chopped coriander.
And enjoy this delicious and mouthwatering recipe for cod fish!
