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This recipe is Portuguese, and uses salt cod, potatoes and black olives as the main ingredients. You can use any salted fish, which is readily available in both Europe and the Caribbean. It's a good one to do on passage, when you've run out of fresh stuff and not a shop within a thousand nautical miles!
SERVES 2 Preparation Time: 10 Minutes + 8 hours soaking |
| 1 lb salt cod | 2 hard-boiled eggs |
| 2 large potatoes | Hot pepper sauce, to taste |
| 1 large onion,chopped | Olive oil |
| 16 black olives, stoned | |
Soak the salt cod in fresh water for about 8 hours, changing the water a couple of times. Some fish is more salty than others, and may take longer soaking, although you don't want to get rid of the saltiness entirely.
If there are bones in the fish, try to remove as many as possible before cooking. If the flesh is quite delicate, it won't need any boiling, but if it still seems quite hard after soaking, simmer it in some fresh water for about 10 minutes and then drain.
Peel the potatoes and cut into thick slices. Parboil in a saucepan and drain.
Heat a large glug of olive oil in a frying pan, and gently fry the onion until translucent but not browned. Add the parboiled potatoes (make sure they are nice and dry) and fry until just turning brown. Add the fish and cook for a further 5 minutes, adding more cooking oil if required - don't skimp on the oil, it's part of the overall dish.
Stir in the black olives and garnish with quartered hard-boiled eggs and lots of black pepper.
Serve with a crisp green salad, and some crusty bread to mop up the olive oil. Oh, and a glass of full-bodied red wine!