Cuban Codfish And Potatoe Fricasee Bacalao Con Papas Recipes

Steps:

• Rinse 1/2 pound salt cod under cold water to remove the outer layer of salt. Tear it into large strips (about 1- to 2-inches wide), place in a large bowl and cover with cold water. Let soak for 1 hour, drain the water and tear the cod into large bite-size pieces. Cover again with cold water and let soak for 30 minutes. Drain, cover again with cold water and soak for the final 30 minutes. Drain and squeeze out all the excess water from the cod with your hands; the cod should be very dry before using.
• Heat the oil and butter to a medium pot or Dutch oven over medium heat until the butter melts. Add the bay leaf and oregano and cook until fragrant, 1 minute. Add the onion, garlic, black pepper and half of the parsley. Stir to evenly combine and cook, stirring often, until the onions are translucent but not brown, about 3 minutes. Add the tomato paste and stir to coat all the ingredients. Continue to stir until the tomato paste begins to caramelize and turn a dark red, almost brown color, 2 to 3 minutes. Add the wine and cook, scraping the caramelized bits from the bottom of the pot with a wooden spoon. Next, add the salt cod, stirring to coat the cod completely in the sauce and cook until the cod absorbs most of the sauce, 1 to 2 minutes. Finally, add the potatoes, piquillo peppers, olives and tomato sauce. Stir together, cover and reduce the heat to medium low. Simmer the sauce until the potatoes are fork tender but still hold their shape, about 20 minutes.
• To serve, stir in the lemon juice and taste for salt -- typically all the salt needed in this recipe comes from the salt cod. Plate with cooked white rice or grilled bread and garnish with the remaining chopped parsley.

Steps:

• The day before soak your de-boned cod fillets changing the cold water every two hours throught out the day. Before going to bed drain the water again add cold water and leave soaking overnight. The next day drain the water again add more cold water and bring to a boil, once boil starts lower the flame and simmer for 10 minutes. Remove fish from the pot and add the potatoes boil until just tender. Remove potatoes from the pot and let cool. While potatoes are cooking break fish up into pieces. Do not shredd leave in small pieces. Set aside in a dish. When ptatoes are done let cool and peel as if you were making potatoe salad. When potatoes are peeled slice potatoes in small slices. Set potatoes in another dish and proceed to make the fricasee sauce.
• In a large skillet heat olive oil add the diced veggies onion, green pepper, fresh smashed garlic, parsley and cilantro. Saute until the onion is transparent and limp. Now add and deglaze with the wine. Next add the tomato sauce, vinegar, cocktail sauce, olives and capers. Continue to saute for two minutes. Now add all the seasonings. oregano, bay leaf, cumin powder, garlic powder, Goya sazon packet, black pepper and the fish broth. Continue to cook for about 5 minutes. Taste the sauce to make sure if it has enough seasonings. Do not add any salt as the cod has some salt in it. Somtimes I like to add just a touch of cayanne pepper but that is optional. Let sauce simmer for about 5 more minutes.
• Now take the cod and mix into the sauce real well being careful not to break it up. Try to leave the pieces whole. Mix it into the sauce gently. After mixing in the fish add the potatoes and mix in again very gently carfull not to break up the potatoes. Throughly mix everything with the sauce. Now taste to see if it has enough salt. You may need to add just a touch of Sea salt but just a touch. You cod should still have enough salt. When making the taste test taste a piece of the fish with the sauce.
• Serve alongside or on top of white Cuban rice. In my picture above I served on top of white rice with cod fritters and stuffed plantain cups with shrimp on the side. Hope you enjoy these recipes I have posted all three for you to see. LOL