Baccalà con i peperoni (Salt Cod with Bell Peppers)

If I had to name one food that best typifies Lent, the 40 day period of fasting when Catholics would traditionally abstain from meat and other rich foods, it would without a doubt be baccalà, called salt cod in English.

Once a poor man’s food, Italian cookery—the traditional kind at least—is replate with all sorts of ways of preparing it. We’ve seen a few here on Memorie di Angelina: lesso (simply boiled and dressed with olive oil), mantecato (simmered and puréed), alla napoletana, simmered in tomato sauce with garlic, capers and olives, battered and deep fried, in guazzetto (simmered in tomato sauce with raisins and pine nuts), in zimino (simmered with greens) and con ceci (paired with chick peas)… the list is practically endless.

Here’s yet another way to prepare baccalà, this one from Naples: baccalà con i peperoni, a particularly toothsome pairing of salt cod with roasted bell peppers. You fry fillets of salt cod until golden brown, then braise them with strips of roasted pepper in a simple tomato sauce for just a few minutes, until everyting gets acquainted.

At today’s prices, salt cod is no longer a poor man’s dish. Maybe that’s why, at least here in North America, it has almost disappeared from our tables. But even if it’s become a rare treat, baccalà still has a special place on my table, because it’s absolutely delicious.

And if baccalà is not your thing, no worries. The recipe works beautifully with fresh cod fillets or, for that matter, any other fish that tempts you.

Ingredients

Serves 4-6

For frying the salt cod:

• 1 kilo (2 lbs) salt cod, pre-soaked
• All purpose flour, as much as you need
• Vegetable oil, as much as you need
• salt and pepper

For roasting:

• 6-8 bell peppers

For making the sauce:

• 1 small (400g/(7 oz) can of tomatoes, passed thtough a food mill
• 2-3 cloves of garlic, peeled and lightly crushed
• olive oil
• salt

Optional:

• A few fresh basil leaves
• A handful of black olives

Directions

Prep and fry the salt cod

Rinse the salt cod of its surface salt and then leave it to soak overnight in several changes of cold water, in the fridge. (See Notes below for details.)

Rinse the salt cod well and pat it dry. Cut it into serving pieces. Season them with salt and pepper.

Lightly flour the cod pieces and shallow fry them in oil until golden brown on both sides. Set aside until needed,

Roast the peppers

Roast the peppers on a rack in a hot (200C/400F) oven (use convection if you have it) until the peppers are lightly charred on all sides, about 15-20 minutes, turning them from time time.

Remove the peppers from the oven. (Use tongs as they will be very hot). Wrap them in aluminum foil, seal up the foil, then cover with a towel. Let rest for about 10 minutes.

Remove the towel and open the aluminum foil, then split the peppers open to release the steam inside. Let them rest until coll enough to handle.

Cut the peppers in half and remove the inner core and seeds. Then gingerly scrape off their skins, taking care not to tear the flesh, and cut them into strips.

Make the tomato sauce

In a sauté pan or casserole, very gently sauté the garlic cloves in abundant olive oil until they are just beginning to brown around the edges.

Add the tomato and a good pinch of salt. Simmer until the tomato has reduced into a saucy consistency, about 10-15 minutes. Add the basil leaves about 5 minutes before it’s done.

Finish the dish

Lay the salt cod pieces in the sauce along surrounded by the pepper strips. Sprinkle in the olives if using.

Simmer everything together for about 10-15 minutes, turning the salt cod pieces over just once.

Serve hot.

Notes on baccalà con peperoni

There are a number of steps involved in this recipe, as we saw above, but each step is really quite easy. The roasting of the peppers is perhaps the only fussy bit, and even that isn’t terribly hard once you’ve done it a couple of times.

Salt Cod

Where I live salt cod is getting ever more dificult to find, but there is still one supermarket (and one Spanish deli) in the area that carries it. It can also be purchased online. Once dirt cheap, salt cod is rather expenisve these days. It costs close to $20 a pound at stores near me and $30 online.

Soaking times for salt cod can vary wildly, but typically 24 hours in cold water will do the trick. Or 48 hours if you prefer a milder flavor. But do check the packaging or ask you fish monger to be sure. Some lightly salted baccalà require a much shorter soak. Once it has soaked overnight, taste a tiny bit of the fish every 8 hours or so to see if it’s to your liking. It’s ready when the flesh is flexible (but still rather firmer than fresh cod) and palatable but still a bit briny.

Peppers

This summer vegetable can be had all year round these days. But of course this dish will be at its very best when peppers are in season. You can use all red peppers, or both red and yellow, or, my preferance, a colorful combination of different colors. The choice is really up to you. If you’re roasting your peppers, they should be quite fleshy. If you’re worknig with thinner peppers, it’s a better idea to fry them (see below).

You can also use store bought roasted peppers and save yourself the trouble of roasting them yourself. But if you do, look for peppers that are not packed in vinegar—unless you’re fond of acidic tastes. In truth, even without vinegar store bought roasted peppers taste a bit acidic since they are treated with ascorbic acid. A good rinsing helps.

Variations

Francesconi has a recipe for baccalà con i peperoni where you add the pre-soaked cod pieces directly into the sauce to braise without prior frying. Personally I find the frying adds a lovely rich flavor, but feel free to skip that step if you like.

She also has you slice and fry the peppers (separately) instead of roasting them.

Valentina Harris in her lovely cookbook Recipes from an Italian Farmhouse, also has a rendition of this dish. Her tomato sauce has an onion soffritto rather than a garlic one.

And speaking of the sauce, recipes vary quite a bit on how much sauce to use. Personally I go easy on the tomato so as to let the peppers shine. But if you want a saucier sauce, there are recipes where you use double the amount called for here or more. You can use leftover sauce to dresss pasta.

Making baccalà con i peperoni ahead

This is a dish that lends itself well to making ahead. When you’re ready to eat, just thin out the sauce a bit with water and bring the dish back to a gentle simmer for say, 5 minutes. You can also save time by roasting the peppers ahead. I usually do the day before while I”m soaking the salt cod. Once you’ve done those two steps, you can whip the dish up the next day in less than 30 minutes.