A dish with cod directly from the Catalan tradition
ingredients for 4 servings (cost about 7€ pp)
- 600 g already desalted cod
- salt
- 2 spring onions
- 120 g cannellini beans
- 25 g almonds
- 25 g hazelnuts
- 50 g stale bread
- one or two HEADS of garlic with total weight about 125 g
- 400 g very ripe tomatoes
- 1 red pepper with weight 125 g
- 20 g excellent quality vinegar
- 1 tsp paprika de la Vera
- 200 ml gentle EV olive oil (if we cannot find a gentle one we sub with EV sunflower oil)
- fresh oregano flowers or leaves
First of all we have to put the beans to soak overnight.
The day after we prepare the romesco sauce. We lightly roast the almonds and the hazelnuts, taking care not to burn them. When we finish we fry the stale bread, already cut in slices, in two tablespoonfuls of oil.
At the same time we roast in a 200 degree oven for about 15 minutes the garlic with the skin, after previously opening the heads, dividing them into cloves and immerging the cloves in cold water for 5 minutes. In the same oven we put one more pan, where at one side we arrange the tomatoes and at the other side the red peppers. 200 Celsius degrees, but for 45 minutes.
After all the vegetables have cooled completely, we start peeling the tomatoes, the peppers and the garlic.
We put all the above ingredients (except 25 gr of red pepper) with the vinegar and the paprika in a blender to create a pulp. We carry the pulp to a clean bowl and we start incorporating slowly the olive oil into the mixture. We season with salt and pepper at the end and we let the sauce rest for at least 4-5 hours.
We put the beans in a pot with cold salted water, we bring to boil and we then reduce the heat, leaving the beans simmering.
ATTENTION: Do not boil the beans in high temperature water. Our aim is to keep them whole, something impossible if they ll be exposed to high temperatures. When the beans are tender we drain them well and we immediately grease them with olive oil. We cut the 25 g of red pepper in dice and the spring onions and we mix them with the beans.
When the sauce will be ready, we prepare the cod. I forgot to tell you that when the cod is desalted we have to remove any spine from its flesh. We then fill a large pan with oil, we bring the oil to a temperature of about 80 Celsius degrees (not more) and we start confitting the cod in batches, leaving them in the oil for about 5 minutes.
We spread the romesco sauce at the bottom of the plate and we add the cod and the beans, garnishing with fresh oregano.
