091Baked salt cod with tomato

Method

Traditional oven-baked salt cod with onions and potatoes. Plaki is traditionally served warm or at room temperature, never scalding hot.

You will need

• ceramic or glass baking dish (approx. 32 x 24 cm)
• wide frying pan
• box grater
• wooden spoon

1. Preheat a conventional oven to 190°C (375°F). 10 min · 190°C / 375°F Ready when: oven reaches steady baking temperature
2. Heat 3 tablespoons of the olive oil in a wide frying pan over medium heat, add the sliced onions, and cook for 8 to 10 minutes until softened and translucent, then add the sliced garlic and cook for 1 minute more. 11 min Ready when: onions are soft and sweet smelling without dark browning
3. Stir the grated tomatoes, tomato paste, chopped parsley, bay leaves, black pepper, and water into the onions, simmer for 5 minutes, and taste before deciding whether any salt is needed. 5 min Ready when: sauce is loose, fragrant, and simmering gently
4. Arrange the potato slices in a single overlapping layer on the base of a 32 x 24 cm baking dish, drizzle with 1 tablespoon of olive oil, and spread half of the warm tomato-onion sauce over them. 4 min Ready when: potatoes are covered by a thin layer of sauce
5. Pat the desalted salt cod fillets dry with kitchen paper and place them skin-side down over the potato layer. 2 min Ready when: cod pieces sit evenly spaced in the dish
6. Spoon the remaining tomato and onion sauce evenly over the fish, then pour the remaining olive oil over the entire tray. 2 min Ready when: fish is fully bathed in sauce and oil
7. Bake uncovered in the centre of the oven for 40 to 45 minutes, until the potatoes are tender when pierced with a knife and the sauce has settled into rich, bubbling oil. 45 min · 190°C / 375°F Ready when: sauce is bubbling and edges are lightly caramelised
8. Allow the dish to rest for 10 to 15 minutes before serving so the juices settle and the flavours deepen. 15 min Ready when: dish is warm rather than piping hot

Tap a step to tick it off.

Make ahead and storing

Salt cod requires 36 to 48 hours of advance soaking in cold water kept in the fridge, changing the water 3 to 4 times a day.

Refrigerate in a sealed container for up to 3 days; gently re-warm in an oven or eat at room temperature.

Substitutions

• fresh cod fillets or fresh sea bass for dried salt cod fillets. Fresh fish does not require advance soaking; season the fillets with salt before arranging in the pan.
• canned crushed tomatoes for ripe tomatoes. Use 400g of good quality tinned crushed tomatoes when ripe fresh tomatoes are not in season.

Common mistakes

• Insufficient soaking of the salt cod. Salt cod retains sharp, overpowering salinity if not given ample soaking time with regular cold water changes.
• Slicing potatoes too thickly. Thick potato slices will remain hard while the delicate cod overcooks; keep them to 0.5 cm.

Regional variants

• Ionian style: a generous splash of white wine and a handful of Corinthian currants are added to the onion sauce.
• Peloponnesian celery plaki: chopped celery stalks and leaves are sautéed with the onions to add herbal depth.

About the dish

Dried salt cod has been imported into Greece since at least the late fifteenth century, largely through trade with British and Scandinavian merchants. Readily transportable and shelf-stable, it penetrated deep into mountainous inland villages where fresh sea fish was unobtainable, earning the moniker the fish of the poor. While salt cod fried in batter for the feast of the Annunciation on 25 March is famous, baking it plaki-style over a generous bed of sweet onions, garlic, ripe tomatoes, and olive oil is an equally enduring domestic tradition across Greece.

Found in all of Greece. Cooked for everyday, sunday lunch, summer.

Cousins elsewhere

• Bacalhau de cebolada (Portuguese). Both rely on desalinated salt cod baked or simmered in a dense bed of olive oil, sliced onions, and tomatoes.
• Baccalà alla vicentina (Italian). Another historical Mediterranean treatment of dried Atlantic cod, though the Italian recipe incorporates milk and anchovies.

Nutrition per serving (estimate)

996 kcal · protein 130.8 g · fat 32.9 g (saturated 4.8 g) · carbohydrate 39.1 g (sugars 8.8 g) · fibre 6.3 g · sodium 14076 mg

An estimate (summed from ingredient estimates) that varies with the exact ingredients. It is not dietary advice.

Written fresh by Epikouria editors from general culinary tradition. Recipe by the Epikouria editors. Following the classic mainland and island plaki method of oven-roasting fish over sweet alliums and potatoes steeped in olive oil..