Brandade de Morue

evelyn/athens's Note:

This is basically a puree or spread made of poached salt cod. Having said it that simply, let me just say that this is one of my most favourite dishes - the ingredients combine to create flavour-perfection. The salt cod has to be soaked for atleast 24 hours with many changes of water.

• Total Time: 25 mins
• Prep Time: 15 mins
• Cook Time: 10 mins

Ingredients:

Servings: 4

• 2 lbs salt cod fish
• 12 slices French bread , ½ inch thick
• olive oil
• 2 cloves garlic , halved
• 2 cloves garlic , crushed
• ½ cup hot milk
• ½ cup hot cream
• 1 cup olive oil
• fresh lemon juice
• 1 pinch nutmeg
• olive
• parsley sprig

Directions:

1. Cover cod with cold water and refrigerate 24 hours, changing water at least 8 times in that period to remove the salt from the fish.
2. For croutons: Position rack in center of oven and preheat to 400F.
3. Arrange bread slices in singled layer on baking sheet.
4. Brush tops with oil and bake until just beginning to colour, about 5 minutes.
5. Rub tops of bread with halved garlic.
6. Drain cod; cover with cold water in a large saucepan and bring just to simmer.
7. Let simmer until cod is tender and just begins to flake, 8-10 minutes.
8. Drain cod; break into small pieces.
9. Transfer to processor.
10. Add crushed garlic cloves.
11. Combine hot milk and cream.
12. With machine running, pour olive oil and milk alternately through feed tube, several tablespoonfuls at a time, and blend until smooth.
13. Season with lemon juice, nutmeg, salt and pepper.
14. Mound brandade in center of platter.
15. Surround with croutons, olives and parsley.
16. Serve at room temperature.
17. (can be prepared up to 3 days ahead).

Reviews

[Aunt Cookie]

So good! We'd had salt cod brandade at a restaurant a while ago, and decided to see if we could duplicate it at home. It's not actually that hard! We stuck closely with the recipe, except that we didn't rinse the fish quite as many times as recommended (we were worried that the finished product might be too salty as a result, but it was fine). I liked this warm...when we had it at a restaurant, they put it under the broiler for a minute, and I think I will try that next time. We served this with salt-cured olives. By the way, we found salt cod at our neighborhood Italian grocery, and I've never seen it anywhere else. Thanks for another winner, Evelyn!