Baccala alla Napoletana

We are making baccala alla napoletana which is one of the most classic seafood dishes on our Christmas Eve table, at Christmas Eve obviously, in Napoli. There are different ways to make baccala. Baccala is a salted cod so it's basically, I'll show you what it looks like, that is salted cod that's been rehydrated for three days in cold water, changing the water out every day. So basically when you buy it at your grocery store or your seafood shop or at the seafood counter in your grocery store, it is going to look stiff as a board, it's going to be salty, like it has a salt crust on it and it's very dry. And what you do is you take it out of the package, you put it in a bucket, I use a pot, of cold water, plenty of water, pop it in your fridge and then every day you are going to change that water. So I bought it Saturday morning so I added Saturday morning fresh water, changed it on Sunday, changed it on Monday and changed it today which is Tuesday. So it's been soaking for three days with fresh water every day. And now it's ready. Do not mistake baccala for cod. Yes, it's the same fish, but it has a different flavor and texture profile. It's something in its own league. If you can't find baccala, you could use cod for this, absolutely, but the flavor is different. And you know, it is what it is. A la neboletana just means that it's cooked with potatoes in sauce. There are many different ways of making this. My mother's favorite way of making baccala for herself personally is to flour it, cut it into bite sized pieces, she puts some flour on it, she dredges it in flour and she deep fries it. That's her favorite. That is her favorite way of making baccala. There's also a baccala salad which you just soak it exactly, in every variety, in any variation that you make baccala you have soak it for three days. No matter what you're making. You can boil it after soaking and make a baccala salad, you can do it steamed with just olive oil and lemon, but this is one of our favorites. You can put this whole thing into the oven, but this is really one of our favorites. And it just starts off with extra virgin olive oil and some thinly sliced onions in the bottom of your pot or I'm just using my shallow dutch oven because it just works really really well for this. And then, you are going to add some thinly sliced or diced or chopped potatoes. I like to slice them, not too thin, not too thick. Maybe about a quarter inch. And that's just my favorite way, my nonna loves it this way. And then you add some capers and you add some black olives which I'm using kalamata olives because those are what I tend to like the most but if you can find galleta olives, go ahead and use those. And it is a phenomenal dish, my nonna loves this dish, it just brings back a lot of childhood memories and kind of just, it's the taste and smell of home, you know? And around the holidays, that one can go, and around the holidays that's what we want, that's at least what I want. So I'm just going to let those saute and then we'll move forward. Just a small splash of dry white wine, just a little bit. Let that cook out, literally maybe like 30 seconds, just gives you good balance and it's always good with fish. I like to always add a little bit of wine when I'm working with fish and you notice I'm not using garlic here, I'm using onions. That is not a mistake, that's on purpose. Go in with your tomatoes, gorgeous. Now I'm not adding any salt, you are going to add pepper but you're not going to add salt, not until the very, very end because remember the cod was salted and it's going to have some more of that saltiness to it that's going to infuse throughout your sauce. Now you're going to add your tomatoes, your potatoes, and I do my best to kind of put them in a single layer but that's obviously impossible. So just nestle them like that, they can overlap a bit, no problem. Just to give them a head start, you know? And that way they kind of cook evenly, that's why I like a shallow pot like this one. I'll link this exact one in the description down below for you, it's really nice. I make baked ziti in this all the time, mac and cheese, just because it's got a nice shape. Like that. Then I'm going to scatter over some capers and some black olives. Like I said, don't do anything to it, just leave it alone. I'm going to cover it, I'm going to show you my cod because I want to cut it into pieces, let that go like 10-15 minutes. You want the potatoes to be just about fully cooked through. This is what the cod looks like now, I bought two pounds, so one pound and one pound, but can you see that this is a nice chunky piece and this is a thinner piece? I don't like how the so I discard it and then I put it in a pot of boiling water for 15 minutes, and then not even, not even, five minutes, and then I flake it and I put a little extra virgin olive oil and lemon juice and that's perfect. But this is the part that you want right here, this nice big chunkiness, and I cut it into about like three inch pieces, like that. It's gorgeous. Then I'll leave whole, because you know what? Why not? You can make it smaller, but we're eaters in this family and it's something that we all love and it's a really gorgeous, gorgeous dish and if you were to serve this on Christmas Eve to an Italian Italian, an Italian that grew up eating it, they may shed a tear. They may shed a tear. Bacalai is the kind of thing, I am going to cut this in half, it's too big. Bacalai is the kind of thing that you really only eat at Christmas time and there are many versions of it, and like I said I love it in any way that you prepare it, it's distinct, it's Christmas. I was having a conversation with one of you on Instagram when I was talking about bacalai and she said, oh thinking about bacalai reminds me of being little and my grandparents dragging me through fish markets and seeing the eels in the buckets. I said that's my childhood, through the streets of Naples that my mom would drag me to the fish places and the eels out of the bin and you were wondering whether or not they were going to pop out and when I took my husband there for the first time, Christmas of 2009 to a Christmas market in Naples, he was like, are they going to come out? Why are they in there? Why are they so shallow? I'm like, I don't know, just do as they say, I don't have to tell you. So anyway, but I'm just going to let that cook and then I'll be ready for that. It's been about 15 minutes, potatoes are about halfway cooked through. Beautiful. Gorgeous, gorgeous, gorgeous. Now we take our cod and we kind of nestle it in there, you know? Just make some room, move things around. You know what you've got to do. Our bacalai. Not to be mistaken with regular cod because like I said, you know there's a difference. You know? And now this just needs to simmer gently for another 15 minutes or so and you're pretty much done. Chop up some parsley, you want a good amount of parsley and then we'll season this towards the end, kind of have to see how much water, how much salt comes out as it cooks. See that potato is already falling apart so that's a good sign. I'm going to put the lid back on, 15 more minutes. I took my cod out because my cod is fully cooked through but I don't want to season this with more salt because that's pretty salty enough. Again, taste yours but my potatoes do need some salt so I did taste those and they do need a bit of salt, they definitely need ground black pepper and this is something you do want to do towards the end because like I said, you just never know how much salt is going to come out of your bacalai. That looks gorgeous, let me give it a taste. I'm trying to get my fork. The potato in here is already broken so I just want to taste that. Perfect. I'm going to add my cod right back in because this took about 10 minutes to cook through very gently, you don't want to overcook it and just nestle that and that's pretty much it and you're pretty much done and that is gorgeous. Lots of fresh chopped parsley because you know, you need it. You do need it. The parsley was wet so it's not sticking to me. That's it. Gorgeous, gorgeous, gorgeous. Turning this off, going in for a little bite. This is one of my very favorite things. There's a piece right there that's like barely hanging on. This is one of my very, very favorite things. I loved it as a child. I've always had the palette of what my nana used to say, you've got the palette of a 60-year-old man. Guys, it's so good. It is so good. It tastes like home. It's something that if you grew up with it, then you know. The bacalai is actually just like a little sweet almost, the flesh is a little sweet. It's sensational. Go to LauraintheKitchen.com for the written recipe, check the description down below. I hope you guys have enjoyed spending time with me and I will see you in the next one. Bye. It's so good.