Bacalao Guisado con Papas

Ingredients

• 500 g salt cod
• 3 tbsp olive oil
• 2 onions, sliced
• 5 garlic cloves, sliced
• 1 red pepper, in strips
• 3 tomatoes, chopped
• 1 tbsp tomato purée
• 4 potatoes, in thick slices
• 2 bay leaves
• 400 ml water
• a handful of green olives
• 2 culantro leaves, or coriander
• black pepper

Method

1. Soak the cod, changing the water

   Soak the salt cod for at least twelve hours in the fridge, changing the water three or four times, then drain and flake it. One long soak in the same water does not work — the salt has nowhere to go.

2. Soften the sofrito

   Cook the onions, garlic and pepper in the olive oil until soft and just beginning to colour.

   8 min

3. Tomatoes down

   Add the tomatoes and purée and cook until they break down into a thick base.

   8 min

4. Potatoes and cod

   Add the potatoes, bay and water, then lay the flaked cod on top. Simmer covered for twenty-five minutes without stirring hard — the cod should stay in flakes, not dissolve into the sauce.

   25 min

5. Finish

   Stir in the olives and culantro, grind over pepper, and taste before adding any salt at all — the cod usually brings enough.