Bacalao ala Carrie

My mother made the best Bacalao (codfish) cooked the Spanish way. I remember her cooking it and serving it during Holy Week when we couldn't eat meat. It was quite salty, and it was best served on top of steamed white rice or on toasted pan de sal (Philippine rolls) for breakfast. The last time she was here from the Philippines, she had made it while a friend was here, and we both helped her shred the codfish, which was time-consuming. I have never attempted to make it because of the work involved.

Two weeks ago, I thought it was time to experiment. I called my sister-in-law Grace in Singapore to ask her for pointers since she has religiously made it for her family. I bought the salted premium codfish from La Española Meats in Harbor City, California. The fish has to be soaked in water overnight to get rid of some of the salt. It is cooked with lots of onions, olive oil, tomato paste, and tomato sauce. It is then left to simmer for 4 hours. A friend was here at the time and offered to help me shred the fish. She then asked why I couldn't put the fish in a food processor instead of tearing by hand. What a great question, and I couldn't think of an answer as to why not? And so I did, which made the preparation a lot quicker and efficient.

The end result was pure magic. It was delicious served on Japanese rice (a bit sticky). Everyone loved it and couldn't get enough of it. I had left-overs so a couple of days after, I served it on my favorite pasta, Barilla. The pasta was ready-made, so all I had to do was heat it in a bit of olive oil. It was another successful and enjoyable dinner. This is one time you really do not need to add any parmesan cheese since the bacalao is already salty.