Baccala' Campagnolo

[Deleted]

Baccala' Campagnolo



How I remember this: I do next week!

4 thick pieces of baccala'- about 2.5 to 3 inches long by about an inch thick (or as close to 1 inch as you can get)
flour for coating
3 tbs of Olive oil
1 cup of chopped tomatoes (very ripe if using fresh)
1 or 2 chopped garlic cloves, (according to taste)
Chopped parsley
pinch of hot pepper
1 ts of capers
12 to 15 Gaeta olives
salt and pepper to taste (but be aware you might not need any!)

After baccala' has been soaked, rinsed and cut into the 4 pieces required for this recipe, it has to be patted down with paper towel to absorb extra moisture.
Roll baccala' pieces in flour and set aside.
In saute' pan, heat olive oil.
Add baccala' and saute' until golden on both sides.
Remove from pan and add chopped garlic to the hot pan.
When garlic is golden, add chopped tomatoes and pinch of hot pepper.
Let it simmer for a few minutes only.
Add baccala' back to the pan plus the rinsed capers and olives.
Cover and let it simmer for about 10 to 15 minutes, turning baccala' once.
Taste and adjust seasonings, if needed (salt and pepper)
Sprinkle fresh, chopped parsley over the baccala' before serving.

Do not maka the sauce dry up to mucha! Cook a little longer if fish is thicker. Just poke it a little it will flake.

[Clipper]

I don't know if I would be able to find Baccala around here. I used to see it at Krogers, but haven't seen it in a long time. but I WILL be trying this with the best quality unsalted cod filets that I can find. We only have one seafood market here that has anything close to fresh seafood that has not been frozen and thawed. The recipe looks delicious. It is one of those fine ITALIAN recipes that we find so lacking around this particular part of the Southeast. At one time we had an Italian restaurant here that was run by an Italian family from Syracuse. Those folks eventually retired and sold the restaurant. The new owners raised the prices and their cooks were unable to duplicate the quality and taste of the former owner's menu items so the place failed and closed up. Folks around here think that Olive Garden and Pizza Hut are the source of fine Italian dining.

[kit]

When we owned the 4-family apartment house in New Hartford we rented one of the apartments to an Italian family. Every Christmas Eve the mother would cook and cook and cook. At suppertime, she'd arrange a huge table of many varieties of Italian foods and her family and friends would have a feast before heading to church for the Midnight Mass. One of the most cherished of her dishes was Baccala. They invited me down to their apartment for supper one year and not being Italian myself, I have to say...her baccala was outstanding (but then, so were all the other foods she prepared). The family moved out not long after that and sadly she passed away soon afterward, so I never got her recipe... so I've never made Baccala myself because I could never do it justice.

[Clipper]

When I first went to work at Griffiss as a crash firefighter I was stationed at a small crash station near the tanker alert area. We had a fellow that brought all the traditional Italian recipes to us on a regular basis. Christmas eve always included Baccala. His homemade tomato sauce was to die for, and he used to treat us to pasta fagioli quite often, as well as beans and greens. It was a sad day when we moved into the new and consolidated fire station and had a commercial kitchen with all meals cooked and served by the base mess hall cooks and servers. I haven't had the privilege of eating Baccala in many years. Here in this area, if it's a fish dish and can't be made with catfish filets, it just isn't made, haha.

[Deleted]

I wish I only knew my Aunt Mary's recipe. No one ever wrote it down and she always made it year after year. And now I have been searching and still cannot find that gem of a meal. This one is excellent but not the way she made it. Her's was more like a salad. I remember it had hot pepper flakes in it but forgot the rest.