Baccalà al forno con patate

Oven-Roasted Salt Cod with Potatoes

As many of our readers doubt already know, Christmas Eve dinner among Italians traditionally features a seafood menu. And it just wouldn’t be Christmas Eve unless at least one dish on that menu includes baccalà, or dried and salted cod.

Besides being a fixture on festive tables, baccalà is immensely popular year round, especially in the colder months. Italians have come up with a whole array of recipes for its preparation. On this blog we’ve already shown you how to make the classic Neapolitan baccalà alla napoletana, with its zesty tomato sauce scented with olives, capers and anchovies, the Roman classic baccalà in guazzetto, with light tomato sauce perfumed with raisins and pine nuts, filetti di baccalà, battered and fried in the Roman manner, the Venetian classic baccalà mantecato, whipped and served with polenta crostini, and last but not least, Vicenza’s baccalà alla vicentina, slow-cooked with milk and onions until it’s reduced into a creamy mass served with soft polenta.

This week I want to offer up what may be the quickest and simplest baccalà dish in the Italian repertoire: baccalà al forno con patate, or Oven-Roasted Salt Cod with Potatoes. In this recipe, the baccalà fillets are oven-roasted on a bed of garlicky potatoes studded with tomatoes and olives. After arranging the ingredients in a baking dish, you just pop it in a hot oven and 30 minutes later, you’re ready to eat. No fuss, no muss. E Buon Natale!