Before we begin: This meal requires up to 2 days of advanced prep. Plan accordingly!
This is the defining dish of my Italian heritage. Traditionally, this is the main course of the “Feast of the Seven Fishes” which is held every year on Christmas Eve. It’s the only appropriate time to make quadrucci, which we commonly refer to as “patches”—they are simply little squares of pasta. The salt cod (i.e. baccala) is, as you might imagine, quite salty. You’ll need to soak it in a cold water bath multiple times over. Each source of salt cod can vary wildly in its saltiness, so you will have to do some trial and error to get it right. A good way to test it is to poach a small piece of the cod in water to gauge how salty it is before you cook the whole batch.
The process of poaching the cod in the tomato sauce should salt the sauce sufficiently, so you might want to avoid salting the sauce directly, especially before you poach the cod.
Method
- Rinse the salt cod thoroughly, removing as much salt as possible. Then, in a large bowl or pot, soak in cold water for 1 hour. Drain the water and repeat this process 3-5 times. Poach small pieces of the salt cod in some simmering water to gauge its progress. This step can be done 1-2 days in advance, and the salt cod can be refrigerated when adequately unsalted.
- In a medium pot, add olive oil and garlic and cook over low-medium heat until the garlic becomes a pale gold. Do not let the garlic become brown.
- Add the tomato paste and incorporate well with the garlic.
- Add a sprinkle of chili pepper, quantity depending on heat preference.
- Add the tomatoes, then add water in a ratio of 1:4 to the tomatoes (1/2 quart)
- Bring to a brief boil, then let simmer for 45 minutes to an hour.
- Poach the salt cod in the simmering sauce, 1-2 fillets at a time. Cook for ~8-12 minutes, or until the cod begins to flake apart, then remove the fillets and set aside. You want some of the cod to flake into the sauce, but you don’t want it to disintegrate. Repeat this process until all the fillets are cooked, tasting the sauce in between to ensure it’s not becoming over salted. If it is—cook the rest of the fish in a separate pot with some simmering water.
- Cook the quardrucci (patches) as instructed here.
- Add the cooked quadrucci to the pot of sauce. Normally you’d use just enough sauce to coat the pasta and toss it well, but in this instance, it’s more soup-like since the quadrucci doesn’t adhere to the sauce.
- Serve with a piece of the cooked salt cod, Pecorino Romano, and additional red chili pepper.
“Patches” with Salt Cod
Quadrucci alla Baccala
By: Daniel Lucas
Before we begin: This meal requires up to 2 days of advanced prep. Plan accordingly!
This is the defining dish of my Italian heritage. Traditionally, this is the main course of the “Feast of the Seven Fishes” which is held every year on Christmas Eve. It’s the only appropriate time to make quadrucci, which we commonly refer to as “patches”—they are simply little squares of pasta. The salt cod (i.e. baccala) is, as you might imagine, quite salty. You’ll need to soak it in a cold water bath multiple times over. Each source of salt cod can vary wildly in its saltiness, so you will have to do some trial and error to get it right. A good way to test it is to poach a small piece of the cod in water to gauge how salty it is before you cook the whole batch.
The process of poaching the cod in the tomato sauce should salt the sauce sufficiently, so you might want to avoid salting the sauce directly, especially before you poach the cod.
Method
- Rinse the salt cod thoroughly, removing as much salt as possible. Then, in a large bowl or pot, soak in cold water for 1 hour. Drain the water and repeat this process 3-5 times. Poach small pieces of the salt cod in some simmering water to gauge its progress. This step can be done 1-2 days in advance, and the salt cod can be refrigerated when adequately unsalted.
- In a medium pot, add olive oil and garlic and cook over low-medium heat until the garlic becomes a pale gold. Do not let the garlic become brown.
- Add the tomato paste and incorporate well with the garlic.
- Add a sprinkle of chili pepper, quantity depending on heat preference.
- Add the tomatoes, then add water in a ratio of 1:4 to the tomatoes (1/2 quart)
- Bring to a brief boil, then let simmer for 45 minutes to an hour.
- Poach the salt cod in the simmering sauce, 1-2 fillets at a time. Cook for ~8-12 minutes, or until the cod begins to flake apart, then remove the fillets and set aside. You want some of the cod to flake into the sauce, but you don’t want it to disintegrate. Repeat this process until all the fillets are cooked, tasting the sauce in between to ensure it’s not becoming over salted. If it is—cook the rest of the fish in a separate pot with some simmering water.
- Cook the quardrucci (patches) as instructed here.
- Add the cooked quadrucci to the pot of sauce. Normally you’d use just enough sauce to coat the pasta and toss it well, but in this instance, it’s more soup-like since the quadrucci doesn’t adhere to the sauce.
- Serve with a piece of the cooked salt cod, Pecorino Romano, and additional red chili pepper.
