No, I’m not vegan and have never been, I’ve been lactovegetarian with the occasional wild fish over 40 years. We always have some Norwegian dried cod (baccalao) at the ready in our cool larder. The usual way to make the dish baccalao here is to hydrate the fish for a couple of days and then layer potatoes, bulb onions, fish, tomatoes, garlic with olive oil, pepper and chili in large saucepan. I’ve always added seasonal greens too and often use green onions of various types instead of bulb onion.
Last night, we used the last of the potatoes from the cellar and as there weren’t many also used root chicory (di Sancino: an edible rooted variety that produces well here) and the last yacon roots, all still in perfect condition kept in the cellar in dryish leaves all winter! We also used a good bunch of nettles, tops of giant bellflower (Campanula latifolia) and sweet cicely (Myrrhis odorata) tops including the flowers. For the onions, sand leek (Allium scorodoprasum) and victory onion (Allium victorialis) were in perfect condition (beginning to flower).
The verdict on our first bitter baccalao? Delicious, but probably not for everyone!
Tag Archives: Baccalao
Perennial Baccalao with victory onions
We occasionally eat wild fish and are particularly fond of baccalao (dried salted cod from Lofoten).
These were yesterday’s ingredients (list at the bottom):
Top left and clockwise: Dandichokes / løveskokker (the white blanched part which is under the soil surface and hence blanched) plus masses of green leaves; Scorzonera / scorsonnerot (Scorzonera hispanica) blanched shoots from the cellar; Victory onion / seiersløk (Allium victorialis); 7 varieties of heriloom Norwegian potatoes; Ramsons / ramsløk (Allium ursinum) at the top right; Cirsium canum tubers; Scorzonera / scorsonnerot (Scorzonera hispanica) roots; Sweet cicely / spansk kjørvel (Myrrhis odorata); blanched lovage / løpstikke (Levisticum officinale); stinging nettle / brennesle (Urtica dioica); Caucasian spinach / stjernemelde (Hablitzia tamnoides) and garlic / hvitløk and golpar spice (ground seeds of Heracleum spp.)
The greens are added at the end so as not to overcook.
Forced blanched Udo Baccalao
I used them both in salads and also in a mixed vegetable baccalao dish. Baccalao is a Norwegian / Portuguese stew based on dried and salted cod.







