Cod with Tomatoes, Peppers and Black Olives

About This Recipe

The title requires an explanation. In the archaic usage of the Adriatic coast, patlidžan — a word that today means aubergine — once referred to the tomato. This recipe has no aubergine in it. “Cod with patlidžan” means cod with tomatoes, and the confusion is a small linguistic fossil from the period when the dish travelled inland with coastal communities.

Dried and salted cod was historically rare away from the coast, until communities from those regions brought their cooking inland with them. The fish was economical precisely because it could survive the journey. Salted, dried, transported, and then rehydrated in cold water over two days — it arrived at the table transformed, its texture softened, its salt drawn down to a level that could season an entire sauce without any additional salt being added.

What follows the rehydration and poaching is simple. Onion in olive oil, tomatoes, garlic, pepper strips, the flaked fish, and black olives — all simmered together until the sauce tightens and the flavours merge. It is a braise in the old sense: not dry heat, not deep liquid, but something in between, the fish and the sauce becoming each other.

Why It Works

Desalting cod is not merely about removing salt — it is about restoring moisture to a product that has been deliberately desiccated. As the fish soaks, water moves back into the muscle fibres by osmosis, gradually displacing the salt outward into the soaking water. The repeated water changes maintain the osmotic gradient; stale soaking water, saturated with salt, slows the process significantly. This is why changing the water matters and why the timing is not optional.

Poaching the desalted cod in fresh cold water brought slowly to the point of boiling, then held at a bare simmer, does two things. It completes the heat treatment that kills any remaining bacteria from the salting and storage process, and it loosens the muscle fibres just enough to flake cleanly without becoming dry. Vigorous boiling contracts the proteins too hard and results in a rubbery, stringy texture.

The residual salt in the cod after soaking and poaching is not a flaw — it is the seasoning of the dish. Added to a sauce that contains no additional salt, the cod releases what it retains during the 20 minutes of final simmering, seasoning the tomatoes, peppers and olives from within. This is why the recipe specifies tasting for salt only at the end.

White pepper rather than black is specified in the original. In the period, white pepper was the standard for fish and pale sauces, its flavour considered cleaner and less visually intrusive than the coarser grind of black.

Modern Kitchen Tips

The most common mistake with salt cod is under-soaking. Two days is a minimum, not a target. Taste a raw piece before cooking — it should be mildly salty, not intensely so. If it is still very salty after 48 hours, change the water again and wait another 12.

When desalting, keep the cod refrigerated. At room temperature, the fish is in a warm, moist environment — ideal conditions for bacterial growth. The fridge slows this down without interfering with the osmotic desalting process.

Check the flaked cod for pin bones before it goes into the sauce. Run your fingers slowly through each piece against the direction of the flake — small bones will catch. This step cannot be skipped when serving to children or elderly guests.

Fresh or frozen cod fillets can replace salt cod entirely. Add them to the sauce in step 6 without prior soaking or poaching, cooking until opaque and just cooked through — approximately 12–15 minutes. The dish will be lighter and less intensely flavoured, but still good.

A classic of early 20th century home cooking, preserved and adapted for the modern kitchen.