Not Your Nana's Salt Cod

You could easily do at least five of the seven fishes in this meal alone, but I only used salt cod and anchovies in mine. The boys both enjoyed it. I made my own linguine, but I'm sure (almost) no one would object if you used store-bought.

The broccoli was a completely unexpected addition as Mr. ETB brought it home after a quick trip to the store. Broccoli is sort of a luxury item at our house as it is kind of expensive, so obviously I wanted to use it at the freshest point.

I didn't want to spend the entire Christmas Eve standing and cooking, so I prepared the vegetables and made the noodles in stages through the day. That worked well as I still had to give the Christmas pudding a final steaming (so we can just heat and eat tomorrow).


You Will Need:

Salt cod-soaked three days, water changed thrice daily-cut into hunks
Oil for frying
1 egg, beaten
flour
Panko breadcrumbs (matzo meal makes a good substitute too)
1 bunch broccoli, stems peeled and chopped, and steamed until bright green (about four minutes) then refreshed under cold water
Olive oil (about 1/4 cup)
2 large onions, chopped
1/2 bulb garlic cloves, chopped
2 large red peppers, chopped
1 small tin anchovies in oil, drained
1/2 cup green and black olives, sliced
Oregano, basil, salt and pepper to taste (You really won't need salt)
Cooked linguine noodles
Fresh breadcrumbs

Steam the broccoli and set aside. In a large pan, heat about half of the olive oil and cook the onions until softened over medium heat (about five minutes). Add the garlic, red peppers, anchovies, olives and spices. Cook over low heat until flavours blend-about ten minutes. Add broccoli and additional oil. Keep warm over low heat.

Pat the salt cod dry and dredge in flour. Dip in beaten egg, and then roll in breadcrumbs. Let sit for a few minutes before frying. Heat about 1 1/2 inches of oil in a deep frying pan (I used cast iron). Get the oil good and hot and fry pieces of fish no longer than a couple minutes. It should flake easily.

Transfer the fish to the pan with vegetables and toss with oil.

Serve over linguine tossed with fresh breadcrumbs.