This delicious traditional Italian pasta recipe is made with salt cod in a tomato sauce: the salt cod needs a couple of days prep in advance but it’s really easy and really worth it. It’s the most delicious combination of textures and the salt cod has a divine flavour. Salt cod is an excellent store cupboard ingredient too.
Ingredients
Serves 2
- 200g of salt cod/fish (prepared, see below)
- 300g tin of chopped tomatoes
- 1 tbs of aged balsamic vinegar
- 1 tsp of maple syrup
- 1 medium onion finely chopped
- A pinch of dried chilli flakes
- 4 tbsp of olive oil
- A small bunch of fresh parsley finely chopped
- 1 clove of garlic peeled and finely slice.
- Juice and zest of half a lemon
- 200g of any long pasta (I made mine with linguine)
How:
To prepare the salt cod it needs to be soaked for 2 days, changing the water three times a day. I store it in the fridge. Drain it thoroughly. The skin, if it has any, can then be removed and any bones too. Cut into chunks.
In a frying pan, sauté the onion and garlic in the olive oil till soft, put in the tomatoes, the lemon zest, a little pinch of the chilli, the maple syrup, the balsamic and the cod and gently simmer for 30 minutes with a lid on. If it starts to dry out add a splash of water.
Cook the pasta according to the instructions on the packet and mix with the sauce in the pan. Squeeze a bit of lemon over the top and sprinkle with the parsley. Check the seasoning, I add a good grinding of pepper as it might not need salt, or very little.
I shop at:
Waitrose
Sainsbury’s
Tesco
Lidl