Pan-fried salt cod (klipfisk) with spaghetti puttanesca – a warming, spicy dish, rich in umami and full of flavour.
Because the klipfisk brings plenty of salt and umami to the dish, I don’t use anchovies in this puttanesca.
What is klipfisk? Well – klipfisk is cod that has been salted and dried, a method used in the old days to preserve the fish. Today klipfisk is used, especially in Spanish cooking, in a classic bacalao, but it also appears in Nordic cooking, which has a bacalao of its own.
Here I’ve let Nordic and Italian cooking meet in a beautiful union of spaghetti puttanesca with pan-fried klipfisk. It tastes wonderful, and apart from soaking the fish, it’s a dish that is both quick and easy to make.
A substitute for klipfisk
In this recipe, klipfisk can easily be replaced with ordinary fresh cod. Klipfisk isn’t always easy to get hold of, and it is also very rich in umami – and the texture is slightly “chewy”, which naturally isn’t to everyone’s taste.
So you can of course replace the klipfisk with perfectly ordinary fresh cod.
Another thing I’ve tried is wet-salted cod (saltfisk), which is salted but not dried. It also needs to be soaked, just like klipfisk, but the texture is very different and the flavour milder.
Wet-salted cod would be ideal for pasta puttanesca for anyone who isn’t keen on klipfisk.
Spaghetti puttanesca with pan-fried salt cod
Ingredients
Pan-fried klipfisk
- 600 g salt cod (klipfisk)
- Water
- Olive oil
- Freshly ground pepper
Spaghetti puttanesca
- 1 shallot, finely chopped
- 4-5 cloves garlic, finely chopped
- 2 tbsp capers, roughly chopped
- 100 g olives, roughly chopped (pitted weight)
- 1 pinch chilli flakes
- 1 tbsp tomato purée
- 1 tin chopped tomatoes
- 1 handful parsley, finely chopped
- 400 g spaghetti – or another pasta
- Olive oil
- Freshly ground pepper and salt, if needed
To serve
- Finely chopped parsley
Method
Day 1.
- Start by soaking the fish. The klipfisk needs to soak for at least 24 hours.Rinse the fish thoroughly, place it in a large pan of cold water and leave it to soak in the fridge for at least 24 hours and up to 48 hours. Change the water 2-3 times a day. I prefer to soak it for 36 hours or more.Klipfisk is very tough before it has been soaked, so once it has soaked for 12 hours it is a good idea to cut it into the pieces you will be cooking it in. Cutting it into smaller pieces means it soaks more effectively and ensures the result isn’t too salty. Remove any bones with fish tweezers too – or leave them until after cooking, when they are much easier to remove.
Day 2.
- Prepare the ingredients for the pasta as described in the ingredient list.
- Lift the klipfisk out of the water and rinse it thoroughly. Remove the skin and pat the pieces thoroughly dry with kitchen paper.If the fish hasn’t yet been cut into smaller pieces, do that now.
- Heat a frying pan and fry the shallot and garlic in a good glug of olive oil for a couple of minutes.
- Add the capers, olives and chilli and fry for a couple of minutes, then stir in the tomato purée and heat through.
- Pour in the chopped tomatoes, season with freshly ground pepper and let the sauce simmer gently.Meanwhile, cook the pasta al dente according to the packet instructions and fry the fish.
- Heat a frying pan with a glug of oil and fry the klipfisk until golden on both sides. It needs about 3 minutes on each side, depending on thickness. Season with freshly ground pepper – no salt.
- Toss the parsley and pasta in the puttanesca sauce and adjust the consistency with a little pasta water.Taste and add extra freshly ground pepper and salt if needed. Remember that the fish still has a good salty flavour, even after soaking.
- Plate the pasta and top with a piece of pan-fried klipfisk and plenty of finely chopped parsley.
Nutrition
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