Bacalhau espiritual (spiritual cod) is a traditional Portuguese recipe from the 1940s, a local take on a French dish.
They say there are at least 365 ways to cook codfish in Portugal. You could eat a different one every day of the year and still find new dishes to try. This one is a fan favourite.
Ingredients (serves 6)
For the codfish
- 1 kg codfish
- 2 slices of bread, soaked in milk and shredded
- 3 onions, chopped
- 2 garlic cloves, chopped
- 6 medium carrots, grated
- Grated cheese (São Jorge from the Azores, or any cured cow’s milk cheese)
- Olive oil
For the béchamel sauce
- 1 litre milk
- 80 g flour
- 80 g butter
- 3 eggs
- Nutmeg, salt and pepper, to taste
Instructions
- Simmer the codfish for about 15 minutes, until slightly cooked. Remove the skin, flake the fish and set aside.
- Preheat the oven to 200°C.
- For the béchamel, melt the butter in a pan, add the flour and stir well. Add the milk and cook over low heat, stirring now and then, until the sauce thickens.
- Separate the eggs and keep the whites. Lightly whisk the yolks and stir them into the sauce. Season with nutmeg, salt and pepper.
- In another pan, gently cook the onion and grated carrot in olive oil until lightly golden. Add the codfish and the soaked bread, mix well and stir in half of the béchamel.
- Whip the egg whites until stiff and fold them into the other half of the sauce.
- Grease an oven dish with butter and add the codfish mixture. Spread the remaining sauce on top, sprinkle with grated cheese and bake for 20 minutes, until golden.
Download the Spiritual Cod recipe (PDF)
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