4 servings

You will need
1 lb. dried salt cod (preferably taken from the thickest part of the fish) cut into 8 pieces, which should be soaked for one day before cooking, changing the water 2 or 3 times during that period.
2 teaspoons flour
1 cup or less oil
3 ½ oz. onions, peeled and sliced
3 ½ oz. carrots, peeled and sliced
1 bay leaf
1 twig thyme
3 ½ oz. ripe tomatoes, peeled and chopped
some white fish ones (hake, sole, goosefish)
a few pistils dry saffron
1 clove garlic
8 or 10 toasted, peeled almonds
1 lb. small, whole, new potatoes, peeled
4 hard-boiled eggs, cut in half
parsley, minced
ground pepper

Scale the cod and dry with a cloth. Dredge the cod with flour and fry in oil until lightly golden. Remove from frying pan and place on a dish. Separate the largest bones without breaking the pieces of fish.

Pour the remaining oil in the frying pan into a casserole. Heat and add the onions, carrots, bay leaf and thyme. When tender, add the chopped tomato and then a little flour. Stir the vegetables well then pour on 3 cups hot water. Stir once more with a wooden spoon, add the white fish bones plus the bones removed from the cod, a little pepper and salt. Cook slowly for 25 minutes. 10 minutes before this sauce is cooked, add the following mixture:
Ground together the saffron, garlic and almonds in a mortar, until a fine paste is obtained. Dissolve with a few drops of oil and a little of above sauce. This is the Catalan sauce.

Boil the potatoes in salt water for 5 minutes, drain and toss in a little oil in an earthenware pot. Strain the Catalan sauce and add to the potatoes. Cook slowly in the covered pot, stirring every now and then. When they are half cooked, add the pieces of fried cod. Cook slowly until the potatoes are tender. Salt to taste.

Serve in the same casserole, with the eggs and sprinkle a little parsley on top; or else in a dish, with the cod in the center, the potatoes around and the eggs and parsley on top.

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© Shufunotomo Co., Ltd., Japan 1973