Bacalao con Pasas y Piñones

Bacallà amb panses i pinyons is Catalan, a Lenten main of salt cod browned lightly in flour and settled into sofregit with raisins, pine nuts, and hard-boiled egg. What makes it Catalan is that old sweet-savory balance: preserved fish against dried fruit and nuts, held together by onion and tomato cooked until neither tastes raw. This is food for the Easter table, substantial enough for a full household without a scrap of meat.

The sofregit, the slow onion and tomato base, decides the dish. Take the onion to dark gold before the tomato goes in. That drives off its water and gives a deep sweetness, so the swollen raisins round the salt cod instead of making the sauce sugary. Fry the fish only long enough to set its flour coat, then finish it at the gentlest simmer. Broad flakes are the aim. Rubble is for another day.

No hace falta haber pisado España. Desalted salt cod is often easier to find frozen than dry, and it works very well. If salt cod is nowhere to be found, cure thick fresh cod overnight with the exact amount of salt given in the tips; it will be milder and more fragile because a short cure cannot supply the depth of proper bacallà. At Easter, use preserved summer tomato or good canned whole tomatoes instead of a pale fresh one. In the Margin beside this recipe I wrote one instruction twice: shake the casserole, don't stir the fish.