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Grilled cod loins with Portuguese garlic sauce (molho cru)

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Grilled cod loins with Portuguese garlic sauce

Grilled fish and garlic goodness… Portuguese style!

Todays recipe has two features: the grilled cod loins and the garlic sauce. Both of these elements put me in my happy place.

Grilled fish is so good. We often joke that if something tastes good, it’s probably bad for you. That’s definitely not the case with this recipe. Grilled fish has so many health benefits. And what do you know? It also happens to be delicious.

Oh that sauce! Do you love garlic?

The sauce I’m using today is based on one of my all-time favourite sauces; this time with a slight tweak! Today’s sauce is almost the same sauce I used in our Azores chicharros with sauce (blue horse mackerel or stickleback) recipe. Mmmm…chicarros.

In our chicharros recipe I use a little more water. That sauce is a bit more of a post-marinade. For today’s recipe, I wanted the same flavour, but I wanted the sauce to be slightly thicker, so I used less water.

This sauce always takes me back to my childhood. My mom would make this all the time for different types of fish. Disclaimer… if you’re not into garlic, this sauce might not be for you. We use a lot of garlic!

Is it difficult to grill cod loins? Will they fall apart?

It’s actually not that difficult. There are a few things to remember when grilling fish. Here are my tips:

Make sure to clean and grease the BBQ grates very well. I use vegetable oil. This turns the grill into an almost non-stick surface.

Make sure the grill is hot. I aim for a temperature between 400ºF and 450ºF. This cooks the fish quickly while adding some crispiness to the outside, which in turn helps hold the fish together. Cooking with a colder grill often leads to the fish falling apart on the grill.

You definitely can’t walk away from the BBQ when grilling cod loins. If they cook for too long, they will likely fall apart on the grill. Aim for about 3 to 4 minutes per side.

Flip it only once! Once you flip over the fish, keep an eye on it. it should be white and flake a little if you touch it with a fork. Use a large spatula to get the fish off the grill.

What if I don’t feel comfortable grilling the fish?

Not a problem at all. You can bake the fish in the oven on a baking sheet with parchment paper. Bake at 425ºF for 13 – 15 minutes. Once again, make sure it looks white (instead of translucent) and that it flakes if you touch it with a fork.

So, was it good?

Hell yeah! I placed the hot fish pieces on a serving dish and added a splash of olive oil and a few spoonfuls of the sauce over each piece of fish. OMG (yes I know, I’m too old to use “OMG”, but it was that good!).

Don’t be afraid to grill fresh fish. It’s delicious and so good for you… and we want you to eat well, friends.

Grilled cod loins with Portuguese garlic sauce
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Grilled cod loins with Portuguese garlic sauce (molho cru)
Prep Time
20 mins
Cook Time
8 mins
Total Time
28 mins
 

We absolutely love fresh fish prepared on the BBQ. This grilled cod and garlicky sauce will not disappoint! Serve with a nice green salad or boiled potatoes.

Course: Main, Main Course
Cuisine: Azores, Portugal, Portuguese
Keyword: cod loins, grilled cod
Servings: 3 to 4 servings
Ingredients
  • 2 lbs fresh cod loins
  • 2 tsp kosher salt
  • 1 tsp freshly ground black pepper
  • 2 tbsp vegetable oil + extra to grease the grill
  • 2 tbsp olive oil
Garlic sauce
  • 5 cloves garlic finely minced
  • 1 small bunch of flat leaf or Italian parsley about ½ cup after chopped, finely chopped
  • ¼ tsp cinnamon
  • ¼ tsp ground cumin
  • ½ tsp fine salt
  • 3 tbsp tomato paste
  • ¼ cup white wine vinegar
  • 2 Tbsp sweet pimento paste
  • ¼ cup water
Instructions

  1. Pre-heat your BBQ to between 400 ºF and 450 ºF.

  2. In a wide medium bowl, mix together all the sauce ingredients and set aside. I mashed mine in a pestle and mortar, but that’s optional.
  3. Cut the cod loins into serving size pieces. I got 6 pieces from my cod loins.
  4. Sprinkle the salt and pepper evenly over all sides of the fish.
  5. Drizzle the 2 tbsp of vegetable oil evenly over the fish, making sure it’s completely coated.
  6. Before adding the fish to the grill, scrape down the hot grates with a brush and grease them well with vegetable oil (use crumpled paper towel or an old clean cloth towel).
  7. Place the pieces of fish on the grill and close the lid. Let cook for 3 to 4 minutes.
  8. Open the lid, brush a little more vegetable oil over the tops of the fish, and carefully turn them over.
  9. Close the lid and continue to cook for another 3 to 4 minutes.
  10. Open the lid and carefully lift and transfer the fish pieces to a serving dish.
  11. Drizzle a little olive oil over each piece of fish.
  12. At this point you can choose to spoon the sauce over the fish or serve it on the side.
  13. Serve with your favourite sides! In Portugal, fish is often served with boiled potatoes and salad.
  14. Enjoy!
Recipe Notes

This sauce is quite garlicky. Feel free to leave out a couple of cloves if you’d like your sauce to be a bit less sharp.

Portuguese Seafood & Fish Cataplana

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Portuguese Seafood & Fish CataplanaA few years ago, our family visited the Azores. As usual, we had an amazing time! It’s always so nice to see friends and family; relax by the ocean; and eat delicious fresh locally-grown (and caught) food. During our visits we usually receive a few lunch and dinner invites from family and friends. We try to accommodate all invites–it’s more eating, relaxing, chatting with friends, and no matter where you are on the island, you’re always close to the ocean.

One of our usual visits is right next door to my parent’s place. Manuel Lourenço is my mom’s cousin, and he and his wife, María José, are not just family, they are also very good friends. They’re the type of family you can count on… anytime, no questions asked. They are kind and generous souls with big hearts. We’ve been lucky to enjoy meals with them at their house as well as at their adega (house where homemade wine is made–also a cottage for many). During our second-last visit, we were invited to their adega and I knew I was in for a treat! Although there’s no shortage of delicious foods on these vacations, I knew they were preparing something I’d never tried before–a Cataplana.

CataplanaCataplana is both the name of the meal and the unique Portuguese vessel that it’s cooked in. The Cataplana (the vessel) looks like two woks–with one ‘bowl’ on the bottom and the other on top, creating a sort of dome look when the lid is closed. Food cooks inside this vessel with a bit of pressure and steam. No one seems sure of the exact origin of the Cataplana, but most articles I read say that the Cataplana, as we know it today, began many years ago in the Algarve region of mainland Portugal. More traditional Cataplana meals are made with seafood, fish or both. In more recent years, cataplanas are also made with a variety of meats.

Needless to say, the food we ate at their adega was delicious and memorable! So much so, that the next time we visited, they prepared the same dish because they knew how much I had enjoyed it on the previous visit.

My parents hadn’t forgotten how much I loved that meal and how I’d mentioned wanting to try making cataplana some day. As you may recall, they’re visiting with us for a few months and when they arrived and unpacked, I can’t tell you how excited I was when they pulled a cataplana (the vessel, not the meal) from their luggage. What a treat! I could hardly wait to try it out. Although you can cook many types of food in a Cataplana, I wanted the first one to be just like the traditional one I had at my cousin’s house back on the Island.

I’m so excited to share this recipe with you… and if you’re new to Cataplana, I’m thrilled to introduce you to this wonderful way of cooking. Don’t be afraid to try new things in the kitchen, and always eat well, friends!

Portuguese Seafood & Fish Cataplana

Portuguese Seafood & Fish Cataplana
 
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Prep time
Cook time
Total time
 
Cataplana is both the name of the meal and the unique Portuguese vessel it's cooked in. This recipe includes fish and seafood cooked slowly to perfection.
Author:
Recipe type: Main
Cuisine: Portugal
Serves: 6 Servings
Ingredients
  • 2 lbs or 900 g clams
  • 2 lbs or 900 g black tiger shrimp
  • 3¼ lbs or 1.6 kg large grouper steaks, about 1 inch thick (you can use other types of fish such as fresh conger or perch)
  • 8 medium size potatoes, peeled and sliced into ½ inch wheels
  • 1 medium cooking onion, peeled, thinly sliced and taken apart into onion rings
  • 5 cloves garlic roughly chopped
  • 2 medium size tomatoes, peeled and sliced in ½ inch wheels
  • 1 red pepper diced
  • ¼ cup olive oil
  • 1 Tbs course sea salt
  • 8 sprigs of large leaf (Italian) parsley
  • 2 bay leaves
  • ¾ cups white wine
  • 2 Tbs tomato paste
  • 4 sprigs of parsley for garnish
Instructions
  1. Drizzle and spread around ½ the oil on the bottom of the cataplana.
  2. Spread ½ the clams on the bottom of the cataplana.
  3. Spread ½ the onions slice evenly over the clams.
  4. Place one full layer of potato slices over the onions.
  5. Place ½ the fish steaks over the potatoes.
  6. Sprinkle ½ the salt evenly over the fish.
  7. Sprinkle ½ the garlic evenly over the fish.
  8. Place ½ the sprigs of parsley evenly over the fish.
  9. Spread ½ the shrimp evenly over the fish.
  10. Layer ½ the tomato slices over the shrimp and fish.
  11. Spread ½ the diced red pepper over the tomato slices.
  12. Next, layer the remaining onion slices.
  13. Layer remaining potato slices over the onions.
  14. Place remaining fish steaks over the potatoes.
  15. Sprinkle remaining salt evenly over the fish.
  16. Sprinkle remaining garlic evenly over the fish.
  17. Place remaining sprigs of parsley evenly over the fish.
  18. Spread ¼ of the shrimp evenly over the fish.
  19. Layer remaining tomato slices over the shrimp and fish.
  20. For the last layer, spread around the remaining shrimps, clams and diced red pepper.
  21. In a small bowl, dissolve the tomato paste in the wine and pour it evenly over top.
  22. Drizzle the remaining olive oil over top of the entire mix.
  23. Place the lid over the cataplana and lock in place.
  24. Place the cataplana on the burner at medium high for 15 minutes. You should hear the liquids bubbling inside.
  25. Reduce the heat to medium and continue to cook for 30 minutes.
  26. Carefully (the vessel is hot and will release very hot steam) unlock and open the lid. With a fork, poke one of the potato slices. If the fork pokes through easily, your cataplana is ready. If the potato is still a touch hard, lock the lid and continue to cook another 5 minutes on medium high or until the potato is tender.
  27. Serve the cataplana hot and enjoy!
  28. To impress your guests, place the cataplana on the table on a protective surface. Unlock and open the lid and then slide the lid out of the pin. Place the fresh sprigs of parsley on over the dish.
Notes
Feel free to replace the fish we recommend with any other favourite fish or the order of the layers! Cataplana recipes are flexible. Play around with the ingredients to create your own delicious version of Cataplana.


If you don't have a cataplana vessel, you can still make this dish in a wide pot with a tight lid. Adjust timing accordingly.


For this recipe, we used a 14" or 36 cm cataplana. If you have a smaller cataplana, reduce the ingredients by half.

 

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