Portuguese Salt Cod and Chickpea Salad with Boiled Eggs • Meia Desfeita

Today is Good Friday, Sexta-Feira Santa, and in Portugal there is one sacred rule, you eat fish. And honestly, who are we to argue with centuries of tradition? So here is this classic, easy, and utterly delicious codfish salad with chickpeas, perfect for the occasion and ready faster than you can say “bacalhauuuuuuu”!

The Meia Desfeita de Bacalhau is one of those classic Portuguese recipes where you genuinely wonder why you don’t make it more often! It is essentially a chickpea salad with salted codfish and hard-boiled eggs, there is nothing complicated about it, and it is absolutely delicious. With the holiday season in mind, it also happens to be a wonderful and more budget friendly alternative to the heavier, more elaborate codfish dishes that tend to take over the table this time of year ;D

I used thick codfish fillets (postas), but honestly I see no reason why you couldn’t use pre-shredded codfish or less premium cuts, or even leftover cooked codfish if that is what you have on hand. That is the beauty of this recipe, it is incredibly flexible. And worth noting too that while mine follows the classic formula of the recipe, I personally lean toward a slightly more generous fish-to-chickpea ratio. The traditional balance is around 800g (28 oz) of chickpeas to 500g (about 1 lb) of cooked shredded cod, but I went with 400g (14 oz) of chickpeas to 380g (13.4 oz) of cod. Feel free to adjust to your taste and what you have available, it does not change the recipe one bit.

One more thing, since I made this dish to share and one of the guests was not a big fan of parsley or cilantro, so i added just a tiny bit and chopped most of the herbs separately so everyone could add them as an extra to their own plate. That is why you won’t see much of them in the main photo, but they are still very much in the ingredients and part of the recipe! Right, let’s get to the recipe!

Portuguese Salt Cod and Chickpea Salad with Boiled Eggs • Meia Desfeita

Servings: 4
Time: 40mins
Difficulty: Normal
Rating: ★★★★★
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For Easter gotta love a codfish salad, super easy to make and absolutely delicious!

Ingredients

Codfish – 380 g (Pre-cooked)
Onion – 1 (Medium)
Garlic – 2 Cloves
Parsley – A Pinch (or Cilantro)
Olive Oil – 20 ml
Salt – A Pinch
Chickpeas – 400 g (Pre-cooked)
Eggs – 2
Paprika – A Pinch
Pepper – A Pinch

Directions

If you don’t have pre-cooked cod, start by boiling the rehydrated cod in a pot of boiling water, depending on the size of the fillet, this may take about 12 to 20 minutes to cook until tender.

Once the cod is cooked, drain it well and then flake it.
In a separate small pot with water and a pinch of salt, add the eggs and boil them for about 8 minutes until they are firm, then remove them from the water and place them in a bowl of ice water.

Peel and chop the onion and garlic clove, place them in a bowl or serving dish, followed by the flaked cod and the drained cooked chickpeas.
Season generously with olive oil, salt, and pepper, and mix well.

Peel the hard-boiled eggs, then cut them in half or into quarters and arrange them on top; season everything with a pinch of paprika.
Finally, sprinkle with a pinch of chopped parsley or cilantro (or both). You can serve it lukewarm, but codfish salad is traditionally served cold from the refrigerator. Bon appétit and Happy Easter.

Notes & Tips: Try shredding half the fish very finely, almost falling apart, and the other half into larger, chunkier flakes. That way you get more codfish flavor in every bite without ending up with something that looks and tastes like mush where you can barely see the fish.

Canned cooked chickpeas work perfectly here. Unlike hummus or falafel, where cooking your own dried chickpeas makes a noticeable difference, this is one of those dishes where the canned version is honestly just as good. That said, if you happen to have dried chickpeas to use up, go ahead and cook them from scratch, but don’t stress about it.

Buying pre-desalted frozen salted codfish, whether in whole fillets or already shredded, is a brilliant shortcut. You can cook it directly from frozen, which makes this dish even faster and more practical while keeping it traditional.

A good generous drizzle of quality olive oil is what brings this whole salad together. This is not the moment to skimp.

While this dish is excellent served slightly warm right after assembling, the flavors really develop beautifully after a couple of hours in the refrigerator. If you have the time, make it a bit ahead and let it chill before serving.

If you are serving this to guests with different preferences, do what I did and set the chopped parsley or cilantro on the side so each person can add it directly to their own plate. Keeps everyone happy!

Since this is a fish dish it can be traditionally eaten on Good Friday in Portugal, it is a dish with a real sense of purpose on the table today. Simple, wholesome, and deeply tied to Portuguese food culture, it is the kind of recipe that reminds you that the best things rarely need to be complicated.

This recipe for Portuguese Salt Cod and Chickpea Salad with Boiled Eggs • Meia Desfeita was originally created on BakeAfter.com. Esta receita de Meia Desfeita de Bacalhau com Grão à Portuguesa foi publicada em português no Iguaria.com.