Molho fervido – Cooked olive oil dressing (fish & potato salad)

Molho fervido - Cooked olive oil dressing (fish & potato salad)

by Azélia on 23/01/2013

in Fish,Mains,Portuguese Recipes,Salads,Sauces / Dips / Marinades

The idea of molho fervido, also called azeite fervido is to add flavour to starchy plain boiled potatoes and a plain cooked fish usually poached, and often the choice of fish will be bacalhau (salt cod) but also popular is pescada (hake).  I don’t know about you but sometimes when cold weather demands something warm and I’ve had enough of eating soup I turn to warm salads to tick the box and that’s what happen last weekend watching the snow falling from my kitchen window.

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This hot dressing is normally served at the table for the person to help themselves and drizzle it over their plain cooked fish and potatoes.  Here I’ve turned it into a warm salad with smoked mackerel because that’s what I had in the house.  Now that I’ve been reminded how much I like the dressing I’m going to visit my local Portuguese coffee shop and pick up some ready-to-cook bacalhau to bring me even closer to my childhood.

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If I were a proper Portuguese (according to Bikerboy I’m not) I would use some home-brewed Portuguese red wine from the North in this dressing, that astringent red from my childhood good for setting one’s back teeth on edge is good in this.  It can replace the vinegar completely or use a mixture of the two.

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Like other traditional recipes, there are many ways to make this, some add garlic and spices like cumin, I don’t remember cumin being added in my area.  Normal onions can be used but I love red onions for their mildness and the amazing vibrant colour they become once cooked in the oil.

This is only a guide line, the most important thing when being taught traditional home cooking is that we were taught how to cook by eye and taste.  My Gran’s words are embedded in my being, when asking how long to cook the marmalada for?  She replied, “Cook it until it’s done!”

molho fervido

Some cook the oil and vinegar together, some cook the dressing over 15mins or more, some like me add the vinegar at the very last minute.  If using wine I would add it earlier to drive off most of the alcohol.

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It’s important if making a salad to dress the vegetable as soon as they’re drained because they will absorb more of the dressing while hot.

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Molho Fervido – Cooked Dressing

The dressing can be made ahead of time and warmed through when serving.  Drizzle it over plain cooked fish and potatoes or in a warm salad.  With the rich full flavour of the extra virgin olive oil, it needs acidity provided by a sharp red or white wine, or vinegar or lemon juice.

I cook my dressing in a shorter time than most as I don’t feel it benefits from longer cooking, the aim is to make sure the onion is soft.  I cook it for 5 minutes, for this reason I slice the onion thinly to make certain it cooks in that time.  I’ve used here the minimum amount of olive oil, it’s hard to boil less, you don’t have to use all of it when it’s cooked.

 

  • 1 red medium onion, sliced thinly
  • 1 large bayleaf
  • 1 small sprig of rosemary (optional)
  • 4 tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 1/4 teaspoon freshly milled black pepper
  • 1-2 tablespoons of vinegar (if using wine 2 tablespoons)

Put everything apart from the vinegar into a small pan, bring it to a boil, turn the heat down to a gentle rolling boil.  Cook for about 5 minutes.  If using vinegar add it in the last 30 seconds before turning the heat off.  If wine add it at the same time as the oil.

Sliced garlic clove can be added and so can 1/4 teaspoon of ground cumin or/and large pinch of turmeric.

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{ 16 comments… read them below or add one }

Pat Machin January 24, 2013 at 11:27 am

That sounds good and I’ve bookmarked it. We’re about souped out at the moment!

It’s odd that Portuguese cooking doesn’t seem to be as mainstream as that of other Mediterranean countries. In fact, the only Portuguese baking I’ve had was in Provincetown, Cape Cod, where we had mulosayos and loved them.

Must rectify that!

thelittleloaf January 24, 2013 at 1:20 pm

I make a lot of salads and a lot of dressings but this is new to me! Fascinated to try this recipe, both the vinegar and the wine version.

ps love your snow pics – you had a lot more than we did!

Azélia January 24, 2013 at 1:20 pm

Pat – what are mulosayos? There are a lot of Portuguese in that area, they do get around ;-)

Azélia January 24, 2013 at 1:29 pm

LL – I’ll post pics when I make this with saltcod.

Pat Machin January 24, 2013 at 2:09 pm

Sorry, faulty memory for the name! Should have been Malassadas. There is a description here http://www.eatingintranslation.com/2008/10/provincetown-portuguese-bakery.html

They were lovely but not for everyday – a version of doughnuts, I suppose?

Portuguese fishermen settled on Cape Cod – I suppose the name gives that away. Nowadays it is a tourist trap.

Azélia January 24, 2013 at 4:15 pm

Stuffed Malassadas, the ones looking a doughnut remind me of what we up north call Bolas de Berlim, doughnuts stuffed with custard. I’ve wanted for some time to make the other Portuguese sweet deep fried dough; sonhos. Sonhos are like the Spanish churros only they can come in a puffed up shape especially if made at home, usually made for Christmas so called sonhos de Natal.

Serafina C. January 24, 2013 at 5:15 pm

Ahhhh, Bolas de Berlim …. aos anos que nao as como ,…sigh . Do you remember Farturas? I miss those too, lol. I found a recipe for it from a Portuguese food blog ; I’ll definitely make them !

Azélia January 24, 2013 at 7:16 pm

Sarafina – farturas are the sweet fried dough at festivals made and sold on the spot, I think of them the same as sonhos and churros batter. I should look at the recipes to see if there are differences or not.

Serafina C. January 25, 2013 at 12:19 am

I thought about the same (farturas/churros) but i find farturas to be softer ; maybe because they’re bigger and have more air in them ? I think they’re tastier than churros , lol .

PS. I compared both recipes and it’s interesting that for farturas you only add the sugar when you sprinkle it with the cinnamon AFTER they’ve been fried whereas the churros you add sugar (some even use brown sugar) with the flour before you cook them … huh !

Azélia January 25, 2013 at 8:16 am

Serafina – interesting.

Pat Machin January 25, 2013 at 11:09 am

Fascinating how names change from place to place without the dish being very different. I think it is universal.

Xana January 28, 2013 at 2:45 am

My mom makes wonderful sonhos, from a recipe book that many 60s and 70s housewives got as wedding gifts – the recipe always works and come Christmas eve, she’s busy frying many batches of sonhos…for family and friends. Certainly a tradition in our household. Happy to ask her to copy the recipe together with the book reference.
I was very surprised to see the infamous Malassadas in California, I believe the recipe comes from Madeira…in the mainland they would probably be called “filhoses”, no? Anyway, they are also very much appreciated in Hawaii :) So yeap, the Portuguese do get around!! Such a wonderfully inspiring blog, gorgeous photos! Trying the yoghurt cake as we speak (write). Muitos parabens.

Azélia January 28, 2013 at 8:16 am

Xana – Thanks for the kind offer, I’m planing to visit a Portuguese lady who use to make beautiful sonhos when I was a kid and beg her for her recipe. I read malassadas was from Madeira too which would make sense as I hadn’t heard of them in the North coast.

Serafina C. January 28, 2013 at 1:10 pm

Found this on a page I “like” on FB that posts all kinds of Portuguese recipes they collect from everywhere. Suspiros :

http://chocolatemorno.blogspot.pt/2011/02/suspiros.html

Azélia January 28, 2013 at 3:06 pm

thanks Serafina.

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