Day 43: Psarri Plaki : Cod Fish Plaki-Style Casserole - April 29, 2013

Yesterday being Palm Sunday, it was a day during Great Lent that we could consume fish, oil, and wine.  As you saw from yesterday's entry, we fried some smelts.  In our family, Palm Sunday is a day for various family members to gather, and this year, we had a "pot luck" kind of dinner.  We took the smelts as appetiser.  Someone else made fried bakalao (salt cod), another person brought the horta (greens), and so on.  But, there was one dish that was very attractive and appealing to us, that we may not have thought of making on our own, but now that we have experienced it, we have to try to make it.

We were introduced to Psarri Plaki -- translated to a fish, baked Plaki style (baked fish with flat layers placed over each other (plaka is the Greek word for "slab", so Plaki means layered like slabs), in a casserole form.  Yes, Fish Casserole.  And, to stay with the tradition of Palm Sunday when we eat Bakalao (salt cod), this dish was made with salt cod!  Interestingly enough, we asked the cook how he made it.  And, he explained in detail the steps.  So, we are going to pass on the information to you, although it is without a formal recipe or directions.  We should say, "Psarri, there is no recipe."  But, there were layers of potato, zucchini, and cod that blended beautifully.

Plaki style is where this recipe becomes even more interesting to us.  "Plaki style" is a term that typically refers to a dish cooked in the oven with tomatoes, oil, and vegetables.  This had tomato sauce, celery, onions, raisins, capers, and tomatoes.  The raisins are typical in Plaki from various parts of Greece, whereas in other regions, raisins would not be included.  They did add something special to this dish.

In order to make this dish, you have to use a little bit of your own imagination.  We were given the directions verbally, and this is from our notes.  And, any time you work with salt cod, you have to soak the bakalao for at least a day to re-hydrate it and remove most of the saltiness.  Remove "most" of the saltiness is key, because you want to have a little salty flavour in the final product.  It really does take a full day to do this, and you should change the water every few hours; some prefer to desalt it over a 2 day period.

Slice 5 potatoes and 2 zucchinis to equal width circles, the same shape and size of home made potato chips.  In fact, you would start the cooking with frying the potatoes like homemade potato chips, and set them aside.  The zucchini was dredged (coated) in flour, salt, and pepper, and then fried.  The zucchini had a nice little crunch to it.  Both were set aside until it was time to assemble the dish.

While the potatoes and zucchini are frying, chop some celery, garlic, and onions.  Just any small cut will do.  Drain some capers, or you can use pitted black olives instead.  Set this all aside until you are ready to assemble the dish.

Next, coat the bakalao in seasoned flour, and fry that in hot oil.  Get the fish cooked about half way, but make sure that it has a crust on the outside.  The fish had been cut into portions, so that when cutting into the casserole, each person got one piece of fish.  There were approximately 15 pieces of bakalao in the large baking dish.  The bigger the baking dish, the more fish you need.

Then, it is time to make the casserole.  You need to make three layers in the baking dish -- the first layer is all the potatoes.  Lay them kind of flat, but overlapping.  The second layer is the zucchini.  Lay it in a flat layer and make sure that it covers the potatoes.  Then, lay the pieces of fried bakalao side by side in a nice pattern on top of the zucchini.  The fish should create a full layer at the top of the baking dish.  On the fish, sprinkle the celery, onions, garlic, capers, and the raisins.  Make sure that these are all evenly distributed on top of the dish.  

At this point, you should have a pretty colourful dish.  So, to make it flavourful, you are going to pour some white wine in the dish -- all over the fish.  Sprinkle some oregano, and a little pepper.  Then, pour the can of tomatoes on top of the whole thing.  Put a little water in the pan, just like you do with oven roasted potatoes (click here), and then bake the casserole.  It goes in the oven at 400° F for about 40 minutes.  If you want, sprinkle some bread crumbs on top (the cook used Japanese-style Panko bread crumbs), and put it back in the oven for 10 more minutes to make the bread crumbs brown.  Or, you could do this step in the broiler.

That was the explanation we were given when asking how to make this dish.  We have read various Plaki Style recipes including ones for beans to vegetables to fish to meat.  This one was a really nice combination of all those flavours and textures -- with a little crunch from the celery and onion, to the soft chew of the raisin and the perfectly flaky fish.  Just a lovely contribution to a family Palm Sunday Pot Luck.  We will pursue making this dish, and when we have pictures of the step by step instructions, we may even share!  Until then, when you try to make this, let us know how yours turns out!

Please note the thick piece of cod (about 1.5" or about 4 cm), with steamed dandelion greens (horta), Kalamata olives, Prosforo bread and lemon. It was truly a delicious Palm Sunday Lenten dish.

Apolytikion in the Plagal of the Fourth Tone

"See! The Bridegroom sets forth in the dead of night. And blessed is that servant whom he shall find on watch; unworthy the one he shall come upon lazing. See to it, soul, that sleep does not overtake you, lest you be given up to death and be shut out of the kingdom. Bestir yourself, then, and sing out: "Holy, holy, holy are You, our God; through the protection of the bodiless powers, save us.""