Portuguese cod packs Punch Lane

Portuguese bacalhau salt cod and seafood stew by Nuno Gabriel, executive chef at Punch Lane, Melbourne.

Punch Lane’s Nuno Gabriel

“The past 10 weeks have been among the hardest of my business life,” says Martin Pirc, owner of Punch Lane, the Melbourne wine bar and restaurant and an institution of 25 years’ standing.

“We’ve kept our heads above water with home-delivered meals and wine but, you know, it hasn’t been easy.”

Punch Lane was opened by a young Pirc back in 1995 and, while business partners and chefs have come and gone, Pirc remains the prescient steward of this Bourke Hill precinct stalwart.

He reopened Punch Lane — to a heaving crowd of 20 — on Thursday, June 4.

Strangely, Pirc says, the shutdown has provided silver linings.

“The nice thing was meeting people, face-to-face, with deliveries. It’s very personal — real relationship marketing stuff.”

He was able to use the down time to give Punch a bit of spit and polish. He even took a couple of his Italian staff into his own home because they were left high and dry with nowhere to live.

“One is a sommelier, he’s been doing blind tastings with the kids.”

As a wine-forward restaurant that blurs the lines between bar and dining room, Punch Lane has morphed and responded to the times better than most. The latest guardian of the kitchen is Nuno Gabriel, a Portugal-born, London-reared chef whose mission statement is “classical and uncomplicated produce-driven cuisine with subtle nods to my Portuguese heritage”.

For Sydneysiders, think Bibo Wine Bar in Double Bay, where chef Jose Silva takes a similar approach.

In his adopted England, Gabriel got a start with a three-year apprenticeship at the well-regarded Westminster Kingsway College at Vincent Square, London, where one classmate was a green Jamie Oliver (other alumni included celebrity chef Ainsley Harriott and John Lydon, aka Johnny Rotten). The career that followed is littered with stars from the culinary firmament: Michel Bourdin at The Connaught Hotel; Marco Pierre White at The Belvedere; brothers Michel and Albert Roux at Le Gavroche and Cafe Roux in Amsterdam; Thomas Keller at The French Laundry in California’s Napa Valley; and Sally Clarke at Clarke’s, London.

Gabriel came to Australia in 2010; his last role was as group head chef at the National Gallery of Victoria, overseeing internal venues Persimmon and Garden Restaurant, but his new gig puts the chef back in the kitchen. It’s an impressive CV but Gabriel is not about relying on past glories. “Our journey isn’t about where we’ve been,” he says. “It’s about where we’re going.”

Melbourne wine bar and restaurant Punch Lane. Picture: Ryan Noreiks

The backstory

“Growing up between Portugal and West London, my family ate bacalhau at least three times a week,” Gabriel says of the salt cod dish that’s so much more than a national staple. “In London Portuguese immigrants would meet at the Portobello & Golborne Market and the delis, cafes and social clubs surrounding them, and exchange recipes for salt cod from their region. It’s that important to our culture.”

Bacalhau, he insists, is a most versatile foodstuff. “The prospect of eating something this regularly may not sound exciting, but it’s used in everything from soups like acorda with coriander and thin ­slices of yesterday’s bread to pasteis de bacalhau (croquettes with potato, parsley and garlic) and bacalhau a bras — a midweek favourite of onions, shredded salt cod, fried potatoes, scrambled egg and black olives with parsley. There’s a story to each dish.”

For the autumn menu at Punch, Gabriel is serving caldeir­ada for two, a catch-of-the-day fish stew, with broa (Portuguese corn bread) on the side.

“It’s hard to pinpoint where this dish comes from. Some say Nazare and some say Peniche: both are serious fishing towns in the Oeste region … Whatever was caught went into the pot. Our approach is the same.”

At home, says the chef, there is always some bacalhau pre-soaked, portioned and ready to go.

“My family doesn’t eat it three times a week but my wife and kids love it every time I make it.”

Punch Lane Melbourne Salt Cod feature

The produce

Gabriel sources bacalhau directly from Portugal through local wholesale specialists Ocean Made. In Melbourne, you can get salt cod from Casa Iberica in Fitzroy or Mediterranean Wholesalers in Brunswick. In Sydney you can get really good salt cod at Little Portugal in Petersham.

“We use black wing bacalhau, which means the gut linings have been left in before salting. This is traditional to Portugal, but if you were eating salt cod in Spain or Italy it would almost certainly be white wing (lining removed).

“My tip for choosing the best salt cod is to look for thick white flesh and, if possible, intact bones and skin. They give the dish a gelatinous twang, essential to the perfect bacalhau.”

Punch Lane.

The method

Ever eaten salt cod that was simply too salty? You’ve tasted a rush job. Salt cod needs to soak at least two days in cold water in the fridge, changing the water at least three times. Bring a pot of water to a boil, then turn off the heat; put your cod in the water, cover and leave to rest about 15 minutes, depending on the thickness. This process stops the cod from toughening. Repeat the process using milk to achieve a silky texture and a beautiful white opaque colour when it’s flaked.

“We repurpose the cooking water and milk to make a bechamel, and the cod trimmings we use for the salt cod lasagne on our lunch menu. If there’s anything left, we make whipped salt cod brandade, served with lovage oil and Yarra Valley roe for our snack menu at our downstairs bar, ­Juliet.”

Making a stock from the bones, aromatics, chopped tomato, Portuguese brandy and white wine, the dish is assembled by layering thinly sliced potatoes, onion, tomatoes and fennel in a shallow terracotta baking dish rubbed with garlic and butter. Season each layer with salt, pepper and paprika as you go, then pour the fish stock in, followed by the bacalhau. Add the remaining seafood, seasoning with white wine and saffron. Add butter, allow to marinate then it’s time for the oven, about 15 minutes covered and a further 15 minutes lid off. Add scallops in the last five minutes of cooking. Garnish with pickled parsley, red and green chilli and coriander leaves.

The twist

“I really want to bring bacalhau and Portuguese cuisine generally more into the spotlight in Australia. Despite its peasant origins, it’s sacred to our culture and has played an important part in our history since the Middle Ages.”

Anyone who has read Mark Kurlansky’s Cod: A Biography of the Fish that Changed the World will appreciate the depth of this tradition.

“For me, this caldeirada is a pure expression of land and sea, and the way of life in Portugal. It’s about getting the best that you can and making the best of what you’ve got. It demonstrates the beauty of humble origins.”

The price

Portuguese caldeirada with broa, for two, $110.

The recipe

Caldeirada de Bacalhau e marisco Portuguese salt cod and seafood stew

Punch Lane , Nuno Mendes Gabriel

Salt cod is a national obsession in Portugal. It has played an important part in our history and culture. Bacalhau, meaning thick pieces of cod, is a comfort food for many Portuguese, but is very hard to find in Melbourne. I fondly remember my parents and my grandparents cooking salt cod for me when I was young, and this recipe is a nod to my childhood.

Ingredients

Fish:

•● 120 salt-soaked cod

•● 120g snapper fillet

•● 80g blue eye fillets

•● 80g monkfish

•● 2 Harvey Bay Scallops

•● 6 Diamond shell clams

•● 6 Spring Bay mussels

•● 2 large King Prawns

Stock

•● 2 pieces of fennel (sliced)

•● 2 onions (sliced)

•● 5 garlic cloves (sliced)

•● 3 long red chillies with seeds

•● 1 capsicum (diced)

•● 1 tsp saffron

•● 1 tbsp smoked paprika

•● 1 kg of tomatoes, blanched and skin removed

•● Fish bones, washed and chopped

•● 1L salt cod cooking liquid

•● 2 bay leaves, torn not chopped

•● Pinch of nutmeg and cumin

•● 1 bunch of coriander stalks diced

•● 1 bunch of parsley stalks diced

•● 400ml dry white wine

•● 200ml Macieira (Portuguese brandy)

Garnish

•● 140g potatoes (dutch creams work well) thinly sliced

•● 1 white onion thinly sliced

•● Confit tomato petals

•● 1 bulb small fennel, trimmed and thinly sliced

•● Olive oil to drizzle

•● Coriander leaves

•● Parsley leaves

•● Pickled chillies

Other

•● Toasted Broa bread to serve

•● 1L milk

Method

1.Soak boneless Bacalhau two days beforehand. Keep refrigerated and change the water every six hours or so, depending on the thickness of the fish portion.

2.Boil 1L of water, remove from heat and place salt cod portions in water. Cover for 10 minutes or more depending on the thickness of fish.

3.Boil 1L of milk. Remove salt cod from the water, reserving the boiled water. Place in the salt cod milk and cover. Soaking the cod in milk keeps the salt cod tender.

4.Clean and fillet the remaining fish, keeping the bones for the stock. Rinse bones under cold water and set aside. Clean all shellfish and devein the prawns, leaving head and shell on.

5.Saute onions until soft and golden. Add sliced fennel, capsicum and garlic until soft and fragrant.

6.Add fish bones, spices and herbs along with Macieira, stirring until the alcohol has almost evaporated. Add dry white wine and reduce by half.

7.Add chopped tomatoes and cook until broken down and a pulp-like consistency. Top up with water and the salt cod liquid and cook until reduced by half. Keep on low heat for approximately 1 hour, checking every 15-20 minutes.

8.Remove cover and let sit for 20 minutes before passing.

9.Reduce stock until your happy with the consistency and adjust seasoning

Dish assembly

1. Rub terracotta dish with garlic and butter.

2.Layer thinly sliced potatoes, onions, tomatoes and fennel and one more layer of potatoes, seasoning each layer with salt, pepper and paprika. Pour fish stock over layers and add the salt cod.

3.Season remaining fish with white wine mixed with a pinch of saffron. Layer this fish on top of potatoes with skin facing up. Add clams, mussels and king prawns, leave out scallops until the final 5 minutes of cooking.

4.Add knobs of butter and leave to marinate for 40 minutes.

5.Preheat oven to 180 degrees celsius and bake for 15 minutes, remove cover

and cook for a further 15 minutes. Adding in scallops in the last 5 minutes.

6.Garnish with pickled parsley, coriander leaves, pickled red and green chilli.

Serve with cornbread croutons