O Cobra is the oldest restaurant in Vila de Rei and one of the temples of gastronomy in the centre of the country. Among the traditional dishes that Odete Mendes prepares, Codfish à Cobra is perhaps the best known and also the most sought after. Codfish It’s a different type of codfish, served in a thick citrus sauce and served with cabbage breadcrumbs and fried sweet potatoes.
This is a somewhat lengthy recipe, because of the making of the sauce.
Ingredients:
Codfish (large cuts) Sweet potato
Sauce ingredients
1 kg various citrus fruits (apricot, orange, lemon, grapefruit, tangerine) 4 onions 4 carrots Pepper to taste Nutmeg q.b. Peeled tomatoes to taste Salt to taste Herbs (parsley and oregano) to taste 1 glass of Port wine
Ingredients for the cabbage bread crumbs
Kale in green stock 2 onions 1/2 corn bread Olive oil Herbs (parsley and oregano) to taste Garlic cloves to taste
Preparation:
After soaking and drying with paper, pass the cod pieces that you want to be generous in flour and fry them in peanut oil, which is sprinkled with crushed aromatic herbs (parsley and oregano). Once fried, set aside.
Prepare the breadcrumbs:
In a frying pan with olive oil and a touch of oil, sauté the garlic cloves and onions until golden. Add the crumbled corn bread and the cabbage and cook, stirring frequently.
Prepare the sauce:
Cook the onions and cut into half-moons. Cook the carrots and cut them in halves. Grind the citrus fruit and the aromatic herbs. Sauté until the onion is soft and then add the various crushed ingredients, the carrot and the peeled tomato. Season with salt, nutmeg and pepper and cook slowly over a low heat until a thick and homogenous sauce is obtained. At the end, add aromatic herbs to taste
When the sauce is ready, add the cod and the glass of Port Wine
Serve with the sliced and fried sweet potato and the cabbage breadcrumbs. If available, it is accompanied with a salad of Almeirão, a type of lettuce that is bigger, harder and with a more intense green colour.
At the O Cobra restaurant in Vila de Rei, besides the “bacalhau à Cobra” we tasted the house made “maranhos” and the “bucho recheado” (stuffed pork tripe), as well as the carrot based river fish soup which is traditional in the central part of the country. At the end, we were served a slice of egg pudding and homemade berry ice cream accompanied by a glass of very good coffee liqueur. The wine list is competent, but we opted to go through the whole meal with a delicious and fresh berry sangria).
The room is very cosy and the service coordinated by Tânia Lucas (the second generation of the family at the head of the restaurant) is very friendly, attentive and efficient.
This is a restaurant that we have no hesitation in recommending. We will be back!
