One of my favorite memories from our trip to Porto was searching out A Margarida in Matosinhos, a restaurant one of Paul’s colleagues recommended. It was about a twenty-minute Uber ride from where we were staying, up the coast to Matosinhos.

We arrived early, so we spent some time walking along the waterfront before lunch. The Atlantic was beautiful that day. The town itself was small, with clusters of old buildings, little plazas, and old stone turrets lining the waterfront. It felt like a real fishing village, not someplace built for tourists. Matosinhos felt completely different from Porto.

When we found the restaurant, I remember looking at Paul and thinking, this is going to be good.

One of the things I loved most about Portugal was how many restaurants were family owned. You just get the feeling that everyone has a role. Someone is greeting guests, someone is cooking, and somewhere in the back Grandma is making sure her recipes are being cooked exactly the way they’ve always been.

I love that.

I admire that.

Honestly…I aspire to that.

When we sat down, every table already had a plate of boiled prawns waiting. Our server asked what we were interested in and then smiled and said, “Would you like me to choose for you?”

We looked at each other and said yes.

The food just kept coming. Croquettes. Grilled sardines. Calamari. Then a small pot of clams cooked in white wine, served right in the pot they were cooked in. I loved that simple Portuguese tradition. Nothing fancy, just good food brought straight from the stove to the table. Then came the main course—beautiful grilled turbot with simple Portuguese potatoes and cabbage. Every dish was better than the last.

What made it even more special was that the grill wasn’t even inside the restaurant. It sat just across the street from the front door with fish cooking over charcoal all afternoon. You could smell the wood smoke before you even reached the restaurant.

This is exactly the kind of restaurant Paul and I hope to find when we travel. Small. Local. Family run. Good food without any fuss. By the end of the meal we almost felt like regulars.

And then we met Grandma.

She didn’t say much, but you knew immediately she was the heart of that restaurant. Quietly watching over everything and making sure the food leaving her kitchen reflected her family’s recipes and traditions.

That made the whole afternoon even more special.

I chose Codfish Gomes de Sá because it seemed fresh, light, and simple.

This recipe was a hit.

We thoroughly enjoyed every bite.

At first, I wondered if it would be filling enough on its own. I thought about adding a salad or another vegetable, but I didn’t want to overwhelm the plate. Instead, I added sautéed enoki mushrooms, fresh podded peas, and zucchini curls. They added just enough color and texture while still letting the cod be the star.

I also decided to make my own version of confit onions. I slowly caramelized thick onion rings in unsalted butter until they became soft and sweet. After straining the onions, I saved the butter and drizzled it over the finished dish. I think that may have been my favorite addition.

I wanted to stay close to the chef’s vision, so I assembled two individual plates, warmed them gently on a sheet pan, and finished them with the mushrooms, peas, zucchini curls, chives, onions, and Kalamata olives.

If I were making this for family or friends, I’d probably layer everything into a casserole dish, warm it in the oven, and garnish it just before serving. I think it would be much easier to serve that way.

I’m still chasing the perfect jammy egg. Too soft and it falls apart. Too firm and it becomes a hard-boiled egg. I came pretty close this time.

For the cod, I went back to the “quasi sous vide” method I used for the stone bass recipe. The cookbook gently cooks the fish in garlic-infused milk. Since I don’t own a sous vide machine, I sealed the cod with the milk and garlic and carefully held the water at temperature. I also added a little more garlic than the recipe called for because I thought the flavor might be too subtle otherwise.

The cod turned out beautifully. Moist. Tender. It flaked apart perfectly.

I also swapped the traditional black olives for Kalamata olives. I wanted their slightly briny, tangy flavor.

In the end, everything worked together just the way I hoped. The cod was delicate with just a hint of the sea. The mushrooms added an earthy note. The peas brought a little sweetness and crunch. The potatoes and egg made the dish satisfying without feeling heavy. The onion butter quietly tied everything together.

This is definitely one I’ll make again.

Codfish Gomes de Sá

A Portuguese classic inspired by a family-run restaurant in Matosinhos.

Serves 4

Ingredients

4 fresh free-range eggs (this is important since they are not fully hard-boiled)
4 starchy potatoes
4 small onions
¾ L whole milk, room temperature
6 garlic cloves, crushed
800 g cod fillets
Olive oil
Salt and pepper
Flaky finishing salt

Suggested Garnishes

Chives, finely sliced
Kalamata olives, minced
Fresh podded peas, blanched
Zucchini strips, blanched and rolled into curls
Enoki mushrooms, trimmed and sautéed

Method

Peel the onions, leaving them whole. Slice them into ½-inch rounds.

Add about 2 tablespoons of butter to a saucepan over medium heat. Once melted, add the onions and stir to coat them with the butter. Reduce the heat to low and cook gently until the onions are soft, sweet, and caramelized, about 1 hour.

Transfer the onions to a sieve set over a bowl. Let them drain until the butter has separated from the onions. If needed, gently press on the onions to release more of the butter. Reserve both the onions and the onion butter.

Bring a saucepan of water to a boil. Carefully lower in the eggs and cook for 7 minutes. Immediately drain and crack the eggs gently against one another before plunging them into an ice bath. Once cooled, peel the eggs under the water. I find the shells come off much easier this way. Slice each egg into four rounds and refrigerate until ready to assemble.

Place the potatoes, skins on, into a pot of salted water. Bring to a boil and cook just until tender. Drain and rinse under cold water. Once cool enough to handle, peel the potatoes and slice them into four ½-inch rounds. Using a round cookie cutter, trim each slice into an even circle.

Add a few of the crushed garlic cloves to the milk and let it infuse for about 30 minutes.

Place the cod fillets into zip-top bags (I had two fillets, so I used two bags). Divide the remaining garlic between the bags and pour in enough milk to completely submerge the fish. Seal the bags tightly.

Heat a large pot of water to 54°C. Submerge the bags and maintain the temperature until the cod is almost cooked through. Remove the fish from the bags and gently flake it along its natural lines.

To Assemble

Preheat the oven to 180°C.

Using either a casserole dish or individual oven-safe plates, layer the ingredients in the following order:

Fish, potato, onion, egg.

Repeat the layers three or four times, finishing with the fish on top.

Drizzle generously with olive oil and warm in the oven for about 15 minutes. You’re not cooking the dish at this point—just heating everything through. The cod will finish cooking in the oven, and the eggs will continue to set.

If serving family-style from a casserole, garnish with the chives and drizzle generously with the reserved onion butter. Serve the peas, zucchini curls, and mushrooms alongside or arrange them around the casserole.

If serving individual plates, garnish each plate with the peas, zucchini curls, mushrooms, chives, Kalamata olives, and finish with a generous drizzle of the warm onion butter.

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From My Kitchen

• This would make a wonderful appetizer for a dinner party. Assemble it ahead of time, warm it gently in the oven, and garnish just before serving.
• The jammy eggs are important. You want them just set with a creamy center—not runny, but not fully hard-boiled either.
• Don’t skip the garnish. The fresh peas, zucchini curls, mushrooms, chives, and especially the onion butter are what bring the whole dish together.
• If you prefer, you can drizzle the finished dish with a good extra-virgin olive oil instead of the onion butter.
• Be careful not to overheat the dish in the oven. The cod should be just shy of done before assembling. It will finish cooking as the dish warms through, and the eggs will continue to set.
• Of all my additions, the fresh podded peas and sautéed enoki mushrooms were my favorites. They added freshness, a little earthiness, and balanced the richness of the potatoes and eggs without overwhelming the cod.
• I chose Kalamata olives instead of traditional black olives because I liked their slightly briny, tangy flavor with the cod.

If you try this recipe, let me know what garnishes you choose.