Polenta with Salted Cod (Polenta e Baccalà) vs Psari Plaki: Baked Fish Plaki

Both dishes begin with onion and garlic softened in olive oil and finished with parsley, but they head in very different directions. In polenta e baccalà, soaked salt cod is gently poached in water and milk with a bay leaf, then flaked into a mellow sauce of translucent onion, reduced white wine and black pepper, spooned over thick, creamy, patiently stirred polenta. Psari plaki instead cooks its onion to golden sweetness, simmers a tomato sauce, and bakes fresh white fish fillets beneath it with lemon slices until flaky, with wine only optional.