Baccalà all'Abruzzese

Salt cod stewed in tomato with peppers and olives, the fish added last so it stays whole.

Fish. Not vegetarian — contains fish.

Ingredients

• 1 kg salt cod, soaked 48 hours in cold water, changed four times, and the soaking water discarded
• 4 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 onion, sliced
• 2 red peppers, in strips
• 3 cloves garlic, sliced
• 600 g tinned plum tomatoes, crushed
• 80 g black olives, stoned
• 1 dried chilli
• a handful of flat-leaf parsley, chopped

Method

1. Soak the cod for 48 hours in plenty of cold water in the fridge, changing it four times. Taste a corner before you start cooking: it should be pleasantly salty and not aggressive. Pour the soaking water away.
2. Cook the onion and peppers in the oil over a medium heat for 12 minutes until soft and beginning to catch.
3. Add the garlic and chilli for a minute, then the tomatoes and olives. Simmer 20 minutes.
4. Cut the cod into large pieces and lay them ON TOP of the sauce. Do not stir them in.
5. Cover and cook 15 minutes, spooning sauce over them twice. THE FISH GOES IN LAST AND IS NEVER STIRRED: salt cod flakes apart the moment it is moved about, and this dish is meant to arrive in pieces you can see.
6. Scatter the parsley over and serve with bread.

Our own recipe. This one was written for this site rather than taken from anywhere, so there is no source to point you at. The quantities and the order of the steps are choices, not the only way to do it.

Filed under Italy · All recipes