The Genoese have always considered fish a predominant ingredient in their cuisine and products often appear in their more traditional recipes which aren’t really very local, in this case cod, which is a typical fish of the northern seas. The recipe for stoccafisso accomodato combines Nordic tradition with Ligurian products, starting with pine nuts and olive oil, for a really original result.
Stockfish: air-dried cod
There’s a lot of confusion about the difference between stockfish and baccala. They’re actually both cod, but they’re processed differently. Stockfish is freshly caught and cleaned, then left to dry in the open air on the islands north of Norway for four months, from February to May. Once dried, it can be preserved for a long time, keeping all its properties intact. Before eating it, it must be soaked for several days, changing the water several times. Baccala, on the other hand, is salted cod. Salting was another means of preserving fish without refrigeration. Like with stockfish, the cod is consumed after soaking it for at least 48 hours. Its flesh has a lighter taste than that of stockfish.
The stoccafisso accomodato recipe
Ingredients
1 1/2 lbs soaked stockfish, olive oil, 2 cloves garlic, 2 potatoes, 3 ripe tomatoes, a handful of raisins, 3/4 cup pine nuts, salt, pepper, chopped parsley.
Method
Soak the raisins in warm water. Remove the bones from the stockfish and then cut it into pieces. Sauté the garlic in a frying pan with a little bit of extra-virgin olive oil. Once it is golden, add the pieces of stockfish. Chop the tomatoes into pieces and add them to the pan, cover with a lid and cook for two hours, adding a little water if necessary. After this time add the peeled and sliced potatoes, the drained and squeezed raisins and the pine nuts. Stir and let cook for another hour. Once you turn off the heat, add the parsley. The sauce must have significantly reduced once the stew is done.
In the gallery, few tips for making stoccafisso accomodato.