Stoccafisso all'onegliese - Stockfish at Oneglia's way

In Liguria there is a great tradition of stockfish recipes and this one is from Oneglia, a nice place on the west coast of Liguria... In this town in June there are several celebrations on St. John's day and during the week of feast a group of people cook this recipe in an enormous pan installed on the promenade. It's funny to see and the food is really tasty!

Yesterday I wanted to cook some fish but something different from usual. Because in the town where I live it's not easy to buy really good fresh fish, I decided to buy stockfish. If you buy stockfish you need to keep it one week in a bowl with water in order to soften it. I was lucky because I found it in a supermarket and it was already soaked and ready to be cooked.

I took the recipe from a booklet of Ligurian stockfish recipes. This is my favourite one, maybe because it reminds me a beautiful place!

Ingredients (serves 4):

700-800 g soaked stockfish

1 onion

1 carrot

1 stick celery

4 anchovy fillets

400 g potatoes

30 g pinenuts

50 g walnut kernels

2-3 tbsp olives in brine

1 glass extra virgin olive oil

300 g tinned peeled tomatoes

1 glass white wine

salt

Peel and bone the stockfish. Rinse it then dry it in a towel, then cut it in some pieces.

Pour the e.v.olive oil in a large saucepan, add the anchovy fillets and the vegetables, not too finely chopped. Cook them for about ten minutes, then add the stockfish and toss it gently because it breaks up easily. (I hope you understand what I mean: I don't think "break up" is the right verb. Can anyone tell me which verb is the right one??) Pour the white wine and cook for ten minutes more. Then add pinenuts, walnut kernels, olives and the tinned peeled tomatoes. You may need to add only a pinch of salt or even more: it depends on your own taste. Toss gently again. Cover the saucepan and cook for one hour. Check from time to time that there is enough liquid in the saucepan. You'll probably need to add a glass or two of hot water. In the meanwhile peel and cube the potatoes (big cubes). Add the potatoes, cover again and cook for 45 minutes. Always check the liquid and in case add some more hot water and some salt. On the whole the stockfish must cook at least 2 hours.

Enjoy your meal and let me know if you have tried this recipe! I hope my explanation is clear enough...:-)