Sicilian style salted cod stew with potatoes is a tasty dish made with simple and nutritious flavors, as only traditional dishes can be.

Made with genuine ingredients, the same that graced our grandmothers’ tables, expertly combined to create timeless dishes.

I learned to cook it from my mother and my maternal grandmother, who knew it as “Messina style cod” or “a ghiotta.” In these two ways, it is locally referred to the same preparation, while outside regional boundaries, it is more commonly known as “salted cod a ghiotta.”

It’s one of those dishes that is nourishing for the soul and body, a true “comfort food” rich in nutrients, especially vitamin B (B1-B3-B6), which help the liver and intestines function properly, also promoting the correct metabolism of fats and proteins.

It contains high amounts of lysine, which helps tissue growth, making this type of fish suitable for athletes and pregnant women.

Salted cod contains good fats, known as Omega 3, which are very useful in fighting bad cholesterol and promoting the formation of good cholesterol, an invaluable ally in keeping arteries clean. Omega 3 also play an important role in the prevention of heart attacks and strokes.

Salted cod provides a good supply of arginine, which helps keep artery pressure low.

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Difficulty: Easy
Cost: Very Affordable
Preparation time: 20 Minutes
Portions: 4
Cooking methods: Stove
Cuisine: Italian

736.91 Kcal

calories per serving

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Energy 736.91 (Kcal)
Carbohydrates 26.39 (g) of which sugars 1.35 (g)
Proteins 105.76 (g)
Fat 21.72 (g) of which saturated 3.46 (g)of which unsaturated 3.77 (g)
Fibers 4.13 (g)
Sodium 11,788.59 (mg)

Indicative values for a portion of 400 g processed in an automated way starting from the nutritional information available on the CREA^* and FoodData Central^** databases. It is not food and / or nutritional advice.

^* CREATES Food and Nutrition Research Center: https://www.crea.gov.it/alimenti-e-nutrizione https://www.alimentinutrizione.it ^** U.S. Department of Agriculture, Agricultural Research Service. FoodData Central, 2019. https://fdc.nal.usda.gov

Ingredients

1.43 lbs desalted salted cod
1.41 oz golden onion
1 stalk celery (tender)
14.11 oz potatoes
1.5 cups tomato puree
8 black olives (large, in oil)
0.35 oz salted capers
5 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
1 leaf bay
1.69 cups water
to taste salt
to taste black pepper (freshly ground)

Tools

Pan large with thick bottom
Mandolin

Steps

For preparing the Sicilian style salted cod stew with potatoes, slice an onion into small pieces, or thin slices using a mandolin, then remove the outer strings from the celery stalk and slice it thinly.
In a large thick-bottomed pan, combine the onion, celery, olive oil, and lightly sauté.
Then add the tomato puree, the indicated amount of water, a bay leaf, desalted capers under running water, and whole black olives (yes, whole with the stone still inside, as this is a dish of humble origins and its presentation is equally simple, but you can remove the stones if you prefer).
Bring to a boil, then lightly salt and add the potatoes cut into quarters, lower the heat and let it cook in a semi-covered pot for about 20 minutes.
In the meantime, with a good knife, on a cutting board, cut the already desalted salted cod into pieces roughly the size of the potato pieces.
If you wish to desalinate the salted cod at home, first rinse the fish well under running water to remove the external salt.
Then immerse the salted cod in a bowl containing plenty of cold water, which should be changed every 8 hours.
This should be done for about 3 days depending on the size and thickness of the pieces.
When purchasing, you can ask your fishmonger for more specific instructions based on what you have selected.
Keep the bowl in a cool place during soaking time and to avoid the spread of bad odors, cover the container with film.
Remove the central bone and spines from the pieces of fish, but leave the skin so that the cod does not fall apart during cooking.
Add the salted cod to the pan and let it cook gently for another 15-20 minutes or so.
Naturally, cooking times vary based on the size of the potatoes and the thickness of the fillets.
If the fish is cooked and the potatoes are still a bit firm, remove the salted cod from the pan using a spatula and continue cooking the potatoes alone.
Add more water if the sauce is too thick to cook the potatoes, but add small amounts to avoid a watery effect.
A few minutes before turning off, adjust the salt and put the fish back in the pan.
At the end of cooking, we should have a thick sauce, neither too liquid nor too dense, with well-cooked but not disintegrated potatoes and fish.
The Sicilian style salted cod stew with potatoes is now ready.
Serve immediately with a sprinkle of freshly ground black pepper, a drizzle of good raw extra virgin olive oil, and slices of homemade bread.

Best if consumed immediately. Otherwise, store well sealed in an airtight container in the fridge for one day.

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