Pugliese-style salt cod is a stew with olives and tomatoes, and in Bari, it’s very common, along with fried salt cod, to prepare it for the Christmas Eve menu.
In Bari, baresane olives (the ones used for Bari focaccia) and sponsali, which are spring onions harvested before the bulb swells and would become inflorescences if left to grow, the same ones used in the onion calzone.
Serena Brancale was born in Bari on May 4, 1989, and “salt cod” made her artistic fortune, as she became popular with the general public thanks to the hit song “Baccalà” in the Bari dialect, released in February 2024, whose music video went viral receiving more than 5 million views.
Therefore, I chose this Pugliese recipe for the Festival Menu 2025, dedicated to Serena Brancale competing at the Sanremo Festival 2025 with “Anema e core”.
- Difficulty: Easy
- Cost: Medium
- Preparation time: 5 Minutes
- Portions: 4 People
- Cooking methods: Boiling
- Cuisine: Italian
- Seasonality: Christmas, All Seasons
Ingredients
- 1.75 lbs desalted salt cod
- 1.50 lbs sponsali (or onions)
- 3 tomatoes (or 20 cherry tomatoes)
- 20 baresane olives
- as needed extra virgin olive oil
- as needed salt and pepper
Steps
Slice the sponsali (or onions) and the tomatoes (or cherry tomatoes).
In a pot, add a drizzle of extra virgin olive oil, the sponsali, and the tomatoes, season with salt, and cook for about 10 minutes.
Add the salt cod cut into large slices, the olives. Cover and cook for another 10 minutes.
Season with salt and pepper.
It is traditional to prepare the Pugliese-style salt cod in a traditional earthenware pot, but you can also prepare it using a Magic Cooker lid, cooking for 10 minutes with the lid on after a light sauté and placing all the ingredients (including the salt cod pieces) in the pot.
It is traditional to prepare the Pugliese-style salt cod in a traditional earthenware pot, but you can also prepare it using a Magic Cooker lid, cooking for 10 minutes with the lid on after a light sauté and placing all the ingredients (including the salt cod pieces) in the pot.
You can purchase the personalized cutting board on the Affetta Tartufi Tenderni website with my discount code SELENE10.
