Baccalá Artusianna

Recipe@ bottom, but you may enjoy my story first

My dad loved any fish that was salted and cured.

I developed the taste for it thanks to him.

The only cured fish I didn?t particularly like was Baccalá. I assume it was because I didn?t like the way my mother prepared it, which was always fried with onions and the flavor was just too intense for me. I knew though, how I preferred it to taste.

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My parent?s house was always open to drop in guests. Friends would ring the bell and announce they had come for a visit.

Everyone was always welcome, no matter what we were in the middle of doing. The visit would always start with a cup of expresso, maybe a cookie or a cake to go with it, if such were present and the visit would continue with many hours of conversation. If the friends had children it was even more pleasant, as my sister and I would share our play room with them and leave the adults alone to talk about adult things.

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Ultimately the visit might end up in a dinner together and more hours of conversation or share a TV show or movie together, or play cards as it was customary in my household to play just for fun and not for money. Dinners were never short, but lingered into the wee hours of the night. Early birds are a creation of the American culture. In Italy, including Sicily a region of Italy, dinner is served after 8PM, and with a good reason for it. Work hours are four hours in the morning, then there is a break for a long lunch of at least 2 hours, and then another four hours in the afternoon going into the early evening. Many return from work around 8PM and that is the time they eat dinner. So it becomes a cultural habit. Even if you don?t work, dinner is customarily served after those hours.

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On one such social calling occasion, when a family came to visit, my dad without thought as to consulting with my mom, invites the friends to stay for dinner. My mom had been planning to make her fried baccalá that night, and she had already committed in advance to cooking it that day, since she pre soaked it three days before. So that night the baccala had to be cooked regardless of wether we were going to eat it or not. She didn?t want to serve such a modest dish to guests, so she was worried in the kitchen about what to make.

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I was already a teenager by then and had been cooking for about 3 years. By this time I was familiar and loved the works of Pellegrino Artusi, whose book my father gave me as a gift and I had been watching and studying intently all the best cooks in the family and in our circle of friends. My parents always praised me on the dishes I prepared. I had become confident in the kitchen and bold enough to tell my mother that if she?d let me I would prepare for everyone the baccalá dish I had looked up on my Artusi book.

The new way of making baccala made me hope that it would make it into our menu repertoire, instead of fried baccalá, which was not my favorite anyway.

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I checked the refrigerator and the cupboard for the ingredients, but not everything I needed was there. I had grapes, and homemade raisins, which are so abundant in September in Sicily, no pignoli, but plenty of almonds, I had vegetables to make an unusual salad with all the left over vegetables that singularly would not have been enough to make a complete dish by themselves, but together they formed a welcomed salad, and I decided to make a simple soup of bullion with angel hair cut very small topped with Parmigiano, and the baccalá dish that was never forgotten by everyone that night, I had to tweak it a bit because of the missing ingredients, Hence my creation takes on Artusi’s name and mine as he gave me an idea and I made it my own. The dish came out good enough to leave a lasting impression on my family and guests.

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As I explained before, it was not the first time I had cooked for the family and they trusted me, so they left me all alone in the kitchen.

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Being left in the kitchen by myself was not at all scary. I always felt so comfortable in the kitchen. The kitchen has a way to relax me, inspire me and move me with animation, like no other activity. In fact you know the difference in me when I create or just cook. I can cook in 15 minutes an entire meal, but when I create my demeanor changes I love the time it takes to think, explore, visualize, combine, anticipate, taste, work the details, search for solutions, solve problems and be satisfied with the results of my creation. That takes more than 15 minutes but at the end of it, I feel renewed with more energy than I begun with. It?s what gives my complex thoughts a rest from reality. My escape…if that makes it any clearer.

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So that night I felt that same way.  Away from reality in my own  comfortable world, while the others engaged in their game of cards, enjoying each other?s company, talking away, while I was cutting and chopping and dressing and combining without fear of any accidental messes. It might have been this lack of fear that accompanied me through  cooking all my life and the trust my parents put on me, that has made cooking a joyful and  rewarding experience and not a burden at all.

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By the time I had dinner all ready, the table had been set up, the soup on the table, as the first course and the guests together with my parents started coming in to sit around the dining table. When my parents came in they had a smile as big as a slice of watermelon, they were obviously proud of their little girl. My dad kept complimenting even before he tried the food, he continued until I was embarrassed, but happy.

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The baccalá dish was a hit, everyone asked how I made it. I hadn?t learned to jot down recipes yet, so I explained my recipe in a very vague manner. For a long time after that night they still kept adulating my dish even to other friends.

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Over the years. this dish has improved in taste and esthetics. It is a dish worthy of serving to guests, and my mom still asks for it from time to time, it has become her favorite baccalá dish.

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Before making this dish get info on how to buy baccalá, go to Ingredient Wiki: Baccalá

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Servings 4

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Ingredients

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A piece of Baccalá about 18 inch long and 6 inch wide (which is about 1/4 of a whole fish like the picture in my Ingredient Wiki: Baccalá) Cut up into 4 inch squares and soaked for 3 days in plenty of water to cover fish completely.

1/2 cup white raisins

1Tbsp ground almonds (optional)

Flour for coating the baccalá

1/2 cup red wine vinegar

1 cup water

3 Tbsp sugar (or xylitol)

Virgin Olive Oil for sauteing

At least 4 clusters of grapes (each a handful)

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Directions

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Drain baccalá

Flour all sides

Heat the Olive oil in a frying pan on medium heat and saute fish until golden on both sides

You may have to do a few batches until all is done and as the pieces are done transfer to a paper towel to soak any oil residue.

Mix vinegar, water and sugar until sugar has dissolved

Transfer all the fish inside the pan again and add the vinegar mixture

Add raisins and almonds

Cook at low heat for 30 minutes or until vinegar sauce has thickened.

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Serving Suggestions:

This baccalá dish is great eaten with grapes. The sweet squirt of the juice of the grape  in your mouth combined with the salty and sour taste of the baccalá is a true delight.

The grapes give this dish a mediterranean aesthetic that will make you feel you?re in Sicily.

PRINTABLE RECIPE