It is useless to get around it: the original recipe of the Messina-style stocco a ghiotta fish represents an inevitable presence of the Christmas holidays in Sicily, as well as of the typical Sicilian cuisine .
Stocco alla ghiotta is a traditional preparation, a simple and poor second course but rich in taste like few others. This is thanks to the set of ingredients that the recipe includes and which blends into an exceptional mix of flavours. In Sicilian cuisine stockfish is, as well as cod , particularly present in the kitchen. In this dish it is combined with potatoes , tomatoes, olives, capers and little else. The dish, as it is easy to deduce, has a strong and rustic flavor, and is suitable for family lunches and dinners.
The recipe for Messina greedy stockfish fish
- 1 kg stock fish (already soaked)
- About 600 ml of tomato puree
- 3 tablespoons of tomato paste
- 2 onions
- 1 large spoonful of capers
- 2 stalks of celery
- fresh parsley to taste
- about twenty green olives in brine
- extra virgin olive oil
- salt and black pepper
How to prepare stockfish Messina style
To prepare the fish stocco a ghiotta, start by peeling and mincing the onions. Keep them aside. Desalt the capers by rinsing them for a long time under running cold water (or soaking them for 30 minutes). Remove the filaments from the celery stalks and cut them into slices. Remove the pit from the olives and cut them into pieces.
Sauté the onion in plenty of extra virgin olive oil. Once golden, add the celery and cook for about 8 minutes. Add capers, olives and tomato paste and continue for a couple of minutes. Only now add the tomato purée and cook for at least a quarter of an hour to reduce the sauce. Peel the potatoes and cut them into large pieces. Add them to the pot together with the fish and season with black pepper. Taste and add salt, if necessary.
Continue to cook until the dish has taken on an almost creamy consistency but, if necessary, add water to increase the cooking time. Drizzle with raw extra virgin olive oil and serve piping hot.
Variants of the stockfish Messina style
In addition to the Messina-style stockfish salad , which has the same ingredients, there are several variants of the dish, but the most common that we point out are two, both variations on the theme to which to give a chance.
Messina-style white stockfish
Stocco a ghiotta in bianco , as it is easy to deduce, does not require the addition of tomato sauce or concentrate. It is just as tasty and does not require any special precautions.
Stocco alla Messina with spinel pears
As for the Messina-style stockfish with spinelle pears , it is a variant of the recipe that has origins in the Etna area of eastern Sicily. The taste that comes out is perfectly balanced.
