Baccala Salad
It’s one of those secret family Italian recipes that can be enjoyed for both Christmas Feast of Seven Fishes or Lent season leading up to Easter. You really will not experience the true authenticity of Baccala until you’ve watched what appears to look like a piece of dried up driftwood transition and soften by water for over a week and then become the main fish in both Baccala Salad and Baccala Stew recipes. Both are featured in Yvonne’s Cookbook “Let’s Eat!”
Baccala Salad recipe by Grandma Anna Pesce
Calories Per Serving: 167
Protein: 27g, Total Fat: 6g, Carbs: 1g
*Gluten Free
*Dairy Free
*Yields (12) Servings
18 ounce fish, cod, dried and salted (3 oz. pieces of baccala)
1 jar peppers, roasted, sweet
1 can olives, ripe, sliced
1 tablespoon spices, garlic, raw
1/4 cup oil, extra virgin
1 medium lemon, juice, raw
1/4 teaspoon spices, pepper, red
- Soak baccala, wash, remove skin then cook in boiled water.
- Shred baccala thin.
- Cut roasted peppers julienne style and add sliced black olives and garlic.
- Drizzle lemon and spices.
- Fold it all in together.
Dress with a white wine vinegar drizzle!
Direct from Yvonne’s Cookbook “Let’s Eat!”
A fond memory from early childhood was sitting around the table as a family, two days before and preparing the fish for a Christmas Eve Feast. We each had a job to do for the meal preparation. I learned how to clean shrimp when I was about 7 years old. Grandma Anna Pesce who lived with us would clean and cut the eel and we’d laugh when the eyes would accidentally squirt onto her house dress. Then she’d wash the smelt and gut them. Dad’s project would be to soak the Baccala all week in fresh water and then rinse it often with more fresh water. It looked like a piece of drift wood and after about a week, he’d cut and shred pieces for the recipes we’d soon make. Ma prepared the stuffed calamari and scungilli and the lobster tails would remain frozen until that day. My two sisters and I would try to devein and de-shell the shrimp and it was quite a task for little hands. Why we did seven fish is still a mystery to me. Grandma said it was for the seven sacraments that Christians have in a lifetime, Baptism, Confession, Communion, Confirmation, Marriage, Anointing of the Sick, Holy Orders. Other years she said it was to represent the seven days of the week. My father always said it was because Italians just like to eat!
Get these and other Neapolitan family stories and recipes in Yvonne’s Cookbook “Let’s Eat!”
