Insalata di Baccalà, Patate, e Fagiolini
Salt cod is expensive. This salad is a good way to use trimmings from a whole boneless or bone-in side of baccalà you bought to make the Marechiara. If you trim the baccalà before you soak it and save the unsoaked trimmings in the refrigerator, you can take your time making the salad. If you trim the baccalà after soaking it, you’ll have to make the salad within a day or two.
I picture this dish as part of a beautiful buffet, but it would make a nice first course at dinner, or a lunch dish all by itself. The directions below will give you a warm salad—the way I like it. If you’d rather have a room-temperature salad, just let the potatoes and beans cool all the way. But please don’t make this with chilled potatoes. Cooked potatoes should never see the inside of the refrigerator. They become waxy and tasteless.
Yield : 6 appetizer servings
Ingredients
- 1 pound salt cod, preferably trimmings from Baccalà Marechiara soaked (see Note)
- 2 medium Idaho or Yukon Gold potatoes (about 1¼ pounds)
- ½ pound haricots verts or young string beans, both ends trimmed
- ½ cup thinly sliced red onion
- 1 tablespoon chopped fresh Italian parsley
- ½ cup extra-virgin olive oil
- Salt
- Freshly ground black pepper
- 3 tablespoons red-wine vinegar
- Fresh Italian parsley sprigs, optional
Directions
Bring a large saucepan of water to the simmer and drop in the soaked salt cod. Cook until the salt cod starts to “open up” and flake, about 8 minutes. Remove the salt cod from the water with a slotted spoon or skimmer and let cool to room temperature. With your fingers, flake the cod into pieces of about 11/ 2 inches, removing any bones and skin as you go.
Scrub the potatoes, place them in a large saucepan, and add enough cold, salted water to cover them by at least four fingers. Bring the water to a boil and cook the potatoes until tender but not mushy, about 35 minutes. Check them carefully toward the end of cooking and remove them before the jackets split. Once that happens, the potatoes can become waterlogged. Let the potatoes stand until they are cool enough to peel.
While the potatoes are boiling, cook the haricots verts or string beans in a large pot of boiling salted water until al dente, tender but firm, 6 to 8 minutes. Drain and rinse very briefly under cold running water. If using the string beans, split them in half by pinching one end of the beans and pulling the halves apart, reserving any of the little beans that pop out. Set aside.
Assemble the salad while the potatoes are still warm. Peel the potatoes, slice them about 1/ 2 inch thick, and place in a large bowl. Add the string beans, red onion, chopped parsley, and salt cod. You may add all the salt cod at this point, or set aside some of the larger pieces to decorate the top of the finished salad. Drizzle all but 3 tablespoons of the oil over the salad and toss gently, to coat the ingredients with olive oil but keep the pieces of salt cod as large as possible. Season to taste with salt and pepper.
Beat the remaining 3 tablespoons olive oil with the vinegar and salt and pepper to taste. Arrange the salad in the center of a large platter or divide it among plates. Drizzle the vinaigrette around the salad and decorate with the reserved salt cod and parsley sprigs, if you like.
Notes
To soak baccala, put the side(s) or fillets in a container large enough to hold them comfortably. Place the container in a deep sink and fill it with cold water. Position the container under the faucet and allow the faucet to drip very slowly, continuously replenishing the salty water with fresh. Make sure the path to the drain is clear so the sink doesn't overflow. (If the baccala container is too large to fit in the sink, you may soak it in a cool place, completely changing the water every few hours.) The cod will take at least 1 day of sialing or up to 2 days, depending on the thickness of the baccala and how heavily it has been salted.
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