Baccalà all'aviglianese

In the south of Italy, cod is one of the most appreciated and used fish in traditional recipes and very often these coincide with the Christmas holiday. 

I discovered only recently that even in Basilicata there is this custom and the best known recipe is the cod with bran peppers, also known as baccalà alla lucana or baccalà all'aviglianese. 

Why cod? Because, historically, it has been one of the easiest fish to transport and preserve for a long time in salt. It is a very simple and quick second course, just boil the cod and season it with the oil of the bran peppers that with their intense, delicately bitter and savory flavor goes perfectly with the fish. 

Ingredients for 4 people

1kg cod already desalted

500 g cherry tomatoes

6 bran peppers

3 anchovies in oil

1 clove of garlic

Flour

Extra virgin olive oil

Preparation

Clean the bran peppers, fry three of them, salt them and put them aside. Soak the others in a glass of hot water, blend them with an immersion blender and set aside. Remove the skin from the cod, cut it into pieces and pass it in the flour. Then put it to cook in a pan with a good drizzle of oil. Once golden on both sides, remove it from the pan and set it aside. Place the garlic and anchovies in its cooking liquid. When the anchovies have broken up, add the halved cherry tomatoes. 

Cook for a few minutes then add half of the bran pepper puree. Let the sauce simmer a bit and add the cod set aside. Add the rest of the puree and let it go for about ten minutes, then serve by adding the previously fried chopped bran peppers.