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Overhead view of stockfish pieces, potato chunks, green olives and capers in tomato sauce, finished with parsley

Stoccafisso alla Messinese with Potatoes, Olives and Capers

Soaked stockfish, waxy potatoes, green olives and capers cook together in a tomato and celery sauce for a Messina-style Sicilian main. It serves four and keeps well for a few days.
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Prep Time 20 minutes
Cook Time 1 hour 10 minutes
Total Time 1 hour 30 minutes
Servings: 4 servings
Course: Main Course
Cuisine: Sicilian
Calories: 208
Ingredients Method Notes

Ingredients
  

  • 800 g pre-soaked stockfish (stoccafisso ammollato) drained, bones removed, cut into 6 cm / 2.5-inch pieces, skin on
  • 4 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil (60 ml)
  • 1 yellow onion large (200 g); thinly sliced
  • 2 celery stalks (100 g); finely diced
  • 2 garlic cloves sliced
  • 2 tbsp pine nuts (20 g)
  • 120 ml dry white wine
  • 400 g canned whole peeled tomatoes crushed by hand with their juice
  • 100 g pitted green olives Castelvetrano or Nocellara
  • 2 tbsp salt-packed capers (30 g); rinsed under cold water
  • 2 tbsp raisins (20 g)
  • 600 g waxy potatoes peeled, cut into 3 cm / 1.25-inch chunks
  • 250 ml hot water
  • 1/2 tsp fine salt divided, plus more to taste
  • 1/4 tsp black pepper freshly ground
  • 2 tbsp flat-leaf parsley chopped

Method
 

  1. Drain the soaked stockfish and pat it dry. Pull out any loose bones and cut it into 6 cm / 2.5-inch pieces, keeping the skin on. Peel the potatoes and cut them into 3 cm / 1.25-inch chunks, then rinse the capers under cold water for 2 minutes.
  2. Heat the olive oil in a 28 cm / 11-inch Dutch oven over medium heat. Add the onion and celery with a pinch of salt and cook for 8 minutes, stirring, until soft and pale gold. This is your soffritto. Stir in the garlic and pine nuts for 1 minute until fragrant.
  3. Pour in the wine and boil for 2 minutes. Add the crushed tomatoes, olives, capers and raisins, then simmer for 10 minutes until the sauce is thick enough to leave a trail when you drag a spoon through it.
  4. Nestle the stockfish into the sauce and tuck the potatoes around it. Add the hot water so the liquid comes just below the top of the potatoes. Bring to a bare simmer, cover, and cook on low heat for 40 minutes. Keep the bubbles lazy, because a hard boil makes the fish stringy and breaks the potatoes. Shake the pot gently once or twice instead of stirring.
  5. Take off the lid and cook for 9 minutes more, until the sauce is glossy and clings to the fish and a fork flakes a piece with light pressure. Taste, add the remaining salt and the pepper, then scatter with parsley and serve hot.

Notes

  • Taste the capers and olives before salting, since both bring a lot of brine.
  • Cut stockfish into 6 cm pieces so they cook evenly and are easy to serve.
  • Keep the simmer barely moving and the lid on for the first 40 minutes.
  • Pull out any bones that loosen while serving, since stockfish pieces often keep a few.