Sburrita of Salt Cod
The fishermen's peasant soup

Stockfish soup — on Elba everyone calls it baccalà — with garlic, lesser calamint (nepitella), chilli, extra virgin olive oil and a little tomato. Served on large slices of toasted stale bread. A popular dish born from the need to preserve fish: stockfish, air-dried and not salted, was the food of the months without fishing. Never add salt: the fish brings its own. Winter tradition, especially Lent.

Ingredients

• Soaked stockfish 1 kg
• Garlic 2-7 cloves
• A good handful of wild mint (nepitella)
• Red chilli 1
• Extra virgin olive oil 1 glass
• White wine
• Tuscan bread to toast
• Salt: taste first, the fish is already salty

Method

1. Soak the stockfish, bone it and cut it into large pieces.
2. Put cold water in a pot with the crushed garlic, chopped wild mint and chilli; bring to the boil, adding the oil.
3. Simmer for 45 minutes: this aromatic broth is what gives the dish its name.
4. Add the pieces of fish and continue on the lowest heat for another 30 minutes. Do not add salt.
5. Toast the bread, arrange it in an earthenware tureen, pour the soup and fish over it and serve piping hot.