Stockfish Ancona Style

STOCCAFISSO ALL’ANCONETANA
Stockfish Ancona-style

Ingredients: for 4 people
2 large stalks of celery
1 medium carrot
1 medium onion or leek
1 lb stockfish, baccala or dried cod
1 can tuna
8 anchovies fillets
5T capers
extra virgin olive oil
stockfish broth, enough to cover the ingredients assembled in the dish, about 2 cups, can substitute good quality chicken broth
½ lb small tomatoes, cut in half
2 lb potatoes
1 cup dry white wine
salt and pepper
rosemary
2 garlic cloves
5T parsley

Preparation:
Chop the celery, carrot and onion in brunoise.
Chop the anchovies, parsley, tuna and capers and blend together.
Combine all of the above ingredients, season with oil and set aside to let the flavours meld, about ½ hour.

Wash, peel and cut up the potatoes in wedges; season with oil, salt and pepper, rosemary and whole garlic cloves.  Set aside in a small bowl
Trim and clean the stockfish, cut into even-sized pieces, season with salt and pepper and oil; set aside. Use the scraps to make stock.  (If you have purchased dried baccala, the fish should be soaked in clear water for at least 24 hours, change the water a few times.  You rinsing out and eliminating the excess salt.)
Place the fish pieces spaced widely on an oven tray; take small amounts of the chopped mixture and cover each piece; add the potatoes to the pan to fill in the spaces; correct the seasoning, add equal parts white wine and stock to almost cover. It will be a fairly ‘soupy’ mixture.

Cut the tomatoes in half an remove the seeds, fill with a loose mixture of bread crumbs and  finely chopped parsley, garlic, rosemary, salt, pepper and olive oil). If the tomatoes are small, do not add to the dish when it first goes into the oven.  Wait about ½ hour before adding the tomatoes.
Put in a 425°F oven; continue baking for 1 ½ hours.  If the dish begins to look dry, cover with aluminum foil.  The dish is done when the potatoes are tender.