The Venetian liver it’s a classic, with fine onions. In reality the use of this offal is common to many culinary cultures, including oriental ones: it is a popular food, and not surprisingly in Thailand is a main ingredient of nam tokthe typical spicy and delicious soup served as street food in the kiosks on the corners of busy streets.
We propose this and other recipes in the year dedicated to Marco Polo700 years after his death in 1324, for a mix of exotic dim sum and our locals cicchettito discover together that no place is really far away and no civilization is so different, not even when it comes to putting something good on your plate.
Also discover this recipe: Crostini with meatballs cooked in sauce.
No one from Vicenza pronounces it with two Cs, the name of this cod which is actually stockfish. Ever since the noble Venetian merchant Pietro Querini was shipwrecked in Lofoten in 1431 with his carrack loaded with Malvasia and enhanced the preservation technique of the local cod, generations of good cooks worked hard to transform that dry fish back into an exquisite dish, and cod alla vicentina, accompanied by the indispensable polenta, is perhaps the most famous and successful example of this
For the recipe of the Vicenza-style cod, remove the skin from the stockfish, open it in half and remove the bones and the central bone. Cut it into equal slices, 5-6 cm wide. Slice finely the onions and gently brown them in a pan in a veil of oil. Desalt the sardines, remove the bones and chop coarsely; add them to the wilted onion with 2 tablespoons of chopped parsley. Flour the stockfish steaks. Distribute half of the sauté in an earthenware or aluminum pan, place the stockfish slices on them and cover them with the rest of the onions. You do brown for a few minutes, then add the milk, 200 g of oil and parmesan, salt and pepper. Cover and cook over low heat for 3-4 hours, moving the slices from time to time, gently, with a wooden spoon. Prepare the yellow polenta: bring 1 liter of water to the boil in a saucepan, lower the heat to low, pour in the flour, stirring with a whisk. Add 1 tablespoon of oil and season with salt. Cook until it is very firm. Take it off from the heat and spread it on a baking sheet covered with parchment paper, leveling it with the help of a well-wet spoon to 5 mm thick; let it cool down. Cut polenta, now cold, in ovals or simple rectangles. Put them in the oven and cook in ventilated mode at 150 ° C for 30-40 minutes. Prepare white polenta when there are 20 minutes left to cook the cod. Pour flour in 1.5 liters of boiling salted water, mix with one whisk and turn off after about 20 minutes, when it has a velvety consistency. If it forms lumps, dissolve them with the hand blender. Pick up the cod steaks and finely blend half of the cooking juices. Blanch 20 g of leaves of parsley in salted water, then blend them with 1/2 glass of oil, 1 clove of garlic and fine salt. Blend until you get a creamy emulsion. Pour the white polenta in a serving dish, lay the croutons of yellow polenta on top, a layer of onions, finally the slices of cod and complete with the blended onions. Finish with the parsley emulsion and serve immediately. To know: throughout the Veneto area we refer to stockfish (cod, Gadus morhua, dried) calling it cod, which in the rest of Italy is instead salted cod. The most valuable is the "spider" stockfish, named after the famous Norwegian exporter, Mr. Ragnar. For convenience, ask the fish shop to soak it for you 5-6 days before cooking.
Recipe and texts: Sara Tieni, Photos: Riccardo Lettieri, Styling: Beatrice Prada
Cicchetti are small savory samples served in Venetian taverns to accompany the classic shade of wine. Saor is a treatment once used by sailors to preserve fried fish for a long time. On the crouton of polenta, Asiago and Venetian radicchio
FOR SARDINES IN SAOR Clean the sardines by eliminating heads and bones, open them like a book holding the tails. Flour them and fry them in peanut oil for 2 minutes, drain on kitchen paper and add salt. Clean onions and cut into slices. Bring boil 200 g of vinegar, add the sliced onion and bring back to the boil. Also add the raisins and pine nuts, cook for another 2 minutes and turn off. Arrange the sardines in a baking dish, cover them with the onion, then sprinkle them with the cooking sauce. Cover and leave to rest for at least 12 hours in the refrigerator.
FOR THE POLENTA WITH CHICORY Bring boil 1 liter of salted water. Add the cornmeal and cook, stirring constantly for about 40 minutes. Pour the polenta obtained in a baking dish, forming a layer of about 2 cm. Leave it to cool in the refrigerator for about 6 hours. Cut the polenta into squares of about 8 cm on each side and toast them in a pan with a drizzle of oil. Cleanse the radicchio, cut it into strips and toss in a pan with a drizzle of oil and salt for 2 minutes. Cover the squares with the cheese cut into slices and put them in the oven at 180 ° C for 6-7 minutes. Take them out of the oven and garnish with radicchio.
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