Today we want to pay homage to our land and our tractions by telling you about a dish that, here in the Messina area, is considered the king of the table: ‘u piscistoccu a ghiotta!

Once it was prepared during the winter on days of hard work in the countryside. By eating this dish, the diners were able to recover all the energy expended during the morning and continue working until evening. We are talking about "piscistoccu a ghiotta", stockfish with potatoes, tomatoes, prunes, capers, onion, olives, celery and very good homemade extra virgin olive oil.

We want to delight you with the recipe of this delicacy written in our dialect, because we are Sicilian and carry on traditions means not to forget anything about the past, especially our language, a mixture of different cultures that for centuries have shaped our beautiful Sicily.
Ingredients for 4 people:

• 1.2 kg of stockfish already soaked
• 12 medium-sized potatoes
• 1 big onion
• 200 gr of white pickled olives
• 100 gr of capers
• salt
• black pepper
• a tuft of celery
• peeled tomatoes

Ora vi cuntamu commu si pripara sta bontà:

“Frìjri pi pocu ‘na picca di patati tagghiati a pezzi ‘rossi e mittìrili da parti. Pulizziari ‘u piscistoccu da peddi, di spini e fàrilu a pizzudda; passàrilu ‘nta farina e frijrilu pi pocu, mittìril da parti. ‘Nta ‘na cazzarola fari un suffrittu cu ògghiu ‘bbunnanti di rossi cipuddi ‘ffiddiati, chiàppiri, alivi in salamòria senza nòzzulu, bruna sicchi e assai accia. Juncìrici ‘na bella picca di pummadoru spiddicati, sali e pipareddu ruzzu. Allungari cu acqua e mèttiri intra i patati e ‘u piscistoccu già fritti. Cociri a focu lentu finu a quannu i patati ‘cumènzanu a sfàrisi.”

If you don't know the Sicilian dialect, here is the translation of the recipe in english:

“Cut potatoes into large pieces and fry its a little. Clean the stockfish from the skin and from the thorns and slices it. Pass the stockfish in flour and fry it for a short while, then set it aside. In a second saucepan, sauté sliced onions with abundant olive oil, capers, pickled olives without kernel, dried plums and celery. Add peeled tomatoes, salt and red pepper. Add water and put the stockfish in the casserole with the previously fried potatoes. Cook over low heat until the potatoes start to overcook.”

We can recommend to taste the Ghiotta stockfish with a full-bodied and fragrant red wine, which the Sicilians are very good producing, and we wish you to... enjoy your meal!