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We used to have 13 fish dishes on Christmas Eve.

Everything from shrimp to “bacala” to squid, octopus, etc. Somehow we didn’t manage to get anchovies in there, and some of the family were Sicilian. Well, they’re still Sicilian....just not part of the family any longer.

Bacala was female dried cod. Stocch was male dried cod. You had to soak the dried cod in running water for 24 hours to leach out all the salt. Today we just use frozen cod.

With the weather turning cool and wet here on the Central California Coast, I'll be making Sicilian Cod Stew this weekend.

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COD STEW

cod
1/4 medium onion
1/2 stalk celery
2 tbsp oil
large can tomatoes
2 medium potatoes
Sicilian green olives (the intensely tasty salty kind)
capers
pepper
pinch sugar

Slice the celery and onion, and place in a heavy skillet with oil. Saute for 10 minutes.

Peel, quarter and par-boil the potatoes.

(A note from Mom: Run the tomatoes through blender for a few seconds to break them up. No more than that.)

Add the potatoes and tomatoes, and sprinkle with the spices. Cover and cook for 15 minutes.

Add the cod, olives and capers, and cover the fish with the mixture. Cook until the potatoes are soft. (The potatoes are the clock,)