Christmas is always an exciting time for families, with each having their own traditions and celebrating with their own special Christmas kitchen recipes. Being brought up in a traditional Italian family food really is front and centre for celebrations and kitchens are the hub of Christmas activities.  

While I was born in Australia both my parents came from Italy, so we have that blended Australian-Italian-ness that ‘Looking for Alibrandi’ conveyed perfectly. My father’s family has a massive Christmas celebration every year with all the aunts, uncles, cousins, partners and grandchildren, over 60 in all. We enjoy catching up every year with the younger kids in playing footy or swimming in the pool and the older cousins reminiscing over past Christmas’s and sharing stories about the year gone by. 

Christmas is definitely a special time in Italian kitchens! For our family, Christmas Eve is one of the most anticipated events of the year. Preparations for Christmas begin days in advance with special trips to the Sydney fish markets as our Christmas Eve menu consists mainly of seafood. Some of the traditional Christmas Eve favourites include salted cod (baccala), merluzzo (whiting fish), calamari, clams, mussels, salmon and shrimp. 

With Christmas just a few weeks away, in this month’s B&C Journal we share a special kitchen recipe for 'Baccala" from “la cucina della nonna” meaning “grandmother’s kitchen” (in Italian). A constant in our kitchen at Christmas growing up, our Nonna’s famous ‘baccala’ (salted cod) was, and still is a Christmas kitchen favourite. Here it is, direct from my Nonna’s kitchen recipe book. Enjoy!

Buon Natale! Wishing you all a happy and safe festive season!

Robert Fonti,

Director Balnei & Colina

Image credit: My Gourmet Connection

La Cucina Della Nonna - Baccala

Serves 4-6 

Cooking time - 45 minutes

Ingredients

For the baccalà: 

• 1 kilos (2 lbs) baccalà (dried salt cod)
• Flour
• Olive oil

For the sauce

• 1-2 cloves of garlic, peeled and finely chopped
• A few sprigs of fresh parsley, stems removed and finely chopped
• Olive oil
• 500g (1 lb) fresh tomatoes, peeled, seeded and roughly chopped, or canned
• A handful each of capers and black olives

For finishing

• Handful of Fresh parsley finely chopped

Image credit: The Lily Pad Cottage

Directions

1. Soak the salt cod for up to 24 hours and change the water every 4-5 hours. Drain the cod, pat it dry, and cut it into serving pieces.
2. Make the sauce - Place olive oil in a skillet or flame-proof baking pan and very lightly sauté the chopped garlic and parsley until it begins to give off a hint of fragrance. 
3. Add the fresh or canned tomatoes and simmer gently. When the tomatoes start to melt into a sauce, toss in a handful each of capers—and black olives.
4. While the sauce is simmering, in a shallow fry pan, lightly flour and fry the baccalà pieces in olive oil until they are lightly browned. Once browned, transfer the baccala pieces to the pan or skillet with the tomatoe sauce. When all the baccalà has been added to the sauce, spoon a small amount of the sauce over the baccala.
5. Place in a hot oven (200°C) for 10-15 minutes or until the sauce has reduced and is slightly thicker in consistency. 
6. Remove the dish from the oven, sprinkle with fresh chopped parsley for colour, and serve with some crusty ciabatta (bread).

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