Chick Peas with Baccala and Mushrooms

This dish makes a hearty one plate lunch

Serves 6

Ingredients

600 grams mushrooms, chopped
2 cloves garlic, chopped
600 grams Baccala (use the one with bones)
25-35 ml olive oil
1 onion, chopped
4 ripe Tomato
2 stalks parsley,chopped
600 grams Chick Peas
Hot chilli, finely chopped (optional)
Salt and pepper

Method

Soak the baccala in salted water for three days (see method in Fish chapter). Use rock salt for the first 24 hours, then discard that water and soak in plain fresh water. Take baccala off bones and keep the large pieces for another dish. . As you do this there remains some meat close to the bones. Boil the bones and then pull off these small pieces to use in this soup/stew.

Heat oil in a saucepan. Fry the garlic add mushrooms and cook a few minutes. Then add the tiny pieces of baccala and stew all together. Add tomato and cook another 3 minutes. At the end add the cooked chick peas with a little hot chilli.

Serve in a hot soup bowl with a big piece of toast

Note

Dried peas do last well. But they can be kept too long. As it is very hard to tell their age, it's best to buy them from a place that is busy and has constant turnover. Silvana also suggests that you " look at the colour, you can see straight away from the skin, when you soak them, the old ones they lose the colour. When you see the colour is a bit brown, that means they are very old".