Baccalà with purgatory bean salad and ginger mayonnaise

CHEF MATTEO GIUDICI

Ingredients for 4 people: 
750g of baccalà (cod), 250g of dried Gradoli purgatory beans*, 100g fresh, shelled peas, 1 white celery heart, 2 carrots, 2 medium-sized red potatoes, 1 yellow pepper, 1 red pepper, 1 garlic clove, 1 sage twig, 1 white onion, 1 green celery stick, laurel, salt and extra-virgin olive oil as needed.
For the onion marinade: 1 red onion, 2 tablespoons of coarse  salt, 2 tablespoons of apple vinegar, 1 teaspoon of white sugar.
For the ginger mayonnaise: 1 whole egg, 150g sunflower oil, 50g extra-virgin olive oil, 25ml of ginger juice, 1 teaspoon lemon juice, 1 teaspoon Dijon mustard and salt as needed.

Directions: 
The day before: Let the beans soak in cold water overnight.
Cut the red onion into quarters, place them in a colander with the coarse salt and let drain for about an hour. Rinse the onion with cold water, dry well and season with the sugar and apple vinegar and wrap in plastic. Let the onion sit overnight in the refrigerator.
The next day: Drain the beans, place them in cold salted water and boil them with the white onion, the celery stick, carrot and laurel. Peel the potato and the carrot and cut them into cubes. Bring a pot of salted water to a boil and cook the potatoes and carrots for a couple of minutes before adding the peas and cooking everything for another 4-5 minutes. Cool the boiled vegetables in ice water and then place them in large bowl. Peel and cut the celery heart into small pieces and add them to the bowl with all the other vegetables and season with a tablespoon of extra-virgin olive oil, salt and lemon peel.
Peel the peppers, cut them into cubes and bleaching boiling salted water. Remove them with a skimmer and place them in ice water. Drain and dry thoroughly before frying them in a pan with a tablespoon of extra-virgin olive oil, the unpeeled garlic clove and sage. Salt to taste, let cool and remove the herbs before adding the vegetables and mix gently.
Blend a piece of fresh ginger in a mixer container and prepare the mayonnaise by adding the oils, mustard and ginger juice and blending for 30 seconds before adding the whole egg, lemon juice and a pinch of salt. Continue blending, raising and lowering the blender in the mixer container until the mayonnaise become whipped.
Rinse the baccalà, dry it with paper towels, skin and cut lengthwise in order to eliminate the central bones and then cut each piece into two. Seal the cod in food bags and, if you have the right equipment, cold smoke with apple wood twice. If you cannot do this then follow the recipe without smoking the fish.
Place the fish in a steamer and cook for 20 minutes, until it begins to flake, or cook in a thermostatic oven at 52°C for 30 minutes, after seal wrapping it and rubbing the fish with a trickle of extra-virgin olive oil.
On each of the four plates place made a bed of vegetables on which to place the baccalà with some marinated onions and garnished with the ginger mayonnaise.

* Purgatory beans (also known as Gradoli beans) are small, white beans with tender skins and a delicate flavor. They have been cultivated without the use of any chemicals in the volcanic soil of Gradoli since 1600. On Ash Wednesday, Gradoli organizes a traditional ‘Purgatory dinner’ with the beans boiled in water with garlic, laurel and a little salt and seasoned with extra-virgin olive oil, salt and pepper. The beans are also used in other dishes and recipes.

Wine to pair: 

Litorale 2015 Maremma Toscana DOC Val delle Rose - Cecchi 

Area of production: Tuscan Maremma, vineyards are at 150 mt above sea level, soil composition is sandstone rich in decomposing rock.

Grapes varieties: Vermentino 90% and other white grape varieties 10%. 5500 plants per hectare with a yield of 7 tons per hectare. Cultivation technique is Guyot and spurred cordon.

Winemaking method: the grapes are the first to be harvested at the end of August and first week of September. Vinification is off-skin with cold-controlled pre-fermentative maceration.  Fermentation is in small and medium stainless steel tank at a temperature of 15°C for 18 days. Bottle age minimum 2 months.

Alcoholic content: 13 %

Service temperature: 12-13°C

Better served with fish dishes, seafood and risottos.

THIS RECIPE IS OFFERED BY CECCHI