Mantecato means “churned,” and bacalà mantecato, essentially an Italian version of French brandade, is salt cod potato purée. We started making these crostini to use the salt cod we had left from the Bacalà al Forno (page 215) at the Pizzeria. It’s so popular that we now make extra salt cod for this dish.
Recipe information
Yield
makes 24 crostini
Ingredients
For the Bacalà Mantecato
For Assembling the Crostini
Preparation
Step 1
To prepare, place the bacalà in a large bowl. Fill the bowl with water and soak the bacalà for 1 hour, changing the water two or three times during that period. Remove the bacalà from the water and cut it into three segments.
Step 2
Heat the olive oil and garlic in a medium saucepan over medium heat, season with salt, and cook, stirring constantly, to flavor the oil with the garlic and sweat the garlic without browning it, about 2 minutes. Add the potatoes and cook for 1 minute to coat them with seasonings. Add the milk, increase the heat to high, and cook until the milk begins to bubble. Reduce the heat and simmer the potatoes in the milk until they’re tender, about 20 minutes. Add the bacalà and simmer until the fish is cooked through and the potatoes have begun to break down, thickening the milk to a saucelike consistency, about 6 minutes. Pass the contents of the saucepan through a food mill into a mixing bowl and stir to combine the ingredients. Transfer half of the purée to the bowl of a food processor fitted with a metal blade or the jar of a blender and purée until smooth. Return the puréed bacalà to the bowl with the unpuréed cod and stir to combine. Add more milk if necessary to obtain a spoonable consistency. Taste for seasoning and add more salt, if desired. Serve the mantecato or transfer it to an airtight container and refrigerate for up to three days. Before serving, warm the mantecato in a small saucepan over low heat, adding enough milk to obtain the desired consistency.
Step 3
To assemble, lay the crostini oiled side up on a work surface and spoon a heaping tablespoon of the bacalà mantecato into an uneven layer onto each crostino, leaving the edges of the bread visible. Create a small crater in the center of each mound of bacalà and spoon 1/4 teaspoon of the tapenade into each crater. (If you are using olives instead of tapenade, nestle one olive in each crater and drizzle with 1/8 teaspoon of the finishing-quality olive oil.) Sprinkle with the parsley and serve.
Suggested Wine Pairing
Step 4
Soave Classico (Veneto)
