Chickpea, Kale and Cod Soup from Fattoria La Vialla

I've just received New Year Wishes from my favourite Italian vineyard - Fattoria La Vialla, and included with their best wishes for 2015 is a recipe for 'Zuppa di Ceci, Cavolo mero e Baccala'. I thought I would share this delightful dish with readers around the world. It is a magnificent tasty winter dish.

Ingredients: (serves 4)
4tbs extra virgin olive oil plus 1tbs for each serving
100g tagliatelle - broken into pieces
200g dry chickpeas
200g kale
200g salted cod
2 cloves of garlic
1 sprig of rosemary
salt and black pepper

Method:

• Descale the cod and place in a basin well covered with cold water for at least 36 hours, changing the water two or three times daily.
• The evening before preparation, leave the chickpeas to soak in a large container well-covered with cold water for 12 to 14 hours.
• In the morning, set the chickpeas to cook in a pan of cold water - at least two hours on a moderate heat in a covered saucepan.

• Once cooked, five minutes before removing from the heat, add a pinch of salt.
• Take the kale and rinse well, remove the stalks and tough parts, then cook in a little cold water with a small pinch of salt for about 30 minutes.

• Heat up 4tbs of olive oil, add 2 cloves of garlic, skimmed and cut in half and a small sprig of rosemary, add the kale cut into this strips and leave to flavour for 5 minutes.
• After adding the chickpeas, of which three quarters have been ground-up and the rest left whole and half the water in which they were cooked, mix everything together well.

• Remove the skin from the cod, cut it into pieces and add to the mixture. Wait for it to soften a little and add the remaining water, still hot, in which the chickpeas were cooked. This will 'lengthen' the soup.
• Once the soup begins to boil again, the tagliatelle can also be cooked in it. If you think the soup will become too thick, cook the pasta on its own in boiling salted water until 'al dente' and add to the soup afterwards.
• Mix everything together over the heat for a further 5 minutes.
• Leave to rest for 10 minutes and serve with a sprinkling of black pepper and a drizzle of olive oil over each serving.

Buon appetite from Fattoria La Vialla!