Xató: Catalan winter salad

Ingredients

• For the xató sauce
• 3 ñora peppers, soaked in hot water, skin scraped, seeds discarded
• 50 g blanched hazelnuts, toasted
• 50 g blanched almonds, fried in olive oil
• 2 garlic cloves, fried in olive oil
• 1 ripe tomato, roasted on a dry pan until skin is blackened
• 2 tbsp red wine vinegar
• 100 ml extra-virgin olive oil, added slowly while blending
• 1 tsp fine sea salt
• For the salad
• 300 g salt cod, properly desalted, skin and bones removed, torn into pieces
• 8 salted anchovies, rinsed and patted dry
• 200 g frisée, escarole, or young chicory, leaves separated, washed and dried
• 100 g black olives

Method

1. 1
   Desalt the salt cod: submerge it in cold water and refrigerate for 24–48 hours, changing the water every 8 hours. The flesh should yield gently under pressure and taste mildly of salt, not brine. Drain and pat dry; remove any remaining skin and bones.
2. 2
   Soak the ñora peppers in hot water for 30 minutes until fully softened. Drain, slit each pepper open, and scrape the inner flesh away from the skin with a spoon, discarding the skin and seeds entirely. The scraped flesh will be deep red-brown and paste-like.
3. 3
   Set a dry heavy pan over high heat. Place the whole tomato directly on the pan and char on all sides until the skin is blackened and blistered and the flesh beneath has softened and collapsed. Remove and set aside; do not peel.
4. 4
   In a small pan, warm a film of olive oil over medium heat. Fry the garlic cloves until golden on all sides, then remove. In the same oil, fry the almonds until pale gold, then remove. Toast the hazelnuts separately in a dry pan until the skins blister and the nut inside is golden. The kitchen should smell of warm roasted nuts before you proceed.
5. 5
   This is where the dish lives or dies: combine the scraped ñora flesh, fried garlic, fried almonds, toasted hazelnuts, charred tomato (skin and all), and vinegar in a mortar or blender. Work to a rough paste. With the motor running or the pestle moving in slow circles, add the olive oil in a thin, steady stream until the sauce emulsifies to a thick, rust-coloured consistency that coats the back of a spoon. Some texture — visible fragments of nut and pepper — must remain. A smooth purée is a failed xató sauce.
6. 6
   Season the sauce with salt and, if needed, a little more vinegar. Rest it for at least one hour before serving — overnight is better. The colour will deepen and the flavours consolidate.
7. 7
   Arrange the bitter greens across a wide platter or individual plates. Lay the pieces of desalted salt cod and the rinsed anchovies over the leaves. Scatter the black olives. Spoon the xató sauce generously over everything so it coats both fish and greens in equal measure. Serve immediately.