Fanesca

Ingredients

• 400 g salt cod
• 1 litre whole milk
• 300 ml double cream
• 100 g butter
• 2 onions, finely chopped
• 6 garlic cloves, finely chopped
• 2 tsp ground cumin
• 1 tbsp ground annatto (achiote)
• 150 g cooked broad beans
• 150 g cooked lupini beans (chochos)
• 150 g cooked green peas
• 150 g cooked brown lentils
• 150 g cooked white beans
• 150 g cooked chickpeas
• 300 g sweetcorn kernels
• 400 g butternut squash, peeled and cubed
• 400 g pumpkin, peeled and cubed
• 150 g white rice
• 100 g toasted peanuts, finely ground
• 200 g queso fresco, crumbled
• 1 bunch coriander, chopped
• 1 bunch flat-leaf parsley, chopped
• 2 tsp fine salt
• 1 tsp black pepper
• 4 eggs, hard-boiled and sliced, to serve
• 1 ripe plantain, sliced and fried, to serve
• 1 red pepper, cut into strips, to serve
• 1 avocado, sliced, to serve

Before you cook

• Cover the salt cod with cold water a full day ahead and change the water four times as it soaks.
• Drain the soaked cod and cut it into large pieces.
• Cook each pulse separately in salted water until tender, then drain them all, or use good-quality tinned pulses rinsed well.
• Peel and cube the butternut squash and the pumpkin.
• Chop the onions, garlic, coriander and parsley.
• Hard-boil and slice the eggs, fry the plantain slices, and slice the avocado just before serving.

Steps

1. Put the cod pieces in a pan with 500 ml of the milk and bring it barely to a simmer.
2. Poach the cod for twelve minutes, then lift it out and reserve the milk.
3. Flake the cod with your fingers and pick out any bones or skin.
4. Boil the squash and pumpkin in water for twenty minutes until completely soft, then drain them.
5. Blend the squash and pumpkin to a smooth thick purée.
6. Cook the rice in the remaining 500 ml of milk with a pinch of salt for eighteen minutes, until soft and creamy.
7. Melt the butter in your largest pot over medium heat.
8. Cook the onions, garlic, cumin and annatto for ten minutes until deep gold and fragrant.
9. Stir in the squash purée and the reserved poaching milk and bring to a slow simmer.
10. Add the broad beans, lupini beans, peas, lentils, white beans and chickpeas one kind at a time, stirring after each.
11. Simmer for twenty minutes over low heat, stirring often and reaching the base of the pot so nothing catches.
12. Stir in the sweetcorn and the milk-cooked rice and cook for ten minutes.
13. Whisk the ground peanuts with a ladle of the hot soup until smooth, then stir the paste into the pot.
14. Pour in the double cream and warm the soup for ten minutes without letting it boil.
15. Season with the salt and black pepper, tasting carefully because the cod is already salty.
16. Fold the flaked cod, the crumbled cheese, the coriander and the parsley gently through the soup.
17. Take the pot off the heat and let it stand for ten minutes to settle.
18. Ladle into wide bowls and arrange the sliced egg, fried plantain, red pepper strips and avocado on top of each one.