Polenta with cod and onions

Christmas Eve is a day associated with meat-free dishes and consequently many dishes feature fish including salt fish, herrings, cod and stockfish. Many of the landowners in the Alessandria area therefore, in order to keep with the ecclesiastical edict of penitential meat-free dishes for that particular day, would give out both smoked and salted fish to the peasants. The polenta in this recipe is particularly soft given that it includes finely chopped cabbage. The big amount of onions used in the recipe might seem initially excessive, but after many hours of slow cooking, they become delicate in flavour and counterbalance the sharp flavour of the cod.