Chickpeas with Salt Cod

Today we think of chickpea stew flavoured with salt cod and spinach or chard as Lenten potaje, but for Altamiras, who first published the recipe, it was one of three or four ways to vary a basic pot of chickpeas to serve round the year. Today people often add sweet red pepper and pimentón, but it is worth trying the 1745 original flavourings when they come to hand: you simply soak the chickpeas in chard or spinach broth, then add raw not cooked saltcod, preferably the head, for a really deep briny flavour.