D has long harboured a desire to find the recipe for perfect salt cod fritters. Part of the barrier to success, I think, has been the salt cod itself which until recently was only available in unattractive dried form which required much soaking and rinsing. Now Mercadona has started to sell packets of ready-to-cook flaked salt cod in the chiller cabinet. Last night for supper we ate these golden fritters with garlic mayonnaise [two tablespoons from a good jar of mayonnaise combined with a finely chopped clove of garlic]. They were wonderful. The recipe is adapted from Elisabeth Luard. Serves 6-8
450g prepared salt cod [ready-to-cook, or soaked overnight and rinsed]
450g floury potatoes
large onion, grated
4 tbsp fresh parsley, chopped
freshly ground black pepper
3 eggs, beaten
olive oil for deep frying Boil the potatoes and mash. Combine potato with grated onion and parsley, season with pepper. Prepare the salt cod, discarding any bits of skin or bone, and chop to break up the flakes. Mix the fish into the potato, and add the eggs. If you have time to set aside the mixture in the fridge to cool, this will make it easier to handle. When you are ready to cook, heat a large frying pan with enough olive oil to submerge the fritters. As soon as it is lightly hazed with blue [test by dropping a cube of bread into the oil, bubbles should form around it straight away], drop in teaspoons of the mixture. Wait until they bob up, then flick them over. Remove and drain on kitchen paper. Continue frying in batches until the mixture is used. Serve immediately with a bowl of garlic mayonnaise [Elisabeth Luard suggests serving with a bottle of piri-piri sauce but we haven’t tried this]. Be warned, these are small but very filling.
5 to remember
el deseo – desire
perfecto/a – perfect
el bacalao – salt cod
seco/a – dried
el paquete – packet