bacalhau fritters with aioli

bacalhau fritters with aioli
Originally uploaded by kattebelletje.

I had a packet of salt cod in the pantry, waiting for something nice to happen to it. I think I bought it somewhere in an oriental store, but you can find it in some supermarkets or other ethnic shops as well. It is such a basic kind of foodstuff; the salt keeps the fish forever. I was given a nice bacalhau recipe by a friend of mine from work, involving bacalhau flakes and potato strips and garlic and so on; but in the end I happened to watch Rick Stein's cooking trip in Spain and Portugal and he was saying these fritters were third on his list of all-time seafood delicacies, so I was inspired to try his recipe, or what I remembered of it.

You will need: one package of salt cod (I think it was around 500 grams). Start to soak the pieces in cold water for about 12 to 24 hours. Just start a day ahead and ignore eager meowing cats or frowning housemates who doubt the end result will be nicer than cat food. Change the water a couple of times during the day.
Rinse the salt off the cod and cook the fish in boiling water for 15 to 20 minutes until you can flake off pieces of fish. You will have to get rid of all skin and bones and ugly pieces. Put in a bowl.
Take 4 to 5 medium size potatoes and mash them. Mix with the cod flakes. Add pepper (no salt needed, the fish is salty already!), nutmeg and chopped parsley to your liking. Add some milk to make it into a good mash, add two tablespoons of flour, and add two raw eggs. Mix to combine.
Make small balls of the mixture and fry in hot sunflower oil until brown on all sides. Serve with a green salad and aioli; I used the shortcut of adding one crushed clove of garlic to a couple of tablespoons of good mayonaise.
Great taste, especially with the aioli, salty, but softer taste from the potatoes, you can keep on eating these forever!