Pastéis de bacalhau (Salted cod fish cakes)
The Norwegians have been fishing, drying, salting and selling cod to the Portuguese for 500 years and, rumour has it, there are over 1000 ways of cooking it.
Pastéis de bacalhau are a much loved delicatessen of the Portuguese cuisine which can be found anywhere in the country (Portugal).
It's not a difficult recipe but it has a few steps.
What makes homemade pastéis de bacalhau different from the shop bought or frozen ones is that the content of salted cod is higher.
I had done this recipe once before but forgot whether the weight of cod was with or without bones. I considered the weight with bones which was a mistake and the fish cakes had a bit too much potato.
Keep the ratio of salted cod to potato of 40%-60%. Cook a couple of salted cod steaks, debone it, weight it and then calculate how much potato you will need. You can't go wrong!
Serves: 30 fish cakes.
Ingredients:
- 400g salted cod (after cooked and deboned) - about 2 cod steaks
- 550g potatoes (after peeled)
- 1 medium onion, chopped
- 2 garlic cloves, chopped
- 3 eggs
- bunch of parsley, chopped
- salt and pepper to taste
- olive oil
- vegetable oil to fry
Method:
- Soak the salted cod over a 24h period, changing the water 3 times.
- Cook the cod in unsalted water. Debone and weight it.
- Calculate how many potatoes you'll need. Remember that it is the weight of peeled potatoes.
- Cook the potatoes in salted water. Drain and mash.
- Fry the onion and garlic in olive oil. I had a little accident and part of the parsley went into the pan at this stage - Ups!
- Add the cod to the frying pan and fry, mixing often, until the cod is in small pieces.
- Remove from the heat.
- Add the potatoes, salt and pepper to taste. Mix well.
- Add the eggs, one by one, so that all comes together without being runny. It needs some consistency to make the fish cakes.
- Using 2 soup spoons, make the fish cake and fry it in vegetable oil, on both sides, until golden.
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