Fritas de bacalao with all i oli

Hei!

sorry we haven´t updated the blog so much lately, we have been a bit busy and cooking a lot!! we have many recipes that will come soon; moose, beans, rabbit, cod ...

Today we are going to post a recipe I learned from Rick Stein in his documentary about Spain. To be honest I didn´t try this dish before, but it was a good idea, he call it fritas de bacalao (chips of cod). And it was an easy way to make something similar to buñuelos.

Just a quick intro, salted cod is hugely common all around Spain, but mostly it comes from Iceland and Norway!

Ingredients

• 3 tbsp flour
• 2 medium potatoes
• 3dl water
• 2 eggs
• 250g salted cod
• parsley
• garlic
• salt 
• pepper

Preparation

If you have bought the salted cod you have to rehydrate the cod for 24h. For that you will clean the cod with abundant water to rinse away all the salt. You will keep the cod in water in the fridge for at least 24h, changing it every 8-12h, this varies depending on the thickness of the cod and the temperature of the fridge. You have to taste if the salt level is correct, keeping in mind that when you cook it will increase naturally.

In a pot, place the cod filet with cold water and place to low-medium heat. when the water start to be warm, around 75°C remove the cod, it should break easily.

In the water of the cod boiled, cook 2 medium potatoes, you can slice them so to cook faster.

Now, you have to taste the cod, if it tastes too strong discard the water, if not keep it for the next step.
In a sauce pan add 3 dl of water or water from cooking the cod and the flour, stir till an homogeneous mix is achieved. Add a bit of olive oil, couple of chopped garlic nails, 2 eggs and the potatoes mashed and the cod which you have broken with your fingers.
Stir all together in medium fire till it thickens. Chop some parsley and give it a last stir and let the mixture cool down.

When it is cool you can make little balls and deep fry them in olive oil, or if you don´t have a frier, in a pan with a bit of olive oil will do.

Here there is the original recipe from Rick Stein:

Things I do different:

• I slight cook the cod and I give it a slow cook
• I don´t add so much eggs, but more potato
• I don´t boil the cod with the skin, I removed it and eat it fried with a bit of flour, amazing

For serving a bit of all i oli is perfect!

Hope you like it!

Mr South

Beetroot hummus, tzatziki and dried tomato pesto with arabic/asian salad

Today, I wanted to make hummus. I love beans, I love hummus and sometimes I buy it in supermarket, but today I decided to try myself, and I'm not kidding, is super fast!!

Beetroot season is almost over so wanted to use the last bits of fresh beetroot, and seemed a good idea to mix it with hummus, and it was!

So the idea was to make this three delicious side dish sauces and with a bit of leftovers I did an amazing salad! I have to confess that coriander and I weren't good friends, but I'm starting to appreciate the little spicy aromatic kick of this plant.

Ingredients

Beetroot hummus 

• 150g chickpeas
• 1 lime
• 1 small finely grated beetroot
• 2 tbsp olive oil
• salt
• pepper 
• 1 nail garlic

Dried tomato pesto

• 10 dried tomatoes
• 8-10 roasted hazelnut
• 100g grated parmesan cheese
• 1tbsp olive oil
• 1 nail garlic

Tzatziki

• half lime
• 2tbsp thick yogurt
• 200g finely and medium grated cucumber
• 1/2 tsp sugar
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 nail garlic
• olive oil

Salad

• 50g green pepper
• 50 g chickpeas
• 180g kidney beans
• 20g couscous
• 20g sunflower seeds
• half small onion
• half thick grated carrot
• half thick grated cucumber
• coriander
• half lime
• olive oil

Preparation

Beetroot hummus

From a can of chickpeas, use 3/4, aprox 150g (dried weight) and rinse it with water, then pour them into the food processor or blender.

Grate finely a peeled beetroot and put it together with the chickpeas. Add 1 lime juice and olive oil.

I use lime because I like it much better than lemon, which I find too strong taste and somehow masks all other flavors.

Give it couple minutes in the blender and try it. Put black pepper and salt as desired as well as water if you prefer a less thick hummus.

Dried tomato pesto

Again, with a blender or food processor, add 10 dried tomatoes, 8-10 roasted hazelnuts (I didn't have pine nuts but roasted hazelnuts taste amazing) 100g finely grated parmesan cheese and a bit of garlic and olive oil.

Couple of minutes in the blender and it is ready. 

IF you want to freeze this for another occasion, like that is perfect, otherwise add more olive oil before serving.

Tzatziki

In a bowl, add 2 big table spoons of thick yogurt, juice of half a lime, grated cucumber (most of it finely and a bit quite thick) a crushed garlic, 1/2 tea spoon of sugar, 1 tea spoon of salt and stir it till it becomes homogeneous. Taste it and add more lime juice, salt or whatever you like best and in the end add the olive oil.

Asian/Arabic salad

Ok first of all, there is no name for the salad, I just started adding things I had and thought would go together.

In a serving bowl, add the leftovers of chickpeas, open a can and rinse it of kidney beans and pour it too. Grate in the thickest size, half a carrot and half cucumber. Chop really small half a small onion and green pepper and add it to the serving bowl.

For the couscous, a bit more boiling water than amount of couscous, 1:1,5 I use. In a bowl, add the couscous, a bit of salt, black pepper, olive oil and a bit roasted curry powder (careful it is strong stuff). Then add the boiling water, give it couple of stirs and place a dish on top of the bowl so the steam can't escape. Live it rest for 5 min. When ready pour it to the serving bowl.

For finishing, add the sunflower seeds, chopped coriander, olive oil and half lime juice. Mix it together and it is ready!

For serving we had pita bread; take it from the bag, splash some water in top, 30seconds microwave and good to go!

 

Hope you like it!

Mr South

Blinis

Blinis are a typical Russian/Slavic dish, Finland, being so close to the mighty Russia, has adopted blinis in its cooking and it is not unusual to find them as an appetiser all over Finland.

For cooking the blinis, there is a special pan, but if you don't have it, a small pan will do.

Big blini pan

Ingredients

• 2 eggs
• 5dl milk
• 20g fresh yeast
• 2,5 dl buckwheat flour
• 1-2 dl plain flour
• 2 tbsp butter

For the filling

• Smetana
• Salmon roe
• Red Onion
• Pickles

Preparation

Heat the milk to be little bit over room temperature (around 35-40ºC), dissolve the yeast into the milk. Separate egg whites from the yolks, add the yolks to the milk as well as both flours and melted butter and a pinch of salt. Stir it quickly and cover with a clean cloth and let it rest for 30 min.

Whip the egg whites and add them to the batter just before cooking and after the 30min have passed.

Add a bit of butter to the blini pan and pour a scoopful of batter, turn the blini when small bubbles appear to the surface.

For the filling, whip the smetana until thick and creamy, chop onion in small dices, cut the pickles and serve each ingredient in small dishes so everyone can make its own blini.

If you don't like salmon roe, you can use seaweed caviar, or finely chopped ciboulette instead of onions, etc 

The blinis are a great base as to make a nice starter and you can put whatever you might imagine!