Portuguese Salt Cod Cakes

Name: Portuguese Salt Cod Cakes
Yield: Serves 4–6
Cuisine: British
Ingredients: salt and pepper; plain flour; vegetable oil, for deep-frying; wedges of lemon and garlic mayonnaise (aïoli), to serve; wedges of lemon and garlic mayonnaise (aïoli), to serve; wedges of lemon and garlic mayonnaise (aïoli), to serve; 600 g salt cod, rinsed; 500 ml milk; 1 bay leaf; 2 sprigs of fresh thyme; 400 g freshly cooked mashed potato; 3 medium egg yolks; 1 handful of chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley; salt and pepper; 2 white onions, peeled and finely diced; olive oil; 3 garlic cloves, peeled and finely chopped

Preparation info

Serves
4–6

Difficulty
Easy

Appears in

Cooks Country

By Matt Tebbutt

Published 2008

About

Working in London exposes you to many interesting characters. In one restaurant I worked in briefly, the pot-washer would bang on about his cooking skills being much better than those of us mere chefs. He gave us his recipe for salt cod cakes and, in all their simplicity, they may well prove that he was right.

Ingredients

2 white onions, peeled and finely diced
3 garlic cloves, peeled and finely chopped
olive oil
600

Europe
United Kingdom
Fish course
Starter
Pescatarian
Spring
March
April

Method

In a saucepan, sweat the diced onion and garlic in some olive oil for 10 minutes. Set aside.

Meanwhile, in another pan, poach the salt cod in the milk, with the bay leaf and thyme, until just cooked and able to be flaked, about 5–6 minutes. Remove the fish from the milk.

Stir the flaked fish into the mashed potato with the egg yolks and parsley. Fold in the onion and garlic, the