I wrote already about my affection for codfish/bacalao/baccalà/kabeljau (you can read it here). A few weeks ago we received another package from Spain, full of local foods; those we can’t buy here because they are either not available or far too overpriced. One of those that fall into the 1st category (i.e. not available) is codfish. It’s impossible to find it fresh (salted) here and so I was too happy to receive 2 kilos of it. Salted cod keeps well for quite a while in the fridge.

Among the numerous cod dishes you can find on internet I haven’t managed to find a better one than the one Juanpi would show to me. I did tweak a bit his original recipe but the overall ingredients stayed the same.

Cod a la Juanpi – this time from the oven

However, today I’m coming up with two new cod recipes for you, I hope you like them as much as I did while creating them. The first one is:

THYME AROMATIZED FRIED COD

Ingredients:
200g of desalted cod, sliced
2 large eggs
2-3 tablespoons of chickpea flour
sprigs of fresh thyme
freshly ground black pepper
150ml extra virgin olive oil
wedges of lemon

Instructions:
Pat dry the sliced cod, stir together the eggs and chickpea flour until obtaining a smooth mix. Chop a few sprigs of thyme and add it to the batter along with freshly ground pepper.
Heat the oil in a frying pan. Dip the cod slices into the batter and place them in the hot oil. Fry on both sides until golden and crispy. Squeeze some lemon over the cod and serve.

Comment:
I loved the dish and served it with potato salad. I generally don’t like fried food, so I tend to use few oil for frying and it works just great for me.

COD CANNELLONI WITH CARROT BECHAMEL

Ingredients:
4 cannelloni
100g desalted cod, sliced
300ml whole milk
1 middle sized carrot
a half of middle sized zucchini
a half of middle sized onion
a fistful of frozen green peas
extra virgin olive oil
sea salt
freshly ground pepper
freshly ground nutmeg
2 tablespoons of emmer flour (farro)
50g unsalted butter
few sprigs of thyme and rosemary
30g grated cheese (gauda…)

Instructions:
In a small pot, boil water together with thyme and rosemary sprigs. Add a little salt and slices of cod. Cook for 2 minutes and drain well. Remove the thyme and rosemary and let the cod cool down. Then add cca. 100ml of milk and mix it with a blender. Keep.
In a pan, heat a little olive oil and gently sautee the chopped onion, zucchini and green peas. Add salt, pepper, some chopped thyme and mix with cod. Keep.
Clean the onion, chop it and boil in salted water until soft, then using blender, mix it together with the milk. Keep.
In a pot, bring water for cannelloni to boil. Cook the cannellonis for a minute of two, then drain them and rinse under cold water. Fill them with cod-vegetable mix and place in a small, buttered baking pan. or even canneloni pan. Cover with carrot bechamel (heat butter in a sauce pan, add flour and stir continously, then pour in the carrot milk. Cook for a few minutes, then spread over cannelloni). Gratinate the cannelloni under the broiler, then serve with some salad on a side.

Comment:
This is a light version of cannelloni dish and I will definitely do it again with some other fish – given that I’ve run out of cod already .

Good appetite!