So you think to yourself, "Self, salt preserved foods and you could go very, very wrong." Then you never get around to making your favorite appetizer from the churrascaria across from your office. Then you has major sads.
srs sads
Anyway, you happen upon a box of salt cod while you're being productive and pre-ordering food for the week from Fresh Direct. I also like to call it over-ordering food from Fresh Direct because I always manage to stuff my fridge full of things that all need to be cooked around the same time so I end up with two dishes per day (one for now and one for the next day). Don't do it.
You say to yourself, "Self, this is the time, we will make these codfish cakes." Then you leave the parsley in the fridge until it's slightly dry, but luckily you just set out the fish to soak the day before so you're all good.
You gently simmer the fish in water until it flakes. You put the potatoes in the same pot and wonder if potatoes always take so long to cook. You sauté onion and garlic in a pan with butter. Then you dump the whole lot into the largest sized glass bowl of the umpteen piece set you got from WIlliams-Sonoma and finally found a use for. You skip the whole cloth-squeezy thing because it appears to be mostly boneless. You take a hand blender to it all because, yay, power tools! vroomvroom
You taste the cod and realize you probably soaked it too long (even though that's what the directions said) so you add some salt to it.
You put two eggs in and think, "Hey, I put more potatoes, I'd better add more eggs." Then you realize the third egg turned your perfect mixture into a soupy mush so you stick the bowl in the freezer after taking out half the things on the top shelf. You wait.
You use two teaspoons to attempt to form the oval-y pasteis shape. Sometimes it sticks to the spoons so you get little crunchies that you'll enjoy later.
You realize this make a whole lot of fish cakes.
You finish and you eat.
recipe
- box o salted cod (I used the one that needed to be refrigerated, Trawler brand)
- 3-4 Yukon gold potatoes
- one small onion chopped
- 5+ garlic cloves
- butter
- handful or more parsley chopped
- salt & pepper to taste
- 2 eggs
Soak the cod according to instructions till it's just salty enough for flavor not to suck the moisture out of your body like that W&P bottle in Tank Girl. Place the cod in a 3-4 qt pot and cover with water. Heat until just at a simmer then remove from the water and set aside.
Cook the potatoes whichever way you like and mash them. Add butter if you're feeling frisky.
Sauté the onion in butter until almost translucent. Add the garlic and cook for a minute or two more.
Pull off any skin left on your cod and discard. Check for bones. Break up your cod into little flaky strings. You can do this by hand, by hand & cloth, or by a food processor/hand blender. Check again to see that there are no bones.
Once everything's about room temperature mix it all together in a big bowl. Add salt (if necessary) and pepper to taste.
Using 2 teaspoons of about the same size shape the mixture into a pasteis and drop into a hot pan of oil. Cook until golden brown.