Codfish croquettes (Croquetas de bacalao)
Ingredients for the croquettes: 300 g of desalted, and
boneless codfish, shredded; 100 g of potatoes; 2 eggs; 1
tbsp of parsley finely chopped; 3 tbsp of flour; 200 g of
breadcrumbs, finely ground; olive oil.
Ingredients for the béchamel: 50 g of butter; 2 dl of
milk, black pepper; nutmeg.
Cut the potatoes into cubes and put to boil in water for 15
minutes; add the codfish 2 minutes before the time limit
expressed; sieve both ingredients, put in a bowl together
with some béchamel sauce, the fine chopped garlic
cloves and let it cool for 4 hours in the fridge. Form the
croquettes with 2 tables spoons (in the same way as
quenelles), flour them, soak them in the whisked eggs,
dredge them in the breadcrumbs, and fry to slight brown
color. They are also delicious at room temperature.

Codfish - first salted for preservation reasons, and then desalted for the preparations of the different recipes- was a good solution for those inland
regions of Spain as in those days when there were no refrigeration systems to keep the fish meat in a good preservation state, so the people in
Madrid, for example, could eat a fish preparation without having to travel to a coast town. The same applies for other sort of fish meats. Today,
though, desalted codfish is still found (and I hope for many years to come) in our markets for the preparation of many recipes. Also, it can be
bought salted today, kept in the fridge, or in a very dry place, for months, and then desalted to prepare any recipe of the uncountable number of
preparations that the Spanish Recipe Book has in stock; all of which is a good advantage to its favor.
PhotoGastrosite by Carlos Mirasierras