Fried salted cod with potato-garlic mash or in Greek Bakaliaros Skordalia is a Greek national dish, served on the celebration of 25th March. Enjoy with a glass of Pente Litharia by “Oenou Yi – Ktima Vassiliades”.
Ingredients:
For the cod
- 1 ½ kilos salted codfish, bones removed but skin on
- homemade frying batter
- 200 g all-purpose flour, for dredging fish
- salt
- pepper
- vegetable oil, for frying
For the potato and garlic mash
- 3-4 potatoes, peeled and cut into pieces (750 g)
- 1 teaspoon of coarse salt
- 3 cloves of garlic
- 175 ml olive oil
- 50 ml white wine vinegar
- salt
- pepper
- 1 fresh onion, finely sliced, for serving
- 3-4 stems of parsley, finely chopped, for serving
Preparation:
For the cod
- Desalt the codfish and prepare the batter.
- Lay the desalted codfish on a working surface and pat dry with paper towels.
- Cut into bite sized pieces, keeping them as similar in size as possible so they can all cook at the same time.
- Spread flour in a bowl, add some salt and pepper and mix.
- Dredge the pieces of fish in the flour mixture, until completely coated, shake off any excess flour.
- Add a generous amount of vegetable oil to a pan and heat to 180 ͦ C.
- Dip the pieces of fish in to the frying batter to coat completely and let excess batter drip off.
- Carefully add the fish to the hot oil. Dip half of the piece in to the oil, gently move it around a little and when it puffs up a little you can release the other half in the pan.
- Remove any bits of batter so that they don’t burn.
- Fry until they are golden then turn them over and fry until they are golden brown.
- When ready, remove from pan and place on paper towels to drain excess oil.
- Enjoy with a glass of Pente Litharia from “Oenou Yi – Ktima Vassiliades”.
For the potato and garlic mash
- Place a pot filled with water and 1 teaspoon of coarse salt over high heat and bring to a boil.
- Cut the potatoes into small pieces and add them to the pot.
- Boil for 15-30 minutes, until they soften (the boiling time depends on how large the size of the pieces of potato are).
- In a food processor, add the olive oil, garlic, white wine vinegar, salt and pepper. Beat until the garlic completely breaks down.
- When your potatoes are ready (you can easily pierce them with a knife) drain and set aside for 5 minutes, to allow the steam to evaporate.
- Transfer to a bowl and mash them with a potato masher.
- Add the garlic-oil mixture and stir to incorporate, season to taste.
- Keep in mind that the more time goes by, the stronger the garlic smell and the thicker and stiffer the mash become.
- Serve with a sprinkle with chopped fresh onions, parsley and olive oil.
