Salt cod fritters

There are a handful of bars in Seville’s Plaza del Salvador, a small square opposite the baroque Iglesia del Salvador, or Church of the Saviour. I head here every time I am in town – for the bars, not the church. They now know me, not by name but by reputation: the big Australian chef and his ever-hungry crew. I come here for the delicious buñuelos de bacalao. Deep-fried yet light, fishy yet meaty, they are a good way to use up the lesser parts of the cod.

Method

1. Wash the excess salt off the salt cod fillet, then place in a large bowl. Cover with water and leave to soak for 36 hours, changing the water three times.
2. Place the milk and the drained cod in a small saucepan over medium heat. Simmer for 10 minutes or until the cod is cooked. Transfer the cod to a plate and leave until cool enough to handle. Remove and discard the skin and any remaining small bones, and break the flesh into flakes. Reserve the milk.
3. Melt the butter in a heavy-based saucepan over medium heat. Add the onion, garlic and bay leaves and cook for 6 minutes or until the onion is soft and translucent. Add the flour and cook, stirring with a wooden spoon, for 2 minutes or until the flour begins to colour. Pour in the reserved milk a little at a time, mixing it into the flour. Once all the milk has been added, cook the sauce for 10 minutes, stirring continuously, until it is as thick as soft polenta and the flavour of the raw flour has been cooked out. Add the flaked cod to the pan and stir in well, then remove from the heat.
4. Break in the eggs, one at a time, mixing them in well, then stir in the herbs and lemon zest. Pour the mixture into a shallow baking tray and leave to cool before covering with plastic film and chilling in the refrigerator for 3 hours.
5. Pour the olive oil into a heavy-based saucepan or flat-bottomed wok and heat to 170°C or until a cube of bread dropped into the oil browns in 15 seconds.
6. Remove the salt cod mixture from the refrigerator. Take a heaped tablespoon of the mixture and push it off the spoon into the oil with your finger. Working in batches of 6 fritters at a time, deep-fry the fritters for 3 minutes or until golden, crisp and cooked through.
7. Remove with a slotted spoon and drain on paper towel. Season with salt and serve hot.