Delicious Spanish cod bites
Cod is an amazingly versatile fish that we love to prepare in multiple ways. Our proposal for you today consist in marinating the fish for a while so that it ends up full of flavour and then fry it covered in a very light batter.
You will love it as a main as well as for a tapas evening with friends.
Spanish cod bites
Our Spanish cod bites recipe will become a staple at your home. With a savoury fish thanks to its marinade and a very crunchy exterior, you will see it is a very fun recipe that you will adore if you are a fan of fish or if you are trying to incorporate it more often to your diet. Try them either on their own or with some lemon, or aioli or even some Spanish mojo sauce (both green and red go incredibly well!).
Ingredients
- 300 g cod fillets
- 2 cloves garlic
- 50 mL extra virgin olive oil for the marinade
- 1 bay leaf
- 1 teaspoon cayenne powder optional
- salt and pepper to taste
- 1/2 lemon juice
- 4 tablespoons white wine vinegar
- fresh parsley to taste
- 1 egg
- 125 g flour
- 200 mL sparkling water preferably cold
- 1/2 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
- frying oil
Instructions
- Cut the cod in bite-size pieces.In a big bowl or plate, mix the olive oil with the garlic (minced), the bay leaf, the cayenne powder, salt, pepper, lemon juice and white wine vinegar. This liquid is our marinade, so we add the cod to it so that it absorbs all the flavours from the mixture. Cover the bowl/plate.It should rest at least for 30 min, but if you can leave it covered in the fridge for a couple of hours, the fish will end up more flavourful.
- Once the cod has been marinating long enough, break and beat 1 egg in another bowl. Then add the flour (sift it if you can), the bicarbonate of soda, some chopped parsley and sparkling water. Mix very well You should get a very liquid texture, which will help create a very light and crispy exterior.
- Now is the moment to fry the cod. To do this, heat some oil in a deep frying pan until it reaches 160°C /320 F.Then, submerge the fish pieces in the flour-sparkling water mixture to cover it entirely and very carefully take it to the pan to fry.To do this, we use some tongs, but you can definitely use a spoon or a fork instead.
- You can fry several pieces at the same time, just making sure there’s enough room for each of them to have some space.Whilst they are frying, you can remove any floating batter that has not adhered to the cod to keep the pan as clean as possible.The fish will be ready once they get a light brown/golden colour and a crispy exterior.
- When you have fried the first ones, check the salt levels and adjust the batter adding more salt if needed for the following batches. When fried to the desired level, remove the fish from the oil and place on some kitchen towel or grid.
- Fry the rest of the fish and…that’s it!These are really nice on their own, or with some aioli, or lemon or Spanish mojo sauces (either green or red).
Notes
– If you have some leftover fish, you can keep them in the fridge (just for a couple of days) and place them in the oven for 5-10 minutes at 160°C /320 F when you want to have them. Make sure you put them on top of a grid or with some parchment paper to absorb oil excess.
– Instead of sparkling water, you can try with beer or natural water (the taste will be different, though). If you use the latter, the fritters will be less airy.
– If you see while frying that there’s some areas with spots where there no flour mixture covering the fish, you can very carefully add some more with the help of a spoon to the area in question. What we recommend though is to only do this if there’s still some time for the cod to be fully cooked, otherwise you would need to wait for the new additions to cook as well and the rest might overcook by then.