An unassuming lift in a 1970s apartment block opened on to a kaleidoscopic pattern-on-pattern-on-pattern apartment, where a petite woman of great character awaited us. Together we made ajo blanco soup and pimientos del pico rellenos de bacalao, a dish from her childhood in northern Spain. She danced about her kitchen with extreme agility, spilling things and laughing endlessly. It was a splendid, sensory onslaught from the moment we arrived.
Halfway through pepper preparations we stopped for a photo. The peppers were all beautifully laid out, stuffed and awaiting the deep frying procedure. Mercedes lifted the large plate of peppers over high over her head into a sort of bodybuilding pose. Unfortunately she leant forwards and half of the peppers slid to the floor, lubricated with by their own oils.
It was not an issue. She scooped them back up, giggled and sent them back to the kitchen for frying. She served her peppers on a large dish emblazoned with her own name. How brilliant.
Feeds 4
Takes 1½ hours, plus 24 hours soaking
Ingredients
300g salt cod, flaked by hand into small pieces
3 tbsp olive oil
3 onions, finely diced (½ for the sauce)
2 garlic cloves, finely chopped (½ for the sauce)
1 tbsp flour, plus extra for dusting
150ml milk
14 roasted red peppers from a jar (2 for the sauce)
light olive oil for frying
1 egg, beaten
1 red pepper, finely chopped
juice from the jar of peppers
50ml cream
350ml fish stock
handful fresh parsley, finely chopped
Method
To prepare for this dish you need to desalt the cod 24 hours in advance. Do this by soaking the flaked salt cod in a large bowl of cold water, changing the water every 6 hours, if possible.
Heat 2 tbsp of the olive oil in a sauté pan and cook the onion for 5 minutes, then add the garlic and cook until everything is transparent, not golden – about 5 minutes more.
While the onions cook, drain the desalted cod (saving the water) and lay out on a clean tea towel to soak up any extra moisture. It’s important that it’s totally dry.
Set half the cooked onions and garlic aside in a bowl for the sauce. Spoon the cod into the onions, adding the remaining olive oil. Stir in ½ tbsp flour and a generous glug of the milk. Cook for 5 minutes as it thickens, then add the another ½ tbsp of flour and the rest of the milk. Cook for a further 5 minutes until the taste of flour has gone completely and it’s a loose, slightly sticky béchamel consistency. Add a touch more milk if you think it’s getting too thick.
Lay 12 of the peppers out on a tray or platter ready to stuff. Spoon about 1 tbsp of the cod mixture into each pepper and secure the top by threading a toothpick through.
Heat a deep frying pan with light olive oil about 2cm high and prepare two wide bowls, one with flour in and one with beaten egg. Light olive oil is better, as extra virgin will smoke quicker due to its low burning point.
When the oil is frying hot (bubbles gather quickly round your wooden spoon when you dip the end in), begin to dip and coat each pepper first in flour and then in egg and drop into the hot oil.
Fry on each side until golden and remove with a slotted spoon onto a kitchen towel to remove excess oil. Keep warm while you make the sauce.
Put the saved bowl of cooked onion and garlic into a large saucepan on a medium heat, Add the 2 jarred peppers you saved, the chopped red pepper and a little juice from the pepper jar. Cook for 10 minutes until the peppers are soft and the mixture smells sweet.
Turn off the heat and use a hand blender to whizz the sauce together with the cream and fish stock.
Add the stuffed peppers to a pan with the sauce and cook on a low heat for 30 minutes before sprinkling with a handful of parsley and serving simply with a green side salad.