Salt cod croquettes with shaved fennel salad

Method

• step 1

  Make confit garlic by heating 50ml olive oil in a very small saucepan over a gentle heat. Add the garlic and cook on a very low heat until soft, about 3 minutes.

• step 2

  Put the salt cod in a saucepan, cover with 500ml milk and simmer for 10 minutes. Strain off the milk and mix the cod with the mashed potato, confit garlic (and its oil) and parsley, making sure that you don’t completely break the cod up. Taste and season if needed. Portion the mixture into16 evenly sized croquettes.

• step 3

  Lightly whisk 200ml milk and the eggs in a small bowl. Put the plain four, and the breadcrumbs into separate bowls. Take a croquette, and first coat with the flour, then dip it in the whisked milk and eggs, and finally coat with the breadcrumbs. Repeat for the remaining croquettes, then leave them to chill for 30 minutes in the fridge.

• step 4

  Mix the vinegar, sugar and 50ml olive oil until it is clear and the sugar has dissolved. Carefully slice the fennel, very thinly, with a mandolin or a sharp knife. Add the dill and thinly sliced fennel to the pickling liquid.

• step 5

  Gently cook the peppers, garlic and chillies in a little of the olive oil until soft, about 10 minutes. Put all of the remaining oil, almonds and tomato purée in a blender with the cooked pepper mix. Liquidise briefly to get a coarse texture. Season well.

• step 6

  Heat a pan of oil 1/3 full to 180C, or until a cube of bread turns golden in 30 seconds. Deep-fry the croquettes in batches for 2-4 minutes until golden. Drain on kitchen paper, and season with salt. Serve on the drained, pickled fennel with small pots of romesco sauce for dipping.