Cooking with Colm O'Gorman: Tasty tapas dishes that you won't want to share

Cod fritters, peppers padron and chorizo with red wine and honey are this week's delicious recipes

This week’s column is short on introduction and long on recipes, but for good reason. I developed a craving for some Peppers Padron over the weekend, I looked at some holiday snaps of a trip to Portugal a few years ago. Much to my delight I discovered that Dunnes Stores are stocking them, so I just had to get some and make pesticos or tapas for dinner. The joy of tapas is of course the variety; lots of small dishes to share, tasty morsels of food that cover pretty much every flavour imaginable; sweet, sour, spicy, salty, umami…the lot. A heavenly meal.

My take on cod fritters uses smoked cod instead of the traditional salted fish as I that is not easy to source here, but this works beautifully. These fritters are easy to make and delicious. They really are bite sized perfection. Their size makes them crispy on the outside but soft and succulent inside, without the heaviness of a bigger fish cake.

Put each your dishes in nice bowls or platters. Serve the cod fritter with a garlic aioli or some mayonnaise with a little lemon juice and some grated garlic added. Warm up the chorizo dish and serve it with topped with chopped parsley and red chilli. Finally, scatter a generous amount of flaky sea salt over the peppers padron. Serve in the middle of the table with some fresh crusty bread and allow everyone to help themselves.

Cod Fritters

recipe by:Colm O'Gorman

These fritters are easy to make and delicious. They really are bite-sized perfection.

Cooking Time

 10 mins

Total Time

 10 mins

Course

 Main

Ingredients

•  

• 1kg rooster potatoes

• 300g smoked cod or coley

• 25g flat leaf parsley

• 3 eggs

• 1 small onion

• Salt & ground black pepper to taste

• Sunflower oil for frying

Method

1. Bake the potatoes, you can do this in a microwave if you wish. Do not use boiled potatoes as they will have too much moisture. The fluffier your potato the better as it holds together better when you fry the fritters.

2. Scoop out the flesh of the potatoes into a large bowl. You should have 600-650g of cooked potato. You want to use about a 2:1 ratio of potato to fish for this recipe. Mash the potato, but do not add any butter or milk.

3. Bring a pan of water to a boil, reduce the heat to a simmer and add the fish. Poach for twelve minutes.

4. Remove the fish from the pan and when it has cooled a little, remove any bones and flake the fish. I like to keep the fish in small chunks as I find it gives the best flavour.

5. Finely chop the onion and parsley. Add them to the bowl of potato along with the fish. Add a teaspoon of flaky sea salt and a good grind of black pepper.

6. Lightly whisk the eggs, add to the bowl, and combine everything.

7. Heat a litre of sunflower oil to 180c in a saucepan. The temperature is important as if it is cooler your fritters will likely either fall apart as they cook or be soggy and oily rather than crisp and golden.

8. Use two tablespoons to mould small portions of the mixture into an oval shape, a quenelle. As you mould each one, carefully drop it into the oil. I keep going until I have five or six frying.

9. Now, use a slatted spoon to check and see when each fritter is cooked. The first ones you popped in will be ready just a minute or so after you get the last one in.

10. Take them out when they crisp and golden. Drain on a rack or kitchen towel as you move on to the next batch.

11. Check the temperature of the oil before you add those, make sure it is at still 180c as it may have reduced while cooking the previous batch.

12. Serve the cod fritter with a garlic aioli or some mayonnaise with a little lemon juice and some grated garlic added.

 

Peppers Padron

recipe by:Colm O'Gorman

This padron pepper dish will remind you of sunny holidays in Portugal and is perfect for homemade tapas.

Cooking Time

 5 mins

Total Time

 5 mins

Course

 Main

Ingredients

• 400g fresh padron peppers

• A little olive oil

• Flaky sea salt

Method

1. Heat a heavy based frying pan over a high heat.

2. Wash the padron peppers and add them to the pan. Let them cook, tossing them every few minutes. You want them to char and blister a bit all over.

3. When they are almost done, add a tablespoon of olive oil, tossing the peppers to get them well coated, and turn off the heat.

4. Now you are ready to serve. 

 

Chorizo with Red Wine and Honey

recipe by:Colm O'Gorman

Serve topped with chopped parsley and red chilli.

Cooking Time

 15 mins

Total Time

 15 mins

Course

 Side

Ingredients

• 200g spicy chorizo sausage

• 200ml red wine

• ½ small onion

• 1 clove of garlic

• 1 bay leaf

• Juice of half a lemon

• Some chopped flat leaf parsley

• A little chopped red chilli

Method

1. Cut the chorizo into 10mm slices. Chop the onion and garlic.

2. Heat a frying pan over a high heat. Toss in the chorizo and cook for about five minutes until it starts to crisp a little. Remove from the pan and set aside.

3. Add the onion, garlic and bay leaf to the same pan and sauté them in the oil from the cooked chorizo over a medium heat until soft. Add the wine and cooked chorizo.

4. Let that simmer away for about five minutes until it has reduced by about half.

5. Add the honey, stirring it in well to and continue to cook until the sauce is syrupy, about another five minutes. Then remove from the heat.