This is a popular re-working of a famous Catalan dish, where sweet red peppers are stuffed with “brandade” a salt-cod and olive oil purée that produces fantastic results. It's a brilliantly healthy meal to serve, too.

Serves 8 as a starter.

Preparation time: around 25 minutes cooking, plus prior preparation a few days before and on the day of cooking.

Ingredients:

• 1 large fresh fillet of cod, skinned and boned (around 500 grams)
• 2 teaspoon garlic salt*
• 4 tablespoons olive oil
• ½ kg of Maris Piper potatoes
• 2 sweet red peppers
• 1 teaspoon of fresh thyme, chopped
• 2 cloves of garlic
• 4 tablespoons of virgin olive oil
• 4 tablespoons of sherry vinegar
• ½ teaspoon of sweet spanish paprika
• ½ pint of chicken stock
• Salt and pepper to taste
• 50g plain flour
• Oil for deep frying

Directions

1. Two days before serving rub the garlic salt over the cod and place in the fridge in a sealed container.

2. 8 hours before serving take the cod out of the fridge and drain the excess water from the fish, wash under cold running water and then soak in a container with 2-3 litres of cold water, change the water after 3-4 hours. After the 8 hours drain the cod cut into largish chunks.

3. Heat a frying pan to a moderate heat and pour in the 4 tablespoons of olive oil. Cook the cod on a medium heat, stirring until just cooked (the flesh should be just opaque).

4. Peel and boil the potatoes without salt (the residual salt in the salt cod is enough to season the dish). Drain the potatoes and dry them out further by putting them back in the pan and putting them on a low heat for a couple of minutes. Mash with the cooked cod to a rough puree.

5. To make the sweet red pepper sauce, put the olive oil in a small pan. Sweat the peppers, garlic and thyme on a low heat with the lid on, until very soft - about 10-15 minutes. Take the lid off and turn the heat up to high then add the sherry vinegar and the paprika. Reduce until practically all the vinegar has evaporated, then pour in the chicken stock.

6. Bring to the boil and puree in a food processor to a smooth sauce. Season to taste with salt and pepper.

To make the fritters

Take a dessertspoon of the mashed cod and roll into a thumb sized oval croquette, flour very lightly and deep fry until golden brown, serve in a pool of the Pepper Sauce.

To make the garlic salt

In a food processor put in 4 bay leaves (crumbled into small pieces) 2 teaspoons of thyme (chopped) and 4-6 roughly chopped cloves of garlic along with 400g of salt. Process until there are no large pieces of garlic left - around 4 minutes. Then put into a sealed container. Will keep for up to 5 or 6 weeks.

Related Recipes:

If you're looking for other healthy meal recipes, or ways to improve your kids' eating habits, we think you'll like the following articles.

Healthy Meal: Butternut Squash Risotto

Healthy Meal: Simple Broccoli and Mushroom Casserole

Healthy Meal: The Real Caesar Salad

Children's Eating: Salmon Cakes with a Tangy Lime Sauce