CATALAN COD SALAD

This is a really fresh and easy salad. If you wanted to have it as a pintxo, you could thread the cod and tomato on to skewers or toothpicks and place them in Little Gem leaves.

Juicy tomatoes with a very thin skin are ideal for this. I think tomatoes should explode in your mouth and you don’t get that when they’re finely sliced, which is why I cut them into wedges. My dad used to cut up a tomato, season it with olive oil and salt and just bite into it … that’s the way to eat tomatoes. Never put tomatoes in the fridge – if they are cold they won’t taste of much.

FOR 4–6

3 really good-quality ripe, meaty tomatoes

sea salt

150g unpitted black Aragón olives

3 teaspoons capers

2 shallots, finely chopped

1 teaspoon chopped fresh tarragon

100ml extra virgin olive oil

30ml sherry vinegar

sea salt and white pepper

For the marinated salt cod

350g salt cod, desalinated for 24 hours (see method)

200ml extra virgin olive oil

plenty of white pepper

2 cloves of garlic, crushed to a paste

1 bunch of fresh flat-leaf parsley, leaves picked and roughly chopped

To desalinate the cod, rinse it, then place it in a container with plenty of water. You need to make sure the skin is facing up (if it’s on the bottom the salt won’t be released). Leave in the fridge for 24 hours, rinsing and changing the water three times in total.

Remove the salt cod from its final soak of water and dry with kitchen paper. Remove the skin and cut into bite-size pieces. Cover with the olive oil, pepper (salt isn’t necessary here!), garlic and parsley and leave to marinate overnight.

Half an hour before you’re ready to eat, take the salt cod from the fridge to give it time to come to room temperature.

Cut the tomatoes into wedges and put them on the plate you are going to serve the salad on. Season with salt, then top with the marinated cod pieces.

Just before eating (otherwise they will become mushy), pit the olives and mix with the capers, shallots, tarragon, olive oil, vinegar and a little white pepper. Scatter the olive dressing over the cod and tomatoes, and serve.