Come Dine With Me Spanish Style

                                         My next door neighbours in Spain: Tony and Sue

As I've mentioned before, Tony is a great cook and I always look forward to one of his 'come dine with me' evenings when we are in Spain. Tony had emailed me prior to our trip regarding a dish he had eaten whilst holidaying in Jaen. Tony and Sue stayed in the beautiful mountain village Arroyo Frio and sampled a local dish with the melodic name of 'rin-ran'. The dish is based on local veg produce, enriched with .........(until I tasted it, a secret ingredient!)

Jaen is famous for its olive oil and whilst the workers were harvesting olives, rin-ran would be prepared en situ. According to tradition, when the rin-ran was being prepared in the countryside, it would always rain.

When Tony presented his dish of rin-ran to me I was slightly baffled.

Upon tasting the dish I couldn't quess at the combination of ingredients, it was delicious if slightly unusual, Tony then revealed that rin-ran is a relish made with salt cod, the flavour of which I hadn't been able to discern!

Spanish people are passionate enthusiasts of salt cod and have evolved wonderful ways to cook it. As I said in a previous post: 'fresh fish Friday' one in ten of us won't eat fish, salt cod is quite ugly and pungent and many people are put off by its odd appearance and are often at a loss as how to prepare and cook it. Actually it is fresh cod fish which has been heavily salted and partly dried purely to preserve it. Once soaked, which is essential, in frequent changes of fresh water for 24 hours, the flesh is softened and the salt removed with the fish retaining a delicious flavour. Many people eat salt cod without cooking it, for the workers harvesting olives it was a wonderful and versatile ingredient.

Rin-ran

Recipe
1lb salt cod (the unprepared salt cod will equal 2 cups of cooked fish) soaked for 24 hours
2-3 dried red peppers
6 medium potatoes
2 cloves garlic
1 teaspoon toasted cumin
Extra virgin olive oil
2 boiled eggs
Handful of olives
4 spring onions, finely chopped

Peel and cut potatoes into pieces, boil with the dried peppers (this gives the dish the red colour)
Once cooked, mash potatoes, add crushed garlic clove and cumin
If you are cooking the salt cod, which is optional, cover with cold water and simmer for 10 minutes, drain and allow to cool
Remove skin and bones and flake fish
Add fish to potatoes, slowly stir in olive oil until you have a silky consistency
Garnish with sliced eggs, olives and spring onions and serve chilled

There are several suppliers of salt cod online, rin-ran is a great party dish, it can be made in advance and served with crusty bread and is delicious with chilled white wine. If you can't get salt cod you can use oil packed tuna as an alternative.

'Ordinary folk prefer familiar tastes, they'd sooner eat the same things all the time, but a gourmet would sample a fried park bench to know how it tastes.'
-Walter Moers

Love Donna xxxxxxxxx