After a couple of pork-heavy dinners in a row, I was craving something a little lighter last night. I thought about the remaining fish filets I had stashed in the freezer a couple weeks back, and decided to plan something around one of them. I’m still swooning at the memory of the striped bass I had at La Laiterie last Friday night, so I thought it was perhaps too soon to cook it again at home. So it would be cod then – but how to prepare it?
I didn’t want to roast it again, and fried fish didn’t really appeal, so in the end, I decided to revisit a technique I don’t use often enough when cooking fish: poaching. To simplify things even more, I decided to forego the traditional court-bouillon and poach the fish in olive oil.
I divided the cod into three relatively equal pieces, seasoned them well with my favorite spiced sea salt, and nestled them in a small baking dish. I added enough extra virgin olive oil to cover them, then placed them in a preheated oven set to 260 – the lowest setting on our oven. I set a timer for 25 minutes and got to work on accompaniments: Simmons Farm spinach, sauteed with sliced shallot, some previously cooked chickpeas (you can, of course, substitute canned) added to the pan to warm through, and a Middle Eastern-inspired sauce of flat-leaf parsley, chives, mint, chile flakes, lemon and more olive oil.
The cod cooked up beautifully, with a silky, flaky texture and no hint of greasiness, and the chickpea-spinach combo was a hit as well. I was so impressed with the results I can’t wait to try this again with other varieties of seafood (Bomster scallops, I’m looking at you).
{ 9 comments… read them below or add one }
Your cod preparation looks delicious. I tried olive oil poaching for the first time this week as well and was pleased with the results. I made Stephanie Izard’s recipe for Olive Oil Poached Shrimp and Soba Salad (but subbed other noodles as I didn’t have soba on hand). I really liked the flavors in the recipe and the texture of the olive oil poached shrimp.
Link to the recipe: http://www.stephanieizard.com/?q=node/359
oh this looks wonderful – but yes, with scallops… oh my!!
cheers,
*heather*
Delicious! I’ll have to try that. Fish with oil reminds me of a favorite Greek condiment for fish: Olive oil and butter with oregano – then it’s sparingly poured on the fish, which is of course served whole. YUMMERS! And of course then the chick-peas also fit in perfectly
This dinner sings to me! I’ve poached fish in olive oil a couple of times and loved the results (though I did mine stove top) and spinach and chickpeas are 2 staples in my kitchen.
beautiful beautiful
i just had some new england sea food flown in
made a great dish last night
but this is just lovely. perfect, in fact.
That sounds wonderful! I have to ask you about a hesitation I always have though, about using lots of good oil: what do you do with the oil after? I always hate to waste it, so I don’t make these things. Am I simply too frugal, too stingy? Or do you keep it and use it for something else? (I wonder the same thing about deep frying, actually).
Woah! I have never poached fish in olive oil. Looks so good…
Hi Jennifer,
This poached cod looks great! The greens are also a wonderful match. To be honest, I’m not huge on chic peas, so I’d sub toasted pinenuts (but that’s just my own preference).
Testsuya got famous over a simular olive oil poaching technique which he coined confit of Petuna ocean trout. I used to be a big fan of his back in the day: http://www.tetsuyas.com/.
Great blog too! I’m excited to explore!
Best!
Daisy – Thanks for the link!
heather – I will probably try the scallops sooner rather than later – stay tuned!
Traci – oh, that sounds awesome. Love fresh oregano, and we grill whole fish in the summer months often, so I’ll have to give it a try!
Joan – Thanks! We love our spinach, and I’m slowly converting Mike re: the chickpeas
claudia – I’m glad to hear you’re getting your seafood fix, but we’ll have to fly you out here to the seafood next time
Melinda – Well, in this case Mike washed up after dinner and discarded the oil , but I did save the oil from the previous week’s fritto misto for future fish frying. I think as long as it doesn’t reach the smoke point, you can strain it and save it to use again?
rebekka – Thank you!
Chef Branden – Oh, the pine nuts sound like a wonderful addition. Thanks for the link and the kind words!