Eat Well, Be Well, Have Fun

“In the hands of an able cook, fish can become an inexhaustible source of perpetual delight”   

– Jean-Altheme Barrat-Savarin

It’s comfort food season, and that is one of my downfalls!  Creamy soups, rich pastas, not to mention all the holiday sweets.  Therefore, I’m trying to double down on fresher healthier options to break my routine of cooking meals that make me feel like I’m becoming part of the furniture.

Fish, of course comes to mind. Have you ever been to that smokehouse in New Albin, Iowa?  A stop on a Saturday morning to pickup up some smoked salmon changed my life!  And remember “chipped beef on toast” when you were a kid; either from your mom, or school lunches? Affectionately called S.O.S?  Their smoked dried beef will surely change your mind about what that dish can become.  Last summer I made a real simple garlic white sauce and added some of their smoked shredded dried beef and actually put it open-faced on toast! Amazing, try it.

Back to fish and salmon. Buying (or smoking your own!) good smoked salmon is such a treat. I love, love, love making a Fettuccini Alfredo with smoked salmon!  I know, I am showing my weaknesses for pasta when I was trying to find fresh fish alternatives, but we will get to that.

A simple roux of garlic, (ok, a lot of garlic) butter, a little flour, and heavy whipping cream quickly makes a nice white sauce. To this, I like adding thinly sliced green scallions, a few shredded carrots for color, and some fresh herbs like rosemary, tarragon, and/or oregano.  I crumble about three quarters of the smoked salmon into the cream sauce for just about 5 minutes to warm and flavor the cream.  Then plate the pasta of your choice, ladle over the salmon cream alfredo, top with the remaining smoked salmon, a bit more scallions and a few shredded carrots and you have a professional looking palate blaster!

Now that I digressed and filled your belly with creamy pasta again, let’s make something healthier! I unapologetically plead with you to try this Braised Cod in Salsa Verde.  I sort of made this up last week because I wanted healthy fish, and always crave the umami of green salsa.  I have a few reluctant foodie fans that I sent my token food porn pics to with the caption of “this was the best thing I’ve made all year!”

This is so delicious, so beautiful to present and serve, and so easy.  Again, I am making this for two, but scales easily to making for more people.  A couple of key things make a difference. One, good quality “thick” pieces of cod. Not those pieces that look like fish sticks! Secondly, good thicker corn tortilla chips. Not Doritos or cheap brands. There are a couple of good hearty thicker tortilla chip brands, look for them. 

First we make the salsa verde, because fish is fast.  I’ve written about this in the past when we discussed the yummy green pork.  Five slightly bigger than a golf ball tomatillos cut in half; ½ poblano pepper deseeded and cut in half again; ½ or a whole jalapeño deseeded, halved again; 5 nice cloves of garlic.  All of these skin side up in the broiler on med-high to roast and get a little darker char on them. Toss in the food processor with one cup of quality chicken broth and puree with a little salt and pepper.

Finely chop a small handful of cilantro for garnish, along with some sliced green onions.  Put the sauce in a fry pan you have a cover for and let it simmer on the stove top while you do the fish.  Add a little lime juice to the pan because in Mexico, there is lime in everything that is delicious!

In a heavy pan or iron skillet get a 50/50 mix of butter and olive oil warming, enough to just cover the bottom.  Make sure the thick cod fillets are dry. Pat and even squeeze them some with paper towels to get rid of excess water.  Salt with coarse kosher salt, and generously apply coarse ground black pepper to both sides.  If you have some bread crumbs or panko crumbs, the presentation is even better, but we will do this only on one side. Turn up the heat on the oil butter mix until it begins to shimmer and is hot but not insane.

Place the cod crumb side down in the hot pan and let them sear undisturbed maybe 2-3 minutes. Gently shake the pan to shift them in the butter and oil.  They should be colorful and dark brown but not cooked through!  Remove from the hot pan and put the crumb side UP in the simmering green salsa pan on medium.  Pour the oil/butter crumb mix from the pan over the filets and cover the pan. Let simmer until lightly flakey, maybe 4-7 more minutes. It does depend on the size and thickness, but don’t over cook them; they get rubbery.

Lay around 7-9 nice thick corn tortilla chips in individual shallow serving bowls, or deep plates. When done, place one filet in the center of the bowl/plate, and cover the chips in the sauce with a tablespoon poured over the top of the fish. Garnish with cilantro and onion, and Bam!!