Skip to main content

Posh football food. Poached cod and lentils

I am watching Germany destroy Holland at the euros. Fortunately for me Lisa made me some rather upmarket footy food in the shape of Angela Hartnett's poached cod and lentils.

It was absolutely delicious and even better, capable of being eaten in front of the telly .... Beats a pukka pie or a westlers hot dog any day of the week.

The recipe is from the very user friendly book 'A taste of home' Poached cod and lentils If possible, use French puy lentils or Italian castelluccio lentils for the best flavour – not the little red ones.

You could also make this with butter beans or chickpeas.

 Serves 4

Ingredients
45g butter
1 tbsp olive oil
1 large white onion, diced
1 garlic clove, finely chopped
100g pancetta, chopped
200g puy lentils 
Splash of white wine 
600ml chicken stock 
4 x 130g cod fillets, skinned and trimmed 
2 handfuls of baby spinach leaves 
4 spring onions, chopped 
2 tbsp chopped flatleaf parsley 
Salt and freshly ground black pepper 


For the poaching liquid 


300ml white wine 
1 star anise 
¼ tsp fennel seeds 
5 coriander seeds 
1 thyme sprig 
A few basil leaves 
Juice of ½ lemon 
Method 


Heat 15g of the butter and the olive oil in a frying pan, then add the onion and garlic. 


Cook for 2–3 minutes until the onion is soft and golden. 


 Dice the pancetta into small cubes. Add these to the pan and cook for five minutes on a low heat. Increase to a medium heat, and then add the lentils, along with a splash of white wine. 


Bring the chicken stock to the boil in a separate pan. Add the chicken stock to the lentils one ladleful at a time, just as if making a risotto. Once the lentils are cooked and almost no stock remains, add the rest of the butter and mix well. 


Season with salt and pepper. 


Put the poaching liquid ingredients into a separate pan with 300ml water and bring to the boil. 


Once the liquid is boiling, take the pan off the heat, add the cod and place a lid on the pan. After five minutes, turn the fish over, replace the lid and continue to cook off the heat for another five minutes. 


Add the spinach, spring onions and chopped parsley to the lentils and mix everything together well. Check the seasoning. 


Add the poached cod to the lentil stew and gently warm it through, basting the fish with the lentils.

Comments

Anonymous said…
This was delicious, I looked on your blog yesterday morning for some inspiration for the weekend as we are in the eye of the A level storm and only certain meals will do. This was perfect, requires no eye contact - or surgery, so fork in one hand and chemistry/biology/latin revision in the other - just like watching football! Lulu

Popular posts from this blog

Crack potatoes courtesy of Ottolenghi. Harissa and confit garlic roast potatoes

Another recipe from Ottolenghi's Simple, another recommendation from Will Saunders.   I know its the middle of summer but who doesn't love a roastie? These little tinkers are so good that they are like crack, class A calories. The clever bit is the addition of semolina and caraway seeds which adds a new level of crunchiness to add to the delicious warm heat of Harissa. Heres the recipe These make a lovely, spicy change from the traditional Sunday roasties. They’re especially good with spiced roast meat. Serves six to eight. 2 large heads garlic, cloves separated and peeled 130g goose or duck fat 4 sprigs fresh rosemary  6 sprigs fresh thyme  2kg maris piper potatoes, peeled and cut into 5cm chunks 40g ground semolina 2 tsp caraway seeds, toasted and lightly crushed 2 tbsp rose harissa Flaky sea salt Heat the oven to 150C/300F/gas mark 2. Put the garlic, fat and herbs in a small ovenproof pan or saucepan for which you have a lid. Cover and roast for 40 minut

Nigel Slaters deceptively brilliant monkfish

Lisa discovered this recipe in her favourite Nigel book. It is one of those fish, 'but not as we know it Jim' recipes. Not just because Monkfish is the fish that can best impersonate meat but also because of the marinade ingredients that are more often featured with lamb. It's not difficult to do but the flavour is a revelation, which makes it a perfect recipe in my book. This can be cooked on a grill pan or a barbecue. Ingredients 3 bushy sprigs rosemary, leaves finely chopped 4 anchovy fillets 2 large cloves garlic salt and freshly ground black pepper 1 large lemon, juice only 3 tbsp olive oil 800g/1½lb monkfish fillet Method Pull the leaves from the rosemary stalks and chop them finely, then tip them into a bowl large enough to take the fish. Rinse the anchovy fillets and smash them to a rough pulp with the flat edge of your chopping knife. Peel the garlic, crush it flat, then smash it to a purée in the same way. Stir together the herb, anchovy and garlic, adding a grind

Sea Bass on mushroom potatoes with salsa Verde

I felt the overwhelming need to cook something new on Saturday night. I didn't want the tired and tested I wanted to explore new culinary waters. However combined with this desire was an equal and opposing force, driven by being absolutely knackered, that meant it had to be simple too. I returned to one of Jamie's early books, to a recipe that IO had meant to do on countless occasions but never quite got round to. I have done several versions of Sea Bass on a bed of potatoes, some that I have written about on this blog. The one question I would have is about the thickness of the potatoes and the length of time they need to be cooked through ... in my oven I reckon they need about 10 minutes more than the recipe suggests. I would suggest a bit of a trial run if you are going to do it for a dinner party ... however once you have given it a whirl I think this makes for a very easy recipe for a crowd. Here's the recipe. Roasted slashed fillet of sea bass stuffed with herbs, bak