Yesterday our fishladies were having a big ol' sale on kabeljauw (cod), 500gr for 7 euro. Usually I try to avoid budget seafood, for hopefully obvious reasons, but these dames are trustworthy, and I found myself leaving with a kilo of good shit.
I showed Mara my booty, and after she recovered the brown one said (perhaps due to subliminal suggestion) that she had a hankering for something that tasted "nice and round" for dinner, and referred specifically to a dish that we shared early on in our official dating era at a restaurant in Atlanta called Van Gogh's (many chefs and concept refreshings ago).
I myself have been jonesing for some New Orleans-style cookin' for a good spell, and so I leveraged the compatibility of my design goals across the broad spectrum of cough cough hack. The result was the following suprisingly delicious kabeljauw dish, presented in the protein-on-top-of-starch style of 1997.
We started with something like chorizo-spiced caramelized apple + goat cheese quesadillas, because you know me I'm always looking for interesting vegetarian shit:
...and we finished with some bonbons from Unlimited Delicious: rosemary sea salt; tamarind-chile-sambal; and kiwi mustardseed.
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roasted cod
crayfish, calvados, cream, fresh corn salsa, roasted garlic mash
500 gr cod filet
2 tbsp cajun seasoning
4 tbsp walnut oil
350gr potatoes, cubed
1/2 cup cream or milk
1/2 tsp. roasted garlic stock paste
1 tsp. duck fat
1 tsp serious Dijon mustard, Zaanse Schans is perfect
1 ear of corn, de-corned
1/4 cup water
1/4 cup roasted red pepper, diced small
1 tbsp butter
1 cup scallion greens, chopped
1 cup shrimp or lobster or clam stock
1 tbsp cajun seasoning or to taste
1/4 cup calvados, brandy, or cognac
1/2 cup cream
100 gr crayfish, shelled and cooked
Put on some water for the potatoes. Preheat oven to 200C.
While these things are happening, combine stock, calvados, and seasoning. Reduce for 10-15 minutes, or until you have about 1/8 cup left. Add cream and remove from heat.
Combine corn and 1/4 cup water, boil for three minutes or until water is evaporated. Turn off heat, add butter, red pepper, and 1/2 of the scallion greens.
Rub the fish with the cajun seasoning and oil, and place on the middle rack in a 200C oven for 15 minutes. Brown the top if it's not already.
Boil the potatoes until done. Mash them and add the other ingredients, using the cream to modulate consistency. Salt and pepper to taste, and cover.
Reheat cream sauce, add crayfish, and simmer over medium-low heat for 3-5 minutes or until crayfish are warmed through. Add remaining scallions at last minute.
Plate potatoes, fish on top, corn salsa over that, top with the sauce. 1997!
Serves more than 2, probably 3.
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