In The Centre #3 | Cod with Sriracha butter sauce
plus a chorizo crumb. Fancy sounding and looking, but just a handful of ingredients and on your table in 10-15 minutes.
Good dish this
Lots of Brits, and I suspect a fair few Americans too, will think that they don’t cook fish often enough.
A typical reason given for that is “I don’t know how” or “I might ruin it”.
Such a shame, because the truth is that cooking fish well couldn’t be easier: essentially, just poach/steam/fry/grill/bake/roast until it’s done!
… which sounds sounds pretty trite and unhelpful, but is not intended to be.
“Until it’s done” means (typically) for a short time only, until the flesh begins firm, is mostly opaque and threatens to flake with limited pressure. The panic about ruining it is an understandable but also an unnecessary thought. In reality, the window of done but not yet overdone/ruined is relatively broad and forgiving. Particularly when steaming — which is why this week’s recipe suggests that method.
Perhaps another reason people don’t cook fish is that they draw a blank about what to serve it with; or, more bluntly, how to create a moderately interesting and appetising meal.
As a general rule, I think you need (a) a sauce and (b) some texture.
The latter might come from the sides — often potatoes with a crispy edge, a crunchy salad, some barely tender vegetables. But you can also add a pangrattato-style crumb. The chorizo crumb in this week’s recipe is (dare I say) absolutely ideal, and something you could use far beyond this dish — it’ll work over loads of other fish dishes, let alone creamed vegetables, gratins and chicken. I’m confident you’ll love it.
The sauce is what determines the direction and style of the meal. Off the top of my head as I type, it could be: as simple as a lemon and olive oil dressing; an aioli, mayonnaise or hollandaise; a combination of soy sauce, sesame oil, some vinegar; a fish-sauce fragrant Thai-style sauce; a curried gravy; something coconutty and aromatic; a béchamel flecked with parsley or tarragon; a reduction of shallots, white wine and cream; or creme fraiche stirred through something flavourful — softened alliums, lardons and so on.
And then there’s butter. Hard to beat browned butter over fish — whether it’s simply the beurre noisette, or one that’s been embellished with lemon juice/capers/parsley/flaked almonds. That said, on occasion I enjoy a butter emulsion —which essentially means cold butter whisked into a liquid until silky and homogenous, flavoured either by a little vinegar and wine (your classic beurre blanc), some lemon juice (your classic lemon butter sauce), or, new love, Sriracha (your not classic Sriracha butter sauce).
It’s the Sriracha butter sauce option that I plumped for with my lunch yesterday, and that I want to share with you now. The heat of that bottled condiment is mellowed significantly by the (not insignificant quantity of) butter, so what is left is the fruitiness of chilli, plenty of garlic, plus a little tang. It’s a winner. As a sauce it would be excellent with fish cooked on the bone (perhaps with the recipe doubled, if that fish is large). But in the spirit of this intro, I’m suggesting it with steamed fillets — one of the most accessible options. I hope you try it.
The Dish
Here’s a little video teaser so you can see what it’s like — the full recipe is below the line. (I’m afraid it doesn’t come with the snazzy Instagram title, captions and whimsical music. Or maybe that’s a good thing?).
It really is easy and quick, yet extremely satisfying. Serve with a green vegetable, such as asparagus, purple sprouting broccoli, hispi cabbage, or a medley of mange tout and sugar snaps. Plus boiled baby potatoes, or (whisper it) cook-from-frozen French Fries.