Receta Poached Cod with Tomato and Saffron
Eric Rippert Recently, Andrew and I went to hear
Eric Rippert, Fish Chef Extraordinaire
and proprietor of the perennially four-starred Le Bernardin restaurant
in New York. Chef Rippert appeared at a
food forum at the YMHA hosted by Adam Gopnick of The New Yorker magazine. During the question and answer period, the
chef was asked what fish he was currently enamored with. He immediately answered Halibut and since
I’d just appropriated a recipe for Halibut from Bon Appetit, off I went to shop
from dinner. When I got to the
fishmonger, I was staggered to discover that Halibut was $29.99 a lb. Now I love Chef Rippert but my love has
boundaries and $29.99 a lb. for anything is one of them. But right next to the Halibut was a beautiful
white filet of Atlantic cod from Canada.
The cod came in at $10.99 a lb.
And since I also had a Cod recipe from the same Bon Appetit, I
immediately shifted gears. Since I was
making only two portions of the recipe for Poached Cod with Tomato and Saffron,
the 10 oz. of fish cost all of $6.85.
The whole meal would have been a spectacular bargain were it not for the
Saffron, which even at Trader Joe’s prices, came in at $5.99 for a .020 oz. of
the stuff. Still, the meal was
relatively inexpensive, incredibly fast to prepare and absolutely delicious.
Eating more seafood makes infinite good
sense. Did you know that cod is one of
the healthiest things on earth to eat?
In fact eating it weekly can reduce heart attack risk by 37
percent. It is also one of the fastest
ways to get dinner on the table.
Add up the times for this recipe and at the outside, you can be out of the kitchen in 25 minutes. My favorite
piece of advice from Bon Appetit is the following: “ You want to cook the cod
at a lazy simmer; it will make all the difference between buttery, flaky fish
and rubbery, tough fillets.” And just how long is that “lazy simmer"? 5 to 7 minutes. Do try this dish. There’s a lively heat to the tomato sauce
that complements the flaky white fish flawlessly. As to the saffron, I wish my palate were
more sensitive to what it brings to the dish.
But since I used it and loved the results, I can’t say how it would
taste without it. But I do know it would
save you at least $5.99 if you left it out. Here is the
recipe:
Recipe for Poached Cod with Tomato and Saffron from
Bon Appetit
Serves 4. Takes under 30 minutes start to finish.
- 2 garlic cloves, thinly sliced
- 1 teaspoon Aleppo pepper or 1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper
- flakes
- 1 14.5-ounce can whole peeled tomatoes, drained*
- Kosher salt, freshly ground pepper
- 4 5-ounce skinless cod fillets
- *I cheated here and substituted a 14.5 oz. can of diced tomatoes
with no apparent affect. I also had a handful of cherry tomatoes which I halved and tossed in with their canned brethren.
1.
Heat oil in a medium skillet over medium heat. Add
garlic and Aleppo pepper and cook, stirring often, until fragrant (garlic
should not take on any color), about 3 minutes.
2.
Add tomatoes, crushing with your hands as you add
them, wine, bay leaves, saffron, and 1/2 cup water. Bring to a boil, reduce
heat, and simmer until flavors meld, 5–7 minutes; season with salt and pepper.
3.
Reduce heat to medium-low; season cod with salt and pepper
and place in skillet. Cover and cook at a bare simmer until cod is opaque
throughout and beginning to flake, 5–7 minutes (thicker pieces will take longer
to cook).
4.
Gently transfer cod to shallow bowls and spoon
poaching liquid over.