Cod is an extremely versatile, naturally flavoursome, firm-fleshed white fish, which you can cook in all sorts of exciting ways and with all manner of different ingredients.
It can hold its own against some pretty big flavours – as shown here
Ingredients
• 2 teaspoons sesame oil
• 2 cod fillets, skin on
• 1 small beetroot, cut into thin matchsticks
• 2 garlic cloves, peeled and thinly sliced
• 2.5cm piece of root ginger, peeled and very thinly sliced
• 1/2-1 red chilli, deseeded and thinly sliced
• 2 tablespoons tamari or soy sauce
• 1 orange, juiced
• 2 teaspoons runny honey
• 1 tablespoon sesame seeds, plus extra for scattering
• 2 teaspoons cider vinegar
Method
1 Heat the sesame oil in a medium, non-stick pan over a medium– high heat. Lightly season the cod with salt and add this skin-side down to the pan.
2 Cook the fish for 3–4 minutes, then scatter the beetroot matchsticks, and sliced garlic, ginger and chilli into the pan, so they start to cook nice and quickly. Give them 1–2 minutes to sizzle, before you flip the fish fillets over.
3 Add the tamari, orange juice, honey, sesame seeds and cider vinegar. At this point the cod should be cooked through, but if it’s not quite there give it a little longer, adding a dash of water to the pan if it looks like the liquid is reducing too far.
4 When the fish is cooked through (when the translucent flesh becomes fully opaque), carefully remove the fish to warmed plates.
5 Continue to simmer the sauce for a further 30–40 seconds to thicken slightly. Spoon the contents of the pan over each serving of fish and serve immediately with an extra scattering of sesame seeds, if you like.
6 You can serve the cod with rice or, as I sometimes do, some sprouted lentils.
Recipe courtesy of Gill Meller, extracted from Gather
