PAN FRIED COD WITH CORN AND CHORIZO SALSA

 

I have adapted this recipe from Nopi, Ottolenghi's restaurant in London. It is easy and delicious. Changed the scallops for cod, the merguez sausage for chorizo and the sorrel sauce for spinach sauce. The combination of flavours was awesome. Pan-fried cod with corn salsa, spinach sauce and sour cream with sumac. Have since tried it also with salmon and without the spinach sauce and it also turned up scrumptiously good.

INGREDIENTS

4 cod fillets

2 Tbsp olive oil

10g butter

2 tsp lemon juice

coarse sea salt and black pepper

Corn salsa

85 ml olive oil

250g fresh or frozen corn kernels

1 small red onion, finely diced

80g jarred roasted red capsicums, cut into 1cm dice

2 large celery sticks, cut into 1/2 cm dice

10g parsley, finely chopped

20g coriander leaves, finely chopped

finely grated zest of 2 limes, plus 1 1/2 Tbsp lime juice

1 red chilli, de-seeded and finely chopped

300g uncooked chorizo sausages

Spinach sauce

70g baby spinach leaves

1 Tbsp rice vinegar

2 Tbsp olive oil

Sumac cream

160g sour cream

2 tsp sumac

1 Tbsp olive oil

METHOD:

Start with the sauces. Place the spinach, rice vinegar and olive oil in the small bowl of a food processor, along with 1/4 tsp of salt and 1 Tbsp of water. Blitz until smooth and set aside in the fridge.

Place the sour cream in a small bowl with the sumac, oil and 1/4 tsp of salt. Mix to combine and keep in the fridge.

In a small frying pan, add some oil and fry the chorizo sausages until they are cooked through. Remove from the heat and transfer to a plate to cool. Cut into 2cm thick pieces.

To make the corn salsa, place a large frying pan on a high heat with 1 tsp of the olive oil. When hot, add the corn and fry for 4-5 minutes until golden-brown, stirring occasionally. Don't worry if a few of the kernels turn black: they will give the salsa a nice smoky flavour. Remove from the heat and set aside to cool before adding the onion, capsicum, celery, parsley, coriander, lime zest and juice, chilli, 3 Tbsp of olive oil, 1 1/4 tsp salt and a good grind of black pepper. Add the chorizo and set aside.

To cook the cod, place a large frying pan on a medium high-heat and add the olive oil. Season the fish on both sides with sea salt and pepper and place fish in the pan. Fry for about 3 minutes or until golden brown, then turn the fillets over, at the same time adding the butter to the corner of the pan. Cook for 1 or 2 more minutes, basting the fish with the butter when it has foamed up, until cooked through. Remove from the heat and pour over the lemon juice.
To serve, spoon the spinach sauce onto the base of a serving plate, top with the corn and chorizo salsa and arrange the fish fillets on top. Serve at once, with the sumac cream alongside.

Serves 4