Cod Provencale

Saturday night’s dinner brings us another interpretation of a wonderful recipe from My Wild Atlantic Kitchen, an Irish cookbook by Maura O’Connell Foley…Cod Provencale.

I love Mediterranean style cooking, and this meal falls squarely in the realm.

Ingredients
• 2 cod fillets
• Soft white breadcrumbs (I put a frozen hamburger bun in a food processor for a couple seconds)
• Kerrygold butter
• Garlic cloves, peeled and finely chopped
• Kerrygold butter
• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 6 shallots, finely chopped (I used ¼ of sweet onion)
• 2 ripe tomatoes, seeded and chopped or good quality tinned tomatoes
• 3 tsp tomato puree (I left this off)
• 1/4 cup apple juice
• 1 mild red chilli, split, deseeded and finely chopped (I used 1 habanero)
• Black pepper
• oregano and or basil to taste


Directions:

Preheat the oven to 400°F.

To make the sauce, add the oil to a small saucepan and gently sweat the shallots and garlic for 10 minutes over a low heat. Toss in the chilli pepper and stir for a few seconds. Add the tomatoes, purée and apple juice and simmer for at least 45 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add some oregano or basil to taste. Put on cover.

Prepare the crumb by combining the breadcrumbs, melted butter (or olive oil if you prefer) and garlic.

Heat a large ovenproof frying pan, greased with clarified butter, over a low heat. Turn the heat to high and place the fish fillets skin side up in the pan. Cook for 2-3 minutes. Turn the fillets to be flesh side up and spoon the sauce on top of the fish (flesh side), followed by the garlic crumb. Move the pan to the oven and cook for 10-15 minutes or until the fish is cooked and flakes easily. Cooking time will depend on the thickness of the fillets; it may take even longer for a very thick fillet.

I served the cod with some grilled Zucchini. I sliced 4 pieces, lightly salted them to draw out the moisture and set the aside on paper towel while the sauce cooked. Before grilling I splashed some 18-year old balsamic vingar on them and lightly dusted them with garlic powder. Grill on a high flame just to add grill marks. Be careful to not overcook.

Pairs well with a Watermelon Wonder Kombucha.