Pan seared cod with spinach and a hollandaise sauce

This Saturday’s Dinner Date loosely draws from My Wild Atlantic Kitchen, once again. My partner and adorable co-chef Carolyn Flynn was flipping through some potential options when she mentioned a Mousseline Sauce (a hollandaise based sauce) that went with a prawn and spinach pastry.

My brain locked on the words ‘spinach’ and ‘hollandaise’. I had never thought to put hollandaise sauce on anything but tight pile of poached eggs, Canadian bacon and an English muffin. But a hollandaise sauce on a white fish what stuck in my head.

So tonight, via our zoom link, we prepared our dinners. My take was a pan seared seasoned cod, served on a bed of wilted spinach, topped with a hollandaise sauce.

I rubbed the cod with a pepper, onion powder, garlic powder, cayenne rub and pan fried it it my favorite cast-iron skillet. Meanwhile I caramelized some onions, shallots and garlic in olive oil in skillet #2. To this I added a bag of spinach and gave it a quick wilting.

I blended 3 egg yokes with the juice of one lemon in my Magic Bullet (a holiday gift from a client) and then slowly whisked in a half cup of hot, melted Kerrygold butter to make the sauce.

The spinach was laid down, fish placed on top, then the sauce was applied with a fancy plating utensil my loving lady had gifted me earlier in the year.

It was a great meal, and I think in the future I’ll do this again with a flounder or haddock. The cod is great, but I think an even lighter fish will let the sauce shine through.