Monday 2 September 2013

Chorizo-crusted cod

I find the most delicious - and easiest - way to cook white fish is with a breadcrumb crust, and I dish up one or the other of these at least once a month - recipes to come another day! But while on holiday last month I was completely blown away by another variation: crispy chorizo crumbs. The flavours were just amazing: smoky and rich, meaty yet delicate - and with an almost decadent "oomph"... So I Iooked up a few recipes when I was back home, fiddled around with them a bit - and am more than happy with my version!

4 thick white fish fillets (ca 175g - 200g each)
100g chorizo, cut into small(ish) chunks
100g breadcrumbs
1 clove of garlic
1/4 onion
20g almonds (skinned)
1/2 tsp oregano (dried)
1/2 tsp smoked paprika
2 tsp sherry vinegar
ca 4 tbsp olive oil
seasoning

Preheat the oven to 200C/180C fan oven.
Put the chorizo chunks in a frying pan and cook over a medium heat until they become crisp in places. Then put them in a food processor, making sure to scrape in all the aromatic oil as well. Add the rest of the crust ingredients and blitz to a crumb.
Put the fish pieces on a baking tray (which has been lined with tin foil and oiled lightly). Shove them all together in one big piece so there are no gaps.
Heap the crumbs onto the fish pieces and pat down so they are all well covered. (If you have the time, let them firm up in the fridge for 20 mins).
Cook the fish for 10 - 15 mins until the flesh has turned opaque and the crust is golden.

Notes:
Look out for Skrei (also known as Norwegian Atlantic cod) for this dish as it's a much cheaper version of the "normal" cod.
Try to buy good-quality chorizo if you can afford to - you don't need much and the flavour is so much "deeper".
The fish goes extremely well with a white bean mash: simmer a tin of giant white beans in vegetable stock until soft, then mash into the stock and add a glug of olive oil. I only had a tin of chickpeas, but they were delicious too when prepared this way!




3 comments:

  1. I can see this working...and I can see my family eating it :) Stopping by from Tasty Tuesdays. I'm going to pin this.

    ReplyDelete