Ever since we came back from Portugal, I have been bugging people around me with stories about how we have had a wonderful gastro-experience over there. For me, as a big fan of seafood, it was a special experience. I still haven’t forgiven myself the fact that we failed to buy some salted cod, which we planned to prepare back home, in Zagreb.
So we went in search of the elusive cod, until we came across an ad on Amazon.com. At first, I was very skeptical about ordering cod through a we platform, but we investigated a bit over at a few connoisseurs, who confirmed that such procurement was completely secure. We are talking, of course, about salted cod.
As we wait for the postman to bring us our cod (tears of happiness stream down my face as I write this sentence and cannot believe it will really happen), I decided to temporarily quench my thirst with frozen black cod sold in our stores. In my family, cod is most often cooked during holiday fast, for example on Christmas eve, like a soup with potatoes. I always wonder why we don’t have it on the menu more often, because I really adore it. This time I took to a slightly different preparation – I baked the cod in the oven and used the creamy pea puree with mint as a side dish.
Ingredients:
- 500 g of frozen cod
- 1 egg
- some bread crumbs (can be plain)
- spelt flour
- 1 lemon peel (not sprayed)
- a small piece of butter
- thyme
- rosemary
- parsley leaf
- olive oil
Pea puree:
- 450 g frozen peas (or fresh)
- water
- 10 mint leaves
- 25 g butter
- 100 g sour cream
- salt, pepper
Procedure:
Thaw the cod and let it drain. During this time, whisk the eggs in a bowl, mix the spices and lemon peel with bread crumbs. Dry the cod, season with salt and pepper, roll it into flour, eggs and finally into bread crumbs with spices. Put it in the baking pan that you previously oiled, and sprinkle with remaining bread crumbs. Smear a few pieces of butter over the cod and place it into a 180 degrees C oven. Bake for about 30 min. until the crust is golden.
While the cod is baking, make the pea puree. Put some mint leaves into boiling water and let infuse with mint flavour for a minute or two. Then, put peas in and cook for about 5 min. Strain the peas, but save some of the water in which they were boiled. Transfer into a mixing bowl, add butter, sour cream, salt and pepper and mix together with a stick mixer. If you feel the puree is too thick, add a couple of teaspoons of water.
