A dish that combines fish and seafood flavours with a fresh, green salsa that heralds spring. Yes, frying is involved, so maybe not the healthiest, even if the tastiest. A combination of European and Japanese influences.
This isn't one of my father's recipes. Rather, it's a nod to him—some of the Japanese dishes he loved to cook and the Italian cuisine that was at the core of what he taught me as a kid. Here, I've created a fusion dish based on the things learned for him. In this case, it's a substantial first course, but you can easily scale it up for a pescatarian main course.
This recipe serves 2 diners in the portions below. Scale up as needed. You can obviously simply increase portions of cod, asparagus and squid to make it a great main course.
The main problem with precision here is about the frying: the "production line" all depends on the size of your preparation dishes. I advise smaller containers that are about 5cm deep and 10cm x 20cm. But, you can work with whatever you have. The biggest challenge is to ensure that the whisked egg is deep enough to coat what you fry. In a worst case scenario, use 2 eggs.
Shopping list
1 small boneless fillet of sustainable cod per diner
3 or 4 larger green asparagus (aka sprue) sprigs per diner
1 egg, whisked
Approx. 1 cup of panko breadcrumbs
Approx. ⅓ cup golden breadcrumbs)
Enough sunflower oil to fill your frying pan 2 to 3cm deep
juice of ½ a fresh lemon
salt and pepper to taste
for the salsa verde
A large clutch of flat-leaf parsley, roughly chopped
4 or 5 spring onions, very finely chopped
2 cloves of smoked garlic, very finely chopped
1 large stem of celery, very finely sliced
1 small green bell pepper, finely cubed
3 or 4 large radishes, finely cubed
¼ cucumber, finely cubed or "zested"
1 ripe avocado, cut into small cubes
3 tspns of blackened sesame seeds
A liberal dousing of extra virgin olive oil
Approx. 4 tbspns of red wine vinegar
Juice of 1 small lemon
Cooking Method
the salsa verde
You can start this up to 48 hours before serving. Add the spring onions, garlic, flat-leaf, celery, parsley, and green bell pepper to a container with a lid. Mix in half the extra virgin olive oil, vinegar and lemon juice. Cover and store in the fridge
About an hour before plating, add the cucumber, radishes, avocado, blackened sesame seeds and gently stir in. Add the remainder of the vinegar, oil and lemon juice and stir in
Plate alongside the other elements of the dish
The dish
Set up your "frying station". In four different, shallow containers: a) cornflour sprinkled evenly into one; b) a whisked raw egg in another; c) panko "breadcrumbs; d) golden breadcrumbs mixed with a little freshly milled black pepper in the fourth...
In a reasonably deep pan, pour sunflower oil until 2 to 3cm deep; heat on a high heat
While the oil is heating, wash the asparagus; slice the raw squid vertically into "chips"
In a fluid sequence, starting with the asparagus, first roll it in the cornflour, dip it into the whisked egg bath, then roll in the panko. Fry until the crumbs turn golden.
Using the same hot oil, repeat this process with the cod fillets, placing onto a plate with paper kitchen towel to drain off the oil once cooked
RTepeat the same process with the squid "chips", except, roll them in the golden breadcrumbs before frying rather than panko
Unless you've timed it to coincide with serving, once these have rested on the kitchen towel, you can store them, covered, in the fridge up to 48 hours before. Place on a non-stick baking tray for reheating before serving. Heat in a medium hot oven. TIP: place a little oven-proof dish with about 1cm of water on a shelf below where the cooked fish and asparagus are reheating to prevent it from drying out
Plate the fish, squid and asparagus and serve with the salsa. A little was ciabatta with olive oil and balsamic vinegar, served in the Italian manner, complete this dish
Alternatives
Vegetarians and vegans
This is by default pescatarian. You can transform it into a veggie dish simply by swapping out the "fishy" bits for veggies that work in lieu of the cod and squid. Personal recommendations are baby corn, large mushrooms, courgettes and/or (pre-boiled) sweet potatoes. If vegan, leaving out the egg presents some challenges because panko and breadcrumbs are not easy to get to stick. My best outcome to date has been with a little coconut milk.
Carnivores
Piss off! You get enough red meat options on this blog. Change it up for once.
Pairings
I love this dish simply with sparkling water and a slice of lemon. That said, it's also great with perky white such as a good South African Chenin Blanc, with those lovely undertones of black pepper or even a gritty Chardonnay.
Yes, of course there are great whites out there that can sing with this dish. But, given its humble paesan DNA, these days I'm much more into committing to wines that come from a verified ethical producer.
Last night when we ate it, Chrys' choice of a "young" Sicilian vermentino was utterly on the money.
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