Recipe by Santi Louzán
Photograph by Bruce Tuck
Fillet of cod with poached egg, smashed potato and chive butter sauce
Ingredients
CHIVE BUTTER SAUCE
- 1 red onion, peeled and diced
- 1 garlic clove, peeled and crushed
- 1 fresh thyme sprig
- 100ml white wine vinegar
- 100ml white wine
- 250g spicy chorizo, diced
- 100ml double cream
- 250g salted butter
- handful fresh chives, chopped
- pinch salt
POTATOES
- 500g Jersey Royal potatoes, washed under cold water
- 50g salted butter
- juice of ½ lemon
- handful fresh chives, chopped
- pinch salt
FISH
- olive oil, to fry
- 4 x 100g fillets of cod, wash, dried and bones removed
- juice of 1 lemon
- pinch salt
- 50g salted butter
TO SERVE
- 4 free-range eggs, poached
- 2 handfuls fresh baby watercress
- 4 handfuls baby spinach
- Fresh dill, to garnish
Instructions
For the chive butter sauce, place the red onion, garlic, thyme, white wine vinegar, white wine and chorizo in a medium saucepan. Bring to a simmer over medium heat. Continue to simmer, uncovered, until the liquid has reduced by half. Add the double cream, then increase the heat and bring to a boil. Once boiling, reduce the heat to medium and add the 250g salted butter, stirring continuously. Add the chives and season to taste with the salt. Remove from heat and strain the mixture through a fine-mesh sieve. Reserve the chorizo left over in the sieve. Keep warm until ready to serve.
For the potatoes, cook the potatoes in a pot of boiling salted water until soft, 7 – 8 minutes. Remove from heat and drain. Return the potatoes to the still-warm pot. Add the 50g salted butter, and juice of ½ lemon. Twirl until the butter has melted and coated all the potatoes. Use a fork to smash the potatoes in the pot. Sprinkle with the chopped chives, season to taste with the salt and keep warm until ready to serve.
For the fish, preheat the oven to 160°C. Heat a drizzle of olive oil a large frying pan over medium heat. Pan-fry the cod fillets, skin-side down, until crispy, about 3 minutes per fillet. Transfer the fillets to a shallow baking tray and bake in the preheated oven until cooked through, about 6 minutes. Remove from oven and drizzle with the lemon juice. Season to taste with the salt, then add the 50g butter, letting it melt over the fish. Set aside.
To serve, wrap each of the poached eggs in a small handful of baby watercress and baby spinach. Top with the smashed potatoes, then place a fillet of cod on top. Garnish with reserved pieces of chorizo and fresh dill.