This pretty simple recipe, which I first came across only three months ago, has quickly become my favorite way to enjoy fresh cod.

Last night Barry’s mother Earline joined us, and the number of my muses immediately doubled.  This cod en persillade was absolutely the very best tasting – and looking – and touching – to date.

• two 8-ounce fillets of fresh cod from American Pride Seafood, brought to room temperature, seasoned with salt on both sides, then only the top side (former skin side) brushed with a little French dijon mustard which had been mixed with a very small amount of water to make it easier to spread, the two pieces dipped into a mixture of homemade breadcrumbs mixed with some finely-chopped parsley from Whole Foods, browned briefly, but only on the side coated with the mustard and breadcrumb mix, in a little olive oil inside a tin-lined copper au gratin pan, transferred to a 325º oven and cooked until the fish began to flake (about 15 minutes this time, because the pieces were thick), sprinkled with scissored slices from half a dozen whole baby chive plants from Rogowski Farm [the recipe is based on Thomas Keller’s ‘Wild Cod en Persillade‘
• late-season small-leaf cavolo nero, or black kale, from Tamarack Hollow Farm, briefly wilted with olive oil and two halved garlic cloves from from Berried Treasures Farm, after the garlic had first been heated in the oil, and finished with a drizzle of olive oil and a squeeze of a sweet Frost Lisbon Lemon, grown locally by Fantastic Gardens of Long Island,
• two baby fennel ‘bulbs’ from Norwich Meadows Farm, and their stems, sliced roughly and slowly braised for a few minutes in olive oil and a large, slightly-squished garlic clove from Berried Treasures, most of a red cayenne pepper from Oak Grove Plantation and 6 halved Backyard Farms Maine ‘cocktail tomatoes’ from While Foods added and cooked until softened, the mix seasoned with salt and pepper and finished with a squeeze of sweet lemon and chopped fennel fronds
• the wine was a Spanish (Galicia) white, Benito Santos Igrexario de Saiar Albariño 2014
• the music was Yle Klassinen, streaming

It worked so well the first time, I thought I’d do it again.

• two thick 8.5-ounce rectangles cut from two cod fillets, from P.E. & D.D. Seafood, brought to room temperature, seasoned with salt on both sides, the top (the former skin side) brushed with a little French dijon mustard which had been mixed with a very small amount of water to make it easier to spread (onto that side alone), the two pieces dipped into a mixture of homemade breadcrumbs mixed with some finely-chopped parsley from Phillips Farm, browned briefly, but only on the side coated with the mustard and breadcrumb mix, in a little olive oil inside a tin-lined copper au gratin pan, transferred to a 325º oven and cooked until the fish began to flake (about 12 minutes this time, because the pieces were thick) [the recipe is based on Thomas Keller’s ‘Wild Cod en Persillade‘]
• six Backyard Farms Maine ‘cocktail tomatoes’ from Whole Foods, halved, combined in a small ceramic baking dish with one sliced fresh green garlic from Lani’s Farm, a little olive oil, half of a teaspoon of chopped thyme from Hawthorne Valley Farm, salt, and freshly-ground black pepper, placed in the oven for about half of an hour (initially at 400º, the temperature reduced to 325º half of the way through, to accommodate the cod), removed, sprinkled with more thyme and some chopped parsley from Phillips Farm
• red kale from Norwich Meadows Farm, wilted with olive oil in which thinly-sliced rocambole garlic from Keith’s Farm had been allowed to heat until pungent, seasoned with salt, pepper, a drizzle of fresh olive oil, and a sprinkling of organic lemon juice
• the wine was a California (Clarksburg) white, Akiyoshi Reserve Chardonnay Clarksburg 2014
• the music was a 1981 performance, in Leipzig, of Beethoven’s ‘Fidelio’, with Kurt Masur, Theo Adam, Siegfried Jerusalem, Carola Nossek, Jeanine Altmeyer, and the Gewandhausorchester

looks a bit like mashed potatoes, but I actually don’t do mashed potatoes

 

..and this was so much better.

The cod was from Captain Phil himself, whom I had manager to catch at his family’s fish stall in the Union Square Greenmarket where I headed minutes after our train arrived at Grand Central from our wonderful, not-so-very-upstate Thanksgiving break.

It was 3:17 when I arrived, pretty late in the day for the market, even for me.  I hadn’t gone out looking for seafood, but in pursuit of a vegetable to accompany a dinner of smoked freshwater trout, already resting in the refrigerator. The plan was to enjoy some good German wine on a Saturday evening. I was only going to I say hello to the Karlins and their fish, but then I saw that they still had some gorgeous specimens remaining, and I also spotted the fisherman himself, on one of his rare appearances in the city.

I love cod.  I bought some cod.

I also like cauliflower very much, agreeing with Pliny the Elder, a naturalist, who (before he had died in the eruption of Vesuvius, had also managed to learn a thing or two about seafood, including cod, with which he may have become acquainted through Romano Britain contacts) wrote, “Ex omnibus brassicae generibus suavissima est cyma“/”The most pleasant tasting of all cabbages is the [young cabbage sprout]”  I don’t know what I was thinking when, also yesterday, I came across two small, perfect green specimens, perfectly, tenderly embraced by their outer leaves, but only took home one of them.

Once I was putting the meal together, I realized that, since our modest table wasn’t inside a fancy boite, even if I included all of the perfectly edible leaves and the upper stem, my little Brassica bud probably wouldn’t be enough vegetable for both of us. Maybe a garnish, but not really a proper ‘side’.

My solution was to dip into the paper bags where the boiling potatoes hid out.  There weren’t enough red ‘new’ potatoes (which I felt I should sacrifice before they grew into ‘old’), so I added to the pot a few yellowish Kartöffelchen I had picked up that day.

• an almost perfect one-pound rectangle cut from a cod fillet, from P.E. & D.D. Seafood, brought to room temperature, divided into two equal pieces and seasoned with salt on both sides, the top (the former skin side) brushed with a little French dijon mustard which had been mixed with a very small amount of water to make it easier to spread (on that side alone), the pieces dipped in a mixture of the very last of my current stash of homemade breadcrumbs mixed with some finely-chopped parsley from Paffenroth Farms, then after a few crumbs were sprinkled on the other, open flesh side mostly for appearances, browned briefly, but only on the mustard and breadcrumb mix side, in a little olive oil inside a tin-lined copper au gratin pan, transferred to a 325º oven and cooked until the fish began to flake (about 8 or 9 minutes) [the recipe is based on Thomas Keller’s ‘Wild Cod en Persillade‘]
• one clove of garlic heated until pungent in a cast iron pan, over medium-low heat, then one rinsed, and filleted salt-packed anchovy stirred in until it ‘melted’, followed by the addition of some crushed dried peperoncino, one small Italian green cauliflower, or broccoflower, from Stokes Farm, separated into florettes, the top, or tender part of the stem sliced thinly, cooked until the vegetable had almost softened, and finally the outer leaves (which had been cut into one or two-inch sections), added, and the mix cooked for another two minutes
• three small oval red (inside and out) potatoes from Lucky Dog Organic Farm, and four small round yellow (inside) German Butterball potatoes from Berried Treasures, boiled in salted water inside one of my old glass pots, drained and dried in the still-warm pot, rolled in a little olive oil, and sprinkled with chopped winter savory from Stokes Farm and chopped parsley from Paffenroth Farms
• the wine was a Spanish (Rueda) white, Naia D.O. Rueda 2014, from Verdejo old vines
• the music was Schubert’s ‘Rosamunde, Fürstin von Cypern, incidental music to Helmina von Chézy’s Play’, D. 797 (Op. 26), performed by the Gewandhausorchester Leipzig, conducted by Kurt Mazur, with Elly Ameling and the Rundfunkchor Leipzig

 

In preparing of each of the elements of this meal I departed a bit from my usual treatment, but not always intentionally.

• I prepared the peppers, small shishito from Lani’s Farm just a little more elaborately than usual, but there’s not a lot to be gained in repeating the same formula over and over again, at least when it comes to cookery; I added thin slices of lemon towards the end of the peppers’ time blistering in the pan, and served them on the table with a choice of three salts (two of them flavored) plain, classic Maldon, smoked alderwood from The Filling Station, and ‘Sel Magique‘ (I had forgotten that I also had my own lemon-caper salt sitting in the cupboard as well)
• the wine was a California white, Hanging Vine Chardonnay Parcel 4 Lodi 2014

 

The main course would already have been a variation on a classic Thomas Keller recipe, but I altered it even further, in this case inadvertently. This is how my own version of the recipe for the cod was supposed to go:

two cod fillets from P.E. & D.D. Seafood, brought to room temperature and seasoned with salt on both sides, the top of each piece brushed with a little real dijon mustard mixed with a very little water, that side then dipped in a mixture of homemade breadcrumbs and finely-chopped parsley from Keith’s Farm, browned briefly, breadcrumb side down, in a heavy enameled cast iron pan with olive oil, transferred to a 325º oven and cooked until the fish begins to flake, near the end of the cooking adding tiny ‘Mexico Midget’ vine tomatoes from Berried Treasures, arranging them on the cod after it was filleted

But, probably because I was tired, and a little distracted, I forgot to bread the two fillets, so, as soon as I had had put them into the pan, I removed them and dipped them in the breadcrumb mixture I had placed in a bowl on the counter, and then, in returning them to the pan, I neglected to return them with the breaded sides down; finally, I almost forgot to toss the tomatoes into the pan before the cod was finished cooking.

I was surprised that everything turned out okay, and in the end the fish didn’t even look messy. More importantly, it was delicious, probably meaning it was a good recipe – and surely a keeper.

• As for the minutina, from Norwich Meadows Farm, this was the first time I had served it totally raw, as a salad, which is the way I think virtually everyone does serve it. I’ve decided it will probably be the last time:  Although it may be tricky to get this delicious green to the perfect wilt, without seeing it virtually disappear in the pan, I think it’s worth the effort, for the contribution it makes both to taming the roughage and improving the flavor
• the wine with the fish was an Italian (Umbria) white, Orvieto
• the music was several of Haydn’s divertimenti

The recipe is basically a (very basic) Thomas Keller formula.  I added some halved cherry tomatoes, both to introduce a bit of color, and to save the fruit from advancing beyond its prime sweetness.

• cod fillets from American Seafood (two, which I cut into two and one half pieces for each portion), brought to room temperature and seasoned with salt, the top of each piece brushed with dijon mustard mixed with a little water, dipped in a mixture of homemade breadcrumbs and finely-chopped parsley from Eataly, browned briefly, crumb side down, in a heavy iron pan with olive oil, then transferred to a 325º oven and cooked until the fish begins to flake; near the end of the cooking time I added halved cherry tomatoes from Shushan Hydro Farm, arranging them on the fish sections after they were plated
• small Brussels sprouts from from John D. Maderna Farms (yes, in January!), tossed with salt, pepper, and some olive oil, roasted in a 400º oven for twenty minutes or so
• the wine was a French white, Vin Passion Château du Champ des Treilles Sainte-Foy Bordeaux 2012