It was our wedding anniversary last week and we went to a new and excellent fish restaurant in town. Weston-super-Mare is a seaside town, but I don’t think much fish is actually caught of our coast these days. We all had beautiful dishes, and enjoyed the evening very much. I really love fish, and thought I knew quite a lot about it – my dad having been a great angler as well as a great eater of fish. However glancing through the index of my Constance Spry cookery book, I saw a couple of recipes for cabillaud, well, I hadn’t a clue and on turning to page 455 I discovered it is cod. She describes it as ‘one of the duller fish, and… on the whole cod from a fishmonger needs a little help.’ I think that’s unjustified, cod is a fine fish in my opinion! She thinks it so dull she suggests this recipe for it:
Cabillaud au four Flamande
- 4 slices of cod not too thickly cut
- 2 large onions, cut in thin rounds, blanched and drained
- 1 large lemon, zested, pith ad pips removed and cut into quarters
- 2 or 3 sprays of parsley, stems removed
- ½ oz butter
- salt and pepper
- 1/3 vinegar and 2/3 cider to cover
- browned crumbs
- a good nut of butter
- place onion, lemon zest, lemon quarters, parsley, salt and pepper in a bowl and mix
- thickly butter a fireproof dish and add half of onion and lemon mixture
- place cod on onions and lemons, season, scatter remaining onion/lemon on top
- add cider and vinegar si the liquid is just level with the fish
- dust with brown crumbs and dot with butter
- cook slowly in the oven for about 40 mins or until the liquid has reduced by 2/3
- this is also good served cold, but reduce liquid and omit crumbs
I think 40 minutes for fish sounds a very long time, the poor thing would taste of little except onions and vinegar! I think I would omit the onions and vinegar, and cook gently in a pan until it’s cooked but not turned to either rubber or pap!
Lois Elsden 