Fish Friday

Catch of the Day - Cod

Haddock, coley, pollock, whiting, ling and hake are all members of the cod family.

This low fat beautifully white fleshed fish is said to be at its best in the spawning season - which is NOW and runs to the end of April.

Fish & Chip shops still have their longest queues on a Friday evening, though since 1980 folk have not been able to buy them wrapped in newspapers.

Winston Churchill called them 'the good companions'. To each other, yes, but also to the British public, as they helped sustain morale through two dreadful world wars.

The best fish & chips haven't been wrapped at all, but are served fresh from fryer to table and served alongside Sauces from Stokes.

Fish, Chips & Stokes

Cod with Chilli Tomato

This is a succulent piece of cod, grilled and served on a powerful Chinese-style chilli broth.

For the broth, roast, peel and dice a red pepper then simmer it in beef stock, tomato juice, soy sauce and a little soft brown sugar. Now blitz to a 'soup' with a hand blender. 

Add Stokes Chilli Ketchup and a dollop of our Brown Sauce until it delivers the heat and flavours you want. Cook red pepper slices and courgette until tender and serve them in the broth with the cod on top and a dollop or two of sour cream or crème fraîche.

Cod Pie

Pre-heat the oven to 200°C/gas mark 6. Make a lovely buttery mashed potato, stirring 1 tbsp of Stokes Creamed Horseradish Sauce into it for wonderful additional flavour.

Put 500g of cod in an ovenproof dish, cover it with 600ml of milk, season well and bake it in the oven for 35 minutes until the fish starts to flake. Drain off and retain the milk, leaving the fish in the dish.

Now make a roux with equal amounts of butter and flour. Stir in 3 tsp of Stokes Cider & Horseradish Mustard (more if you wish - we do) and add the reserved milk, that the fish has poached in, until it thickens to a sauce.

Break the fish up with a fork, sprinkle with a handful of chopped parsley and add the white sauce, then spoon the mashed potatoes on top. Grate a good layer of Cheddar cheese on the potato and pop the dish into the oven for 35 minutes until the cheese browns and bubbles deliciously.

Pil Pil Cod

This is a Spanish dish normally made with salt cod, but we will be using cod steaks with the skin on, one each of about 200g.

Finely slice 5 cloves of garlic and fry them in 300ml of olive oil (it's a lot, yes) with 1 tsp of chilli flakes, until the garlic colours. We are looking to infuse the oil. Remove and reserve the garlic and chilli. Put the cod steaks in the pan, skin up, in the garlic infused oil and cook them for 3 minutes before turning them over for another 3 minutes (the timing will vary by the thickness of the fish).

Lift the cod out onto a plate where it will gradually release its juices. Drain this and the infused cooking oil into a bowl to cool.

Heat a little fresh oil in the same cooking pan with 1 or 2 tbsp of flour and 2 tsp (or more to taste) of Stokes Classic English or Dijon Mustard. Add the infused oil and fish juices to the pan to form a sauce which you can further thicken by adding a knob or two of butter.

I actually like to add a little cream or Philly-style creamed cheese at this stage before putting the fish back in the sauce to warm. Serve with yummy spoonfuls of the sauce and garnish with the fried garlic slices.

Catch of the Day - Tastes of the Week

More foodie thoughts for the week:

 


Flavours of the Orient - 
Celebrating the Chinese New Year with a collection of simple Chinese-style recipes - here.







Year of the Rat - 
Enter our Foodie Competition as part of our Chinese New Year celebrations - here.

 





The Simple Things - 
Sometimes, it's the simple things in life that create the biggest sparkle and sharing them the broadest smiles - here.

If we couldn't make it AMAZING...
we wouldn't make it at all.

FOOD MADE BETTER 
www.stokessauces.co.uk

01394 462150