Fresh Cod with Tomato Sauce and Garbanzos

I’m declaring this cod dish a perfect recipe for January. It’s lean and not too indulgent, but the smoky pimenton will help warm you up if your weather is a bit chilly as it is here. Just smelling the lovely pimenton in the simmering sauce makes the house seem warmer. And, this is a pretty quick dish to prepare if you’re looking for simpler meals after lots of holiday cooking. It’s from Cúrate: Authentic Spanish Food from an American Kitchen by Katie Button, and I received a review copy. Katie Button’s career in cooking began after she first studied biomolecular engineering. Rather than completing her PhD program, she opted to go to work for Jose Andres in Washington D.C. That position led to a stage in elBulli’s pastry kitchen which was followed by opening a Spanish restaurant with her husband in North Carolina. The book is named after the restaurant, and both offer home-cooking from all the regions of Spain with some interpretations for what’s available here in the US. There are classic dishes like Gazpacho, Tortilla Espanola, and Sauteed Shrimp with Garlic as well as fresh ideas like Roasted Beet Salad with Candied Orange, Manchego, and Marcona Almonds. One section that really got my attention was Sandwiches. The wonderful preserved products from Spain are mentioned in a few places in the book, and they come into play with some of the sandwiches. For instance, the Tuna Sandwich is made with homemade Arbequina Olive Oil Mayonnaise, canned Navarra white asparagus, roasted piquillo peppers, tuna jarred in olive oil, and sliced hard-boiled egg on split baguette, and it looks delicious. The very next chapter is Desserts, and I’d love to try them all. The White Chocolate Saffron Roulade may become my birthday cake this year. And, the Frozen Meringue with Candied Marcona Almonds and Grand Marnier sounds delightful. First, I tried the flaky cod with the hearty, chunky sauce with garbanzos. 

Seafood stock is called for in the recipe for the sauce. I usually have some shrimp shells in the freezer and whip up some seafood stock fairly quickly. However, there is a lot of great flavor in the other ingredients, and water would work instead of stock. To begin, garlic and onion were sauteed in olive oil until golden, and canned crushed tomatoes, a bay leaf, and a sprig of rosemary were added and left to simmer for a few minutes. Next, the stock or water and rinsed and drained canned garbanzo beans were added with smoked pimenton. The mixture was brought to a boil and then reduced to a simmer for another few minutes. Last, chopped parsley was added. The cod was simply seared in a skillet until just cooked through. The fish was served with the sauce spooned over and around each piece.

Sauteeing onion and garlic makes the kitchen smell amazing, but adding the smoked pimenton took it to another level. With the garbanzos in the sauce, this was a hearty but not too filling dish all at once. Like the other recipes in this book, this was straightforward to prepare with some smart touches to bring about great flavor. It’s a nice guide for bringing Spanish dishes to your table. 

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Acqua Pazza

There’s something about the style of cooking from the ladies of Canal House that’s so inviting. There’s always a sense of simplicity about the dishes, and that seems to allow you to slow down a bit, enjoy the cooking process, and savor the meal even more. I sat and read a review copy I received of their latest, Canal House Cooking Volume No. 8: Pronto, in one afternoon. It’s full of Italian recipes that are as easy to pull together as they are to share along with some wine. The casual but delicious look of the Poached Vegetables with Savory Zabaione has me thinking it would be a great way to start a meal with friends. And, the pasta dishes like Mezzi Rigatoni with Tomatoes, Lots of Herbs, Hot Oil, and Mozzarella make the most of a few ingredients with big flavors. I’d be happy with an entire meal of some of the vegetable dishes like Peppers Roasted with Anchovies and Butter, Eggplant with Smoky Tomato and Harissa Sauce, and White Beans with Spicy Black Olive Vinaigrette. There are also pizzas for the grill or the oven and desserts that I keep flipping back to including Fig Gelato, Almond Cookies, and Zaletti which are made with currants, rum, and cornmeal. There are chicken and meat dishes as well, but I made a stop in the Pesci chapter first. Acqua Pazza has always sounded like a fun dish to make, it’s fun to say too, but I’d never tried it. The name refers to the “crazy water” broth in which fish is poached. There are fresh, plum tomatoes in the broth, and I found some cute, locally-grown ones at the farmers’ market last weekend. 

Those plum tomatoes were quartered lengthwise and seeded. The seeds were placed in a sieve set over a bowl, and the juice that strained from them was added to the tomato segments. The other components that make the water so crazy are sliced garlic, red pepper flakes, wine, fresh oregano, and fresh parsley. Water is also added to the broth before being left to simmer and reduce for a bit. I chose some thick cod fillets, but any firm, white-fleshed fish would work here. I cut the fish into portions and seasoned each before placing the pieces in the broth. The fish cooks quickly, and I spooned some broth over the fillets to help cook the tops which weren’t submerged. When opaque, the fish was removed to a platter, the broth was spooned over top, olive oil was drizzled on the fish, and chopped parsley was added for garnish. 

With wine, garlic, and red pepper flakes, of course this is going to be good. The simple broth takes on a lot of flavor in a short amount of time, and it’s perfect for subtle white fish. Have some crusty bread on hand to swipe through the broth as well. Whether you’re entertaining or just planning weekday meals, you can’t go wrong with recipes from Canal House. 

Acqua Pazza 
Recipe reprinted with permission from Canal House Cooking Volume No. 8: Pronto by Christopher Hirsheimer and Melissa Hamilton/Andrews McMeel Publishing, LLC. 

Serves 4 

This classic Neapolitan fish preparation is both delicate and full of flavor. The term acqua pazza (“crazy water” in Italian) refers to both the dish and the poaching broth, which is stained red from tomatoes and aromatic with garlic and herbs. It’s one of those satisfying dishes, like San Francisco’s cioppino, created by fishermen who would make it on board with their catch of the day and a few other simple ingredients. We like to use black sea bass or red snapper, but any non-oily white fish will do nicely. 

1 pound ripe plum tomatoes 
1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil, plus more for drizzling 
4 cloves garlic, thinly sliced 
1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes 
1/2 cup dry white wine 
3 sprigs fresh oregano 
1 bunch fresh parsley 
Salt and pepper 
4 black sea bass or red snapper filets (about 4 ounces each) 

Quarter the tomatoes lengthwise. Working over a sieve set over a bowl, scoop out the tomato seeds with your fingers. Put the tomatoes in the bowl with any of the strained juice and discard the seeds in the sieve. 

Heat the olive oil in a large sauté pan over medium-low heat. Add the sliced garlic and red pepper flakes, and cook until the oil is fragrant and well-flavored yet the garlic remains pale blonde, 3–4 minutes. Add the tomatoes and their juice, the wine, oregano, half of the parsley, and 4 cups cool water. Increase the heat to high and bring to a boil. Lower the heat to medium and simmer the broth until it is slightly reduced, 15–20 minutes. 

Chop the remaining parsley leaves (discarding the stems). Add the parsley, a generous pinch of salt, and some pepper to the broth. Season the fish filets with salt, then place them skin side up in the simmering broth (the fish will not be submerged). Cook until the fish is opaque, about 3 minutes. Remove the pan from the heat. Remove and discard the sprigs of oregano and parsley. 

Use a fish spatula to arrange the fish flesh side up on a deep serving platter or on 4 deep plates. Taste the broth and adjust the seasonings. Spoon the tomatoes and broth over the fish and drizzle with some olive oil. 

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Chiringuito Seafood Paella with Saffron Allioli

I started the story of a dinner party the other day, and here it continues with two more parts of the meal including an asparagus salad and seafood paella. I thought I knew paella, but I learned so much more from The New Spanish Table. For authentic Paella Valenciana, you must use the proper rice and cook it in a wide, flat paella pan outdoors over a fire of burning vine branches or orange tree shoots. It contains chicken, rabbit, possibly duck, and occasionally vaquetes, which are land snails, but never seafood or chorizo. Traditionally, the only allowable additional garnishes were flat green beans, artichokes, and butter beans. The focus of the dish is always the rice. There’s also a suggestion that paella is only for lunch and never for dinner, and any dish that includes those other ingredients like seafood should be called something other than paella. To be named Valenciana, it has to be exactly right. Clearly, I didn’t really know paella at all. The good news is that there are also recipes in the book for ‘paellas’ which make no attempt at being by-the-book, traditional Paella Valenciana. I decided to make one of those, chiringuito seafood paella, which Von Bremzen describes as ‘a minimalist affair, with few other ingredients besides seafood and rice.’ The one important garnish, which I almost completely forgot to serve, was the saffron allioli.

Before I get into the specifics of making the paella, I also wanted to show a simple asparagus salad I served while the rice simmered. This is called asparagus on asparagus, and it’s another playful and easy dish from Happy in the Kitchen. You start with a bunch of peeled asparagus and set four spears aside and then cook the rest until tender. Those were left whole and chilled. The four reserved spears were chopped and added to a saucepan with a little water and olive oil. They were simmered until very tender and then pureed with dijon mustard, lemon juice, and salt. What results is a thick asparagus sauce which was served in cups for dunking the whole, chilled spears.

So, back to the seafood paella. I prepared a shrimp stock and cleaned and cut the seafood in advance. The stock was warmed with some saffron while the paella prep began. Olive oil was heated in a large saute pan because I don’t yet own a proper paella pan, but now I really want one. The recipe suggested using monkfish, but that’s not a sustainable choice and is on the avoid list right now. I used true cod instead. Cod, cut into one-inch pieces, was added to the olive oil and seared for about a minute. It was removed from the pan, and squid tubes cut into rings were added. The squid was seared and then pushed to the outside of the pan. More olive oil was added to the pan, and minced garlic was cooked until fragrant. Tomatoes that had been grated on a box grater were added followed by some paprika. Then, the rice was added. In the book, there’s a thorough explanation of types of rices to consider for paella. The most reliable and easiest to locate is Italian Arborio rice, and that’s what I used. The rice was stirred in the pan until well coated, and then the warmed shrimp and saffron stock was added. From that point on, the rice was no longer stirred. The pan was shaken to distribute the stock throughout the rice, but otherwise, the rice was left to cook undisturbed. Chopped parsley was added, and after about five minutes, the cod was returned to the pan along with some littleneck clams. Once the stock had absorbed down almost to the surface of the rice, the pan went into a 425 degree F oven for 15 minutes. The pan was then removed from the oven, covered, and left to sit for five minutes. The lid was removed, and it was left to sit for another five minutes. The sitting improves the rice. While it sat, shrimp were sauteed in a separate pan with some minced garlic.

The paella was served in the pan with the sauteed shrimp on top with no garnishes other than some lemon wedges. I wasn’t sure I had seasoned the rice carefully enough during the cooking time, but the seafood, and particularly the clams, added such a nice taste of the sea that it worked out fine. Just as everyone was taking their last bites, I realized I had completely forgotten the saffron allioli which was to have been served with the paella. Our guests, and this is truly a sign of the best kind of dinner guests, said ‘go get it, let’s have a taste!’ So we all piled one more scoop of paella onto our plates and topped it with the allioli. The garlicky, saffron-scented, thick sauce added a lovely something extra, but the plain paella wasn’t bad at all on its own. Up next, I’ll show dessert.

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