Poached Cod with Peas and Broccoli
French cooking is known for its rich, heavy dishes, but sometimes you just need something light. Enter poached fish.
Poaching fish delivers big flavor with a relatively easy cooking method that has a lot of options to add flourishes. In this recipe I use cod, frozen peas and frozen broccoli, since that’s what was on hand at the time, but you could easily substitute other types of fish–haddock or pollock if you want to stick with a white fish; salmon works, too. You can also substitute the frozen vegetables for fresh ones, adjusting the cooking time a little; leafy greens like spinach or chard would also work well here.
The key is developing a flavorful poaching liquid. I like to use dry white wine, shallots, garlic, and ginger, but here again you can experiment with other aromatics.
As always, let me know if you try this. Eat up!
- 1 lb cod (or similar fish)
- 1 1/2 cup dry white wine
- 3 garlic cloves, minced
- 1 medium or large shallot, minced
- 1 1″ knob ginger, peeled and minced
- 1 tbsp butter
- 1/2 cup frozen green peas
- 1/2 cup frozen broccoli
- 1 tsp dry thyme
- Heat approximately 1 tablespoon of olive oil in deep frying pan on medium heat.
- Saute shallots until translucent.
- Add garlic and ginger. Saute until transparent.
- Add white wine and bring to a simmer.
- Add fish. Poach for approximately 4 minutes on each side.
- Remove fish and set aside. Turn heat up to medium-high. Add thyme, and salt and pepper to taste.
- Simmer until poaching liquid is reduced by half.
- Add peas and broccoli. Return to simmer, stirring occasionally.
- Once vegetables are cooked, spoon over fish and serve.
1 10″ deep frying pan