Pan-fried cod with persillade and Le Gruyère AOP pommes aligot

Begin by washing the potatoes and cook them whole and skin-on in a large pan of salted boiling water (20-30 minutes depending on the size of the potatoes)

In the meantime, add a knob of butter into a pan and place over a medium heat. When melted, add in the breadcrumbs and stir around for a couple of minutes until they start to crisp up. Remove from the heat and set aside until ready

Cook the parsley in salted boiling water for 1 minute, then plunge into iced water immediately to preserve the bright green colour. Squeeze out as much water as you can from it and roughly chop then add to a blender

For the persillade, add the butter to a pan and gently melt it over a low heat. Add the crushed garlic, stir and soften for a couple of minutes – don’t let it colour. Then add the contents of the pan to the blender with the parsley and pulse until smooth. Season to taste, transfer to a ramekin or small bowl and keep in the fridge until ready to use

Preheat an oven to 220°C/200°C fan/gas mark 7. If you don’t have a metal handled frying pan, then put an ovenproof dish big enough for the cod fillets in to heat up at this stage too

When the potatoes are soft to the touch of a blade, drain them and peel off their skins (you can use rubber gloves to do this as they will be hot). The best result for pommes aligot is to mash the potatoes (preferably through a ricer) and then sieve them, so as to be completely sure there are no lumps. Add the smooth mash back to the pan

Pat the cod skins dry with kitchen roll and season with salt and pepper. Add a little oil to a frying pan, heat until smoking, put the fish in skin-side down, press down and turn the pan down to a medium heat. Cook for 2 minutes then transfer the cod to the oven (in the pan if ovenproof or into the hot dish) and cook for a further 10 minutes

As the fish cooks, place the mashed potato over a low heat. Stir in the crème fraiche with a splash of milk and the crushed garlic. It needs to be unctuous and smooth – easy to stir with a wooden spoon

Add in the cheese and stir robustly until it’s all melted. It needs to be glossy and not sticking to the pan. If you feel it needs to be runnier, then add a little more milk. Season to taste

When the timer’s up on the fish, take it out of the oven, turn it over (skin-side up now), top with a spoonful of the persillade, a sprinkling of toasted breadcrumbs and put back into the oven for a further minute

Place a fillet of cod onto each plate with a generous spoon of pommes aligot on the side and serve immediately