Poached cod with an Asian broth

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This poached cod recipe from Andy McLeish has an intoxicating array of Asian flavours and makes a triumphant dish that will impress friends and family. Making a consommé takes a fair amount of effort and patience, but the clarity of flavour in the finished dish makes it worthwhile.

First published in 2015

Ingredients

Metric

Imperial

Poached cod and vegetables

Mushroom consommé

Equipment

  • Sous vide equipment

Method

1
Place a heavy-based pan over a medium-high heat and add oil. Once the oil is hot, add the sugar and onions, leave to caramelise - approximately 20/25 minutes - and then deglaze with white wine
  • vegetable oil
  • 2 onions, finely sliced
  • 200g of muscovado sugar
  • 375ml of white wine
2
In a separate pan, fry the sliced button mushrooms in a little vegetable oil until slightly coloured then drain off the excess liquid
3
Return the mushrooms to the pan along with the onions, then add the chicken stock and simmer for 2 hours. Strain off and cool in a fridge overnight
  • 3.4l chicken stock
4
To make the raft and finish the broth, blend the lemon grass, coriander, mushrooms and ginger in a blender then add the egg white
5
Remove the mushroom stock from the fridge and skim off any fat that has set on top. Pour the stock into a pan and whisk the raft mixture into the stock
6
On a gentle heat, bring the stock and raft up to a gentle simmer and cook very slowly for 1 hour. Remove from the heat and strain the clear stock - pushing it through muslin cloth with a ladle. Season with a little soy sauce and fish sauce to taste
7
Place each piece of cod into a vacuum bag, add a drop of olive oil and seal. Cook in a water bath at 56°C for 15 minutes
8
For the tomato concasse, blanch, peel and remove the seeds of the tomatoes. Dice the flesh into 1cm squares and set aside
9
Place a pan over a medium heat and add butter. Once the butter is foaming, sauté the blanched spinach and samphire and season
10
Bring the Asian broth to the boil and add the shiitake mushrooms, shimeji mushrooms and tomato concasse
11
Arrange the spinach and samphire onto plates with the mushrooms. Pour over some broth, leaving half for the next step. Remove the cod from the bags
12
Peel off the skin and season with sea salt. Use a microplane to grate the zest of the kaffir lime over the top of the fish. Serve the cod on top of the spinach and pour over the remaining broth. Garnish with some coriander cress and serve immediately

Andy McLeish takes the field to fork ethos seriously, hunting and butchering his own game to ensure his menus at Chapter One offer the finest of local ingredients treated with respect.

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