Ottolenghi’s Coriander-Crusted Cod with Winter Couscous
Breaking out the Ottolenghi is serious business, especially on a Tuesday night. But our old friends and new neighbors Rob, Kath, Andrew, and Cara were coming to dinner and even though my original plan was “protein plus vegetable plus dessert,” I couldn’t help myself. I wanted to dazzle with preserved lemons and unidentifiable spices. I wanted to use that rose harissa that I bought a year ago and brought all the way to Brooklyn from L.A. I wanted my fingers to be tinted yellow with Turmeric.
This is how I landed on Tuesday night’s menu: Coriander-Crusted Fish with Winter Couscous. I started the couscous in the afternoon. The first step is what you see in the image above: you pop some carrot and parsnip chunks with whole shallots into an oven with olive oil, cinnamon sticks, star anise, and bay leaves. Also Turmeric, ground ginger, chili flakes, and hot paprika.Ten minutes later, you add squash. Are you getting all this?
You’ll break out your spices again while the veg are in the oven to make your spice mix for the fish, a mix featuring cardamom, cumin, paprika, and more Turmeric. (Careful observers will note that my cumin is mixed with coriander, but at this point, who’s really counting?) You add that spice mix to warm olive oil along with chopped cilantro (the coriander of the title), garlic, and chili flakes.
You set that aside while finishing up the vegetables. When the squash has cooked for 35 minutes, you add chickpeas and dried apricots to the vegetable mix. You also add chickpea cooking liquid and/or water. That goes back into the oven for ten minutes and you finish that up with harissa and preserved lemon. (Or, in my case, rose harissa… because I had to use it sooner or later!)
Just when you think you’ve used every ingredient in the known universe, it’s time to break out the saffron. You sprinkle it over your couscous before adding vegetable stock and, eventually, butter.
To bring this all together, you slather the fish with the coriander mixture (I used cod) and bake it in a 450 oven for 8 minutes, just until the fish is cooked through (I used a thermometer to make sure it was over 145).
To assemble, spoon some couscous, some winter veg, and then the fish on to the plate. It’s such a striking combination, here’s its glamour shot.
The big question everyone asked on Instagram: “Was it worth it?” And I can answer, confidently: “Yes!” It’s a bright, unexpected combination of flavors, perfect for a chilly Tuesday night in Brooklyn in February. And your spice dealer will thank you: you just put their kids through college.
Ottolenghi’s Coriander-Crusted Cod with Winter Couscous
My take on two fairly complex Ottolenghi recipes.
For the Winter Couscous:
3 carrots cut into 1-inch chunks
3 parsnips cut into 1-inch chunks
8 shallots, peeled
2 cinnamon sticks
4 star anise
3 bay leaves
5 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
1/4 teaspoon ground Turmeric
1/4 teaspoon hot paprika
1/4 teaspoon chili flakes
Kosher salt
1/2 pound of butternut squash (peeled) or acorn squash (don’t need to peel), cut into 1-inch chunks
1/3 cup dried apricots, roughly chopped
1 15-ounce can chickpeas, plus liquid
1 1/2 cups water (minus whatever chickpea liquid you add… doesn’t need to be exact)
1 1/2 cups couscous (I doubled the amount in the original recipe to feed 6 people)
Large pinch of saffron
2 1/2 cups boiling vegetable stock
2 tablespoons butter, cut into pieces
2 tablespoons harissa paste
2 tablespoons preserved lemon skins, chopped
Preheat the oven to 375. Start by mixing together the carrots, parsnips, shallots, olive oil and spices with a big pinch of salt in a 9 X 13 baking dish. Make sure everything is evenly coated and pop into the oven for 15 minutes.
Now add the squash, toss all around again, and bake for 35 minutes until everything is easily pierced with a knife. Then add the apricots and chickpeas with their liquid, plus the water. (Also some more salt.) Stir all around and pop back into the oven for another ten minutes (I let it go a little longer to let the liquid reduce a little). Stir the harissa and preserved lemon peel in once it’s out of the oven and taste for salt.
Sprinkle the saffron over the couscous with a nice pinch of salt in a large bowl, add the boiling vegetable stock, and cover with cling wrap for ten minutes. Then add the butter and fluff with a fork until the butter is thoroughly worked in. Set all this aside while you cook the fish.
For the coriander crusted fish:
2 teaspoons ground cardamom
2 teaspoons ground cumin
1 teaspoon paprika
2 teaspoons turmeric
1/4 cup olive oil
4 garlic cloves, smashed
1 bunch of cilantro, finely chopped (I used the stems and leaves)
1/2 teaspoon chili flakes
Kosher salt
4 large cod filets (I bought 6 filets and slightly increased the amounts of everything above, except for the spices)
Tahini sauce (click the link for Ottolenghi’s recipe)
Preheat oven to 450 degrees.
Stir together the spices and set aside. This is your “fish spice mix” and you won’t use all of it… save it for the next time you make fish.
In a small saucepan or skillet, heat 2 tablespoons of olive oil on medium-low heat. Add the garlic, cook for a few seconds, then add the cilantro, 2 1/2 teaspoons of the fish spice mix, and the chili flakes. Cook 4 - 5 minutes until the garlic really softens. Set aside.
Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper. Pat the cod filets dry and place them skin-side down on the parchment. Rub each piece with the remaining olive oil, season with salt and some more fish spice mix, then spoon an equal amount of the cilantro topping on to each filet.
Roast in the oven for 8 minutes or until a thermometer reads 145.
To serve, spoon some couscous on to plates, place some winter veg next to it, and finish with the cod filet. Drizzle tahini sauce over everything and garnish with more cilantro. Voila! Wasn’t that easy?
