Day 63: Cod, Chorizo & Olive Oil Mash
inspired by 10 Greek Street
After spending yesterday discovering how little of my “to do in lockdown” list I had actually achieved I suddenly had a thought.
Didn’t I once write a list on my phone of restaurants I wanted to visit?
Looking back through my notes and, yes, there it is. I’ve not added to it since July 2019, so had forgotten all about it when I started this blog. Which is basically just me writing a very long list of restaurants with some cooking thrown in for good measure.
So let’s see how many of these restaurants I’ve written about…
Rambla – Not a good start. I have no idea what restaurant this is. I google it. It’s a Catalan inspired restaurant in Soho. Sounds great. It also closed in October last year. Oh dear. Not a good start at all.
Casse Croûte – yes! The French bistro on Bermondsey Street! I made a Tart au Citron inspired by them. It wasn’t my most successful dish but at least that’s one ticked off the list
40 Maltby Street – another Bermondsey establishment, this time a wine bar that serves small seasonal plates. I’ve always wanted to go here but never done it. OK, so that’s one to still be inspired by.
Padella – tick! This Italian pasta bar inspired one of my favourite lockdown dishes so far. Fettucine with Nduja, Mascarpone & Lemon. Yum!
Coach – my old local student pub transformed into a French restaurant. Tick! This was why I made Wild Garlic Soup. That actually wasn’t made out of wild garlic, but never mind the details.
Terry’s Cafe – not again. I have no idea what this restaurant is either. Who is Terry I wonder? Thankfully Terry, whoever he is, is still in business and it looks like does a mean Full English. Quite why this made my list of restaurants to visit last summer I just don’t know. Maybe I was hungover when I wrote it…
Artusi – a Peckham Italian restaurant. Another tick! This restaurant is the reason I have large quantities of gurnard still in my freezer. Nothing to do with me accidentally ordering too much (turns out gurnards are quite large). Thankfully they are also delicious as I discovered when we cooked Gurnard, Samphire, Potato, Tomato & Wild Garlic. Yes, actually with wild garlic this time!
Hakkasan – ah, no, I’ve not been brave enough to blog about this yet. This is a Michelin starred Chinese restaurant. It really annoys me that Aidan has been here and I haven’t. Another reason to put it off. I don’t want to attempt a dish only to be told over dinner that it’s not as good as the original. And lets face it, it probably won’t be.
The Eagle – yes! I can cross this off the list too. My Mackerel with Spinach and Tomato & Chilli Jam was inspired by them. Known for being the first gastropub, I’m glad I can say I’ve done this one.
And finally on the list is 10 Greek Street. Which I still haven’t been to. And I haven’t blogged about. Yet.
But if I write about it today that gets me a decent score of 6/10 on my list. More than 50%. I’ll take that as a success.
10 Greek Street is another Soho institution that I always mean to go to, but I always put it off for another time. If the last couple of months has taught us one thing it’s not to take anything for granted any more. So I will be heading down to Greek Street as soon as I can.
They have a daily changing menu, so I’m back on Instagram to see what they have been cooking.
Halibut, Olive Oil Mash, Chorizo & Kale”
Now I don’t have any halibut. But I have got some cod. Which I see they also have served in a similar way with chorizo and olive oil mash. So there’s our dinner sorted. I don’t have kale or spinach, but I have got some spring greens that need eating, so I will cook them instead.
I have to admit this doesn’t turn out to be the most restaurant looking dish I’ve attempted. Which is a polite way of saying it was a bit of a mess.
I couldn’t get the cod to stay together. Or get the skin to go crispy. Maybe it was because it was quite a chunky fillet so I had to put the lid on my pan to get it to cook through (causing it to steam rather than fry at the end).
Or perhaps it’s because I forgot to get the fish out of the freezer early enough. The fillets had to have a little swim in some warm water to thaw them out, which probably meant there was too much moisture in the fish when I tried to fry it.
As you can see with my lists, I’m much better at organisation in theory, rather than in practice.
It was still a tasty dinner though. I nice change to make mash with olive oil (usually I’m all about the butter) and the chorizo fried with the cod gave it a lovely flavour.
One I will cook again. But I just to be better prepared next time.
Maybe a list would help?
Cod, Chorizo & Olive Oil Mash
Ingredients
- 2 cod fillets
- 2 small cooking chorizo sausages
- 4 medium potatoes
- 3 tbsp olive oil, plus extra for frying
- 2 garlic cloves
Instructions
- Peel the potatoes and cut into chunks. Peel two garlic cloves and add them to a saucepan with the potatoes. Cover with cold water. Add salt and bring to the boil then turn down to a simmer until the potatoes are soft. Drain and mash the potatoes and garlic with the olive oil. Season and keep warm until serving.
- Place a large non-stick frying pan on a medium high heat and add a small drizzle of olive oil. Cut each small chorizo in half and place cut side down in the pan.
- Make sure the cod is dry by patting it on kitchen paper. Season the skin with salt and pepper. When the fat has start to run from the chorizo add the cod to the pan skin side down. Turn the chorizo.
- Cook the cod until almost done on the skin side (you should see the edges of the fish start to go opaque) and then turn the heat off and flip the fish fillets over to finish cooking in the residual heat of the pan.
- Plate up the mash and top with the fish fillets and chorizo.
- Quickly add a splash of wine and a squeeze of lemon juice to the chorzio oil left in the pan and put back on the heat to bubble for a minute. Pour over the fish serve. Great with some steamed greens.