The Cooking Ninja
A blade shines in the darkest of the nights
Cod with creamy mint sauce
I have been wanting to try out some fish dishes for ages ... you see, I have never cooked any other fish in my life besides salmon - it's hard to go wrong cooking this fish. Pierre isn't willing to be the sacrificed guinea pig for my fish adventure ... he isn't, shall we say, a fish person. So when he finally agreed to it, I went out and got everything before he changed his mind. This is what we had for dinner last night:
Cabillaud à la menthe et crème fraîche
(taken from Papillotes - Sandra Mahut)
Preparation : 15 minutes
Cooking : 15 minutes
Makes : 4
Ingredients
- 4 filet Cod-fish - 150 to 200 g
- 8 stalks Fresh mint leaves - chopped
- 30 cl crème épaisse
- 1 Lime - grated (citron vert)
- A pinch Mild chili (Piment doux)
- 4 tbsp Olive oil
- Salt & Pepper
- 4 rectangular greased paper envelopes (papier sulfurisé) - 20x30 cm
Directions
- Preheat oven at 210°C (410°F)
- Coat each greased paper envelopes with olive oil.
- Mix chopped mint leaves, lime zests and crème épaisse together. Season with salt and pepper to your taste and add a pinch of mild chilli.
- Place the filet in the envelope, spread some creamy mint sauce on it and lightly sprinkle it with olive oil, some lime zests and chopped mint. Season with salt and pepper.
- Carefully close the envelope and bake it for about 15 minutes.
- Serve with some small potatoes and a slice of lime. (I serve it with rice instead.)
The Verdict
I didn't find this dish extraordinary. It was OK to my taste. Pierre seems to like it better. Both of us find that it didn't really have much of the mint-lime flavour in it. Perhaps I didn't put enough mint or lime zests in it. Pierre suggested adding some lime juice to the dish before baking.
Overall, I was rather disappointed. Maybe it's just me who didn't follow the recipe well. If any of you ever try this recipe, please let me know how yours turned out.
Now I just need to convince Pierre to be my guinea pig again in my fish adventure to cultiver my 'fishy fingers' ... hmm, what bait shall I use?
Note
Crème fraîche can be made at home by adding a small amount of cultured buttermilk or sour cream to normal heavy cream, and allowing to stand for several hours at room temperature until the bacterial cultures act on the cream.
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Stumble It!Hmm, I'll have to try this one out - I like the idea of the pinch of chili and it sounds like an interesting combination!
Gosh, it is amazing, I already know that this fish dish will turn out fantastic and well.
I like to steam my cod because cod is one of those fish that has no strong "fishy" smell...so it quite ok to steam it with ginger and spring onions. But your mint sauce will be a "fish" keeper
I like ur name!
This dish looks very pretty. My friend likes to use Crème fraîche in a lot of his cooking. I should try it out.
@tigerfish: I love steam fish with ginger and spring onions. Oh, I love it with slices of salted vegetables on it too.
@Budding Cook: Crème fraîche is widely used here in all sort of dishes. It's a great alternative to butter (less caloric and still gives plenty of flavour to the dish).
Just thought that I'd say hello again! Where in France do you live? We just moved to Frankfurt from Paris - I was in Paris for 3 years and miss it a little now. Well, I don't miss the traffic and the pollution but I miss the food at least!
@wokandspoon: Hi Thanks for dropping by my site again. For the moment I live in Nantes. Yeah the traffic is horrible in Paris and the pollution is awful for babies. Paris is beautiful and there are lots of interesting restaurants and places to check. The Louvre is so huge that it will weeks to visit. Mostly I will be going down to Frankfurt sometime in July to visit a friend there.
@big boys oven: Thanks for dropping by.
I love to cook em papillote. It brings all the flavors together. Fellel and oranges is one of my fav. Check you later.