Poached Cod
Directions
- 1Pat the cod fillets dry with a paper towel.
- 2Season cod on both sides with kosher salt and black pepper.
- 3Heat olive oil over medium heat in a medium-sized pot or a small saucepan with tall enough sides.
- 4Add smashed garlic and grated ginger, sautéing until fragrant and slightly browned.
- 5Add about 4 slices of lemon to the base of the pan on low heat.
- 6Place the cod fillets on top of the lemons.
- 7Pour in the coconut milk.
- 8Add the fresh dill along with salt and pepper.
- 9Gently stir to combine the flavors.
- 10Bring the coconut milk to a gentle simmer.
- 11Let the cod simmer in the coconut milk for 8-10 minutes or until the fish is opaque and easily flakes with a fork.
- 12Serve the poached cod over a bed of orzo.
- 13Spoon some of the coconut milk poaching liquid on top until it is brothy and soup-like.
- 14Garnish with additional fresh dill and chili oil.
Ingredients
- 2 Cod fillets
- 1 tablespoon Olive Oil
- 2 tablespoon Olive Oil
- 1 can Unsweetened canned coconut milk
- 4 cloves Garlic
- 1 teaspoon Ginger
- 3 tbsps Fresh Dill
- 1 Lemon
- Chili Garlic Oil
- kosher salt
- black pepper
- Orzo
Equipment
Cutting boardknifepaper towelmedium sized potsmall saucepancan openergraterspoonplate
Tips
- Pat the cod fillets dry with a paper towel and season cod on both sides with kosher salt and black pepper.
- If there is skin on the fillets, you may wish to remove it before cooking.
- The cooking time may vary based on the thickness of the fish.
- Baste the cod loins with the coconut milk occasionally/as needed if it is not submerged.
- Adjust the seasoning if needed.
- Squeeze a bit of fresh lemon juice from the remaining half of the lemon over the poached cod just before serving.
- Serve the poached cod over a bed of rice or orzo, spooning some of the coconut milk poaching liquid on top until it is brothy and soup-like.
- Garnish with additional fresh dill and chili oil.
- Ideally, the liquid would cover the fish entirely for poaching; if not, baste as needed.
- This recipe is adapted to be more IBS-friendly by using coconut milk instead of heavy cream as Molly Baz's recipe.
- This cooking technique works well for delicate and flaky fish like cod, using slow cooking at low temperatures rather than achieving a crispy skin.
- Crispy skin fish needs specific stainless steel pan preparation to achieve a shattering crispness, a technique that is not suitable for this poached fish recipe.
- The first thing I learned when I really started getting into cooking was how to make crispy fish, specifically on a stainless steel pan with like shatteringly crisp skin.
- For a really long time, I felt like that was the only way to eat fish, like it felt like anything else was just lazy or wrong.
- However, I have since learned that there is a very delicate art to cooking fish in a way that is not crispy.
- And often using a slow cooking with low temperature technique works a lot better for certain fish.
- So this is cod, which is my favorite white fish because of how delicate and flaky it is.
- And it works so well in this coconut milk, dill, lemon, garlic poaching liquid.
- This recipe is actually inspired by one by Molly Baz, where she does a similar technique, but she uses heavy cream.
- However, I wanted to make a recipe for the IBS girlies who probably can't tolerate that much heavy cream at once.
- Ideally, this would be poached where the liquid is covering the fish entirely, but I didn't have a proper pan for that.
- So I just sort of basted it until it was flaky and opaque.
- And then I served it with some orzo, some more fresh dill and chili oil on top. It's so good and tasty.
- Cooking fish in a way that is not crispy has a very delicate art, often utilizing a slow cooking with low-temperature technique.
- Cod is a favorite white fish due to its delicate and flaky texture, making it ideal for this poaching method.
- The recipe is inspired by Molly Baz's technique, but adapted to be IBS-friendly by substituting heavy cream with coconut milk.