The best damn roasted cod you can imagine
… with roasted cauliflower, crispy kale, black olives, and sultanas, dressed with a roasted pine nut & caper vinaigrette.
Here’s another recipe we have written for Suffolk friends Aspall Vinegar which makes use of our roasted pine nut and caper vinaigrette. The idea? Make one batch of this dressing, and enjoy 3 wildly different, delectable meals for four people over the course of a week.
The variety of textures and flavours is incredible yet this recipe is very accessible. There’s charred cauliflower, crispy kale, and meaty roasted cod; these delicious, textural ingredients are laced with complex sweet, salty and umami flavours coming from the juicy sultanas, black olives, capers and anchovies. The roasted pine nuts in the dressing add further texture and a delicious nutty dimension.
This tray-roast is divine served with simple boiled potatoes, or a freekeh salad.
Prep time: 10 minutes (exc. preparing a batch of roasted pine nut & caper vinaigrette)
Cook time: 15 minutes
This recipe serves 4 as a main course.
And the wine pairing?
A glass of magical Savagnin from Jura in eastern France.
Ingredients :
4 portions of thick cod loin
1 small cauliflower
200 g curly kale
16 sprigs fresh thyme
½ tsp flakey sea salt
2 tbsp olive oil + 1 tsp olive oil
1 tsp fennel seeds, optional
3 tbsp sultanas
20 pitted black olives
Method:
First up, if you’ve yet to whip up a batch of our roasted pine nut & caper vinaigrette you can find the recipe here.
Preheat the oven to 220 degrees.
Prep your cauliflower into small/medium florets, and chop the kale into small pieces removing any tough central stalks if needs be.
Toss the cauliflower and kale with 2 tablespoons of olive oil, the fresh thyme leaves stripped from their stalks, flakey sea salt, and some fennel seeds if using. Scatter this across a roasting tray or oven-proof serving dish.
Slice the cod loin into 4 portions and pat dry with kitchen paper. Use your hands to rub each portion very lightly with olive oil, and season with a pinch of flakey sea salt. Place these over your bed of cauliflower etc.
Roast at the top of the hot oven for 15-18 minutes, opening the oven half way through to allow some steam to escape.
Meanwhile, stir 3 tablespoons of sultanas through 8 tablespoons of your roasted pine nut & caper vinaigrette, and set aside 20 pitted black olives.
After 15 minutes remove the cod from the oven, scatter over the black olives, and spoon over the sultana-studded dressing. This will loosen, melt, and mingle throughout the tray roast, seasoning the roasted vegetables and bringing all the flavours to life.
If you are hosting and keen to take this to the next level, the creamy all-purpose dressing recipe (made with Aspall’s cyder vinegar) is a brilliant addition served at the table. And we can highly recommend this freekeh and roasted shallot salad as an accompaniment here. Enjoy!