Braised Cod with Vegetables in a Pot
Ingredients
2 servings
Fish and vegetables
- Fish (cod, hake, pollock) 1 kg
- Onion 2
- Carrot 1
- Potato 1-2
- Parsnip 1
- Fennel 0.5 root
- Sweet pepper 1
- Celery stalk 1 stalk
- Garlic 2-3 cloves
For frying and braising
- Vegetable oil 5 tbsp (2 for the fish, 3 for the vegetables)
- Flour for dredging the fish
- Homemade tomato juice 0.5 cup (100 ml)
- Water or fish stock if needed, no more than 0.5 cup (100 ml)
Spices and herbs
- Salt, ground black pepper, coriander, dried thyme to taste
- Bay leaf 1-2
- Allspice 2-3 berries
- Black peppercorns 6-8 peppercorns
- Dried chili pod 1-2 small ones, optional
- Mixed herbs (dill, parsley) to taste
Step-by-step recipe
Preparing the fish and vegetables
Fish in a pot can be made with any fish. Among river fish, pike or bream is excellent. The flesh of these fish has noticeable small bones that often “disappear” during braising, softening and melting into the dish. Among sea fish, I would look first of all at cod. Pollock, hake and notothenia also work very well.
If the fish is frozen, thaw it. It is better not to rush this: take the fish out of the freezer ahead of time and move it to the fridge. In a few hours it will thaw.
Cut up the fish and salt it. Wash and gut the fish. With a sharp knife, cut the fillets off, separating the backbone and fins. If possible, remove any noticeable bones, especially the rib bones. Remove the skin with a knife. Cut the cleaned fillets into pieces the size of a matchbox. Lay the fillet on a plate in a single layer, salt to taste and sprinkle with a mix of ground black pepper, coriander and thyme. Leave the fish for half an hour while you prepare the vegetables.
Prepare the vegetables. Depending on the season, take carrot, parsnip, onion and garlic, and if you can, sweet pepper, fennel and celery stalk. By and large, fish with just carrot and onion will be every bit as tasty.
Peel and wash the carrot, parsnip, fennel, sweet pepper and celery, and cut them all to the same size, then put them in separate plates or bowls. Cut them the way you would for a vinaigrette salad.
Frying the fish and vegetables
Fry the fish. Heat 2 tbsp of vegetable oil in a saucepan. Dredge the fish pieces in flour and fry over high heat until lightly browned. There is no need to fry the fish all the way through, since it will braise for quite a while. Set the fried fish aside.
Fry the root vegetables with the onion. In another pan, heat 3 tbsp of vegetable oil over medium heat and fry the sliced carrot and parsnip together. While the roots fry, peel the onion. By the way, you can add more onion if you like.
Cut the onion into thick strips and, as soon as the carrot and parsnip are soft, add it to the vegetables and fry everything together for 8-10 mins.
Add the remaining vegetables and spices. Add the sliced fennel, pepper and celery stalk. These vegetables contain a lot of moisture, which the fish needs to braise without added liquid, so don’t fry them hard. 3-4 mins is enough for them to soften.
Salt and pepper the fried vegetables and add dried thyme. This spice flavors the dish beautifully and improves the overall taste. At the very end, add very finely chopped peeled garlic. Don’t grate the garlic, or you will get a lot of garlic juice.
Filling the pot
The fish in the pot will braise in the oven for about an hour, including heating time. The approximate volume of the ingredients in this recipe is about 1-1.2 l, so aim for a ceramic pot of that size.
Put 1-2 bay leaves, 2-3 allspice berries and 6-8 black peppercorns on the bottom of the ceramic pot. If you like, add 1-2 small dried chili pods, without cutting them.
Peel the potato and cut it into cubes about twice as big as the other vegetables. Salt and pepper the raw potato very lightly. Lay the cubed potato on the bottom of the pot, covering the whole bottom if you can.
Layer the vegetables and fish. Spread half of the fried vegetables with spices over the potato, covering it all. Press the vegetables down slightly and level them.
Add a layer of fried fish pieces.
Finally, put in all the remaining fried vegetables and press them down a little. If the vegetables turned out juicy, there is no need to add liquid to the pot. At most, pour in water or fish stock, half a cup at the very most. The fish in the pot should braise, not boil.
Braising in the oven
Cover the pot with the lid and put it into a cold oven. Whenever I buy ceramics (for myself or as a gift), I am always warned that ceramic cookware must be heated together with the oven. Turn the oven on and heat it to 240°C. As soon as the liquid in the pot starts to boil and a wisp of steam comes out of the vent hole, lower the heat to 200°C.
Braise for 40 mins from the moment it starts boiling. After 20 mins, take the pot out of the oven and add half a cup of natural tomato juice (100 ml) to the fish. Cover again and put the pot back in the oven for another 20 mins.
Serving
Generally, with some exceptions, dishes like this are served on plates rather than in the pot. It’s hard to give advice. Do as you like. But since this amount is for two, it makes sense to divide the ragout between plates.
Serve the ragout with a large spoon, taking out the top layer of vegetables from the pot, then the fish, then the vegetables and potato, in turn. Be sure to pour the liquid that collected at the bottom over the plated dish, though there will be very little of it. And, of course, don’t put the bay leaf or the visible peppercorns on the plates.
Sprinkle the fish with finely chopped dill and parsley.
Fish in a pot braised with vegetables is served only hot, right away. I suggest adding a sprig of herbs and toasted white bread, or oven-roasted potatoes with rosemary.
Calories and macros
960 kcal
Serving ≈ 830 g
- Protein96 g42% of kcal
- Fat39 g39% of kcal
- Carbs44 g19% of kcal
100 g116 kcalProtein 11.6 gFat 4.7 gCarbs 5.3 g
Calculated from the recipe ingredients, excluding salt and spices. Data: USDA and Matvaretabellen.