Cod with wild garlic miso and barbecued asparagus

With this beautiful spring weather, here is a recipe that uses some spring ingredients and could involve a bit of BBQ’ing.

Ingredients

250g of cod fillet, skinned
100g of rock salt
100g of unsalted butter, cubed
lemon juice, to taste
30g of miso paste, brown rice miso if available
10g of wild garlic, leaves picked and washed, reserve the flowers for garnish
20ml of water
80ml of grapeseed oil
lemon juice, to taste
salt, to taste
12 asparagus spears
salt, to taste
lemon juice, to taste
50g of bottarga, grated

Method

1. Place the cod fillet in a dish or baking tray and sprinkle over the rock salt to cover. Leave to salt for 7 minutes.

2. Meanwhile, place the miso, wild garlic leaves and water in a blender and blitz together until smooth. Gradually add the oil while continuing to blend and allow the mixture to emulsify (as if making a mayonnaise). When fully combined, season to taste with a little lemon juice and salt.

3. After 7 minutes rinse the salt from the cod under cold water and pat the fish dry with kitchen paper. Cut into 4 equal portions and set aside.

4. If using a barbecue, preheat to high. Alternatively, a hot griddle pan can be used.

5. To cook the cod, place the butter in a pan and cook over a high heat to create a brown butter (beurre noisette). As soon as the butter starts to foam and is lightly golden with a nutty aroma, remove from the heat and cool quickly to stop it from burning.

6. Pour the butter into a wide pan (large enough to fit all 4 pieces of cod) and warm through gently to 60°C. Add the cod and gently poach for 5 minutes on each side, being careful to keep the temperature low.

7. While poaching, barbecue or griddle the asparagus spears for 2 minutes until tender, turning regularly. Thinly slice the cooked spears into 2mm thick rounds and season with a little lemon juice, salt and some of the butter from cooking the cod.

8. To serve, spoon a generous amount of the wild garlic miso into each serving dish. Drain the cod from the butter and pull apart into large flakes. Dress these with a little more salt, lemon juice and butter and add to the dishes.
lemon juice, to taste

9. Scatter over the asparagus slices and garnish with the reserved wild garlic flowers and a grating of bottarga.

This recipe is an edited version of a recipe from Robin Gill via https://www.greatbritishchefs.com