Roast cod with wild garlic butter sauce

Seafood Pub Company site the Assheton Arms, Downham, Lancashire, made its well-deserved debut in the Estrella Damm Top 50 Gastropubs​ this year. This dish, cooked up by group executive chef Antony Shirley, is a definite crowd pleaser.

Ingredients​

■ Cod portion x 4

■ Steamed heritage potatoes – 150g per portion

■ Sprouting broccoli

■ Flaked almonds toasted

■ Soft herbs – a mixture of chervil, dill and chives

For the sauce
■ 150ml dry white wine

■ Banana shallot, chopped

■ Clove garlic, crushed

■ A couple of peppercorns

■ Crème fraîche 80ml

■ Lemon juice

■ Unsalted butter 100g

■ Wild garlic, finely sliced – a good pinch per portion

Method​

■ First make the reduction – reduce the white wine, shallots and peppercorns to 1/3 and strain into a small saucepan.

■ Heat a heavy-based cast-iron frying pan, put a good film of oil in, season cod well with Maldon salt and a bit of pepper, cook skin side down for 6-8 mins in a hot oven.

■ While cod is cooking, crush the steamed potatoes in a separate pan, leave the skins on and start to add a little butter. Fry the potatoes a little as you would for bubble and squeak – it gives another flavour to the dish. Add a good hit of herbs, season well and keep warm.

■ Steam the sprouting broccoli until tender, drain and season.

■ Warm the reduction and add the crème fraîche, whisk in some of the butter a little at a time, season with a squeeze of lemon juice and add the wild garlic.

■ Take cod from the oven, add remaining butter to the pan, foam butter until nut brown, turn cod over and cook for the last minute on the flesh, finish with lemon.

■ Put a large quenelle of crushed potatoes to the side of the plate, place the sprouting broccoli to the side, cod on top, finish with wild garlic butter sauce and toasted almonds.

And to drink?​

Beer sommelier Jane Peyton recommends pairing this dish with:

Beer: Pumphouse Pale Ale by Sambrook’s. Herbal hops complement the green vegetable, while the citrus marmalade flavours work very well with the medium-bodied texture of the dish.

Cider: Feat of Clay by Little Pomona. This is the first release from a cider producer that creates wine-like ciders. This one is still and acidic with lemon and soft stone-fruit flavours. People matching white grape wine with this dish would go for exactly those characteristics. Try an apple wine instead.