SERVES: 4

INGREDIENTS

  • 4 each 5 oz. cod portions
  • 1 batch thyme pan sauce
  • 1 batch chanterelle mushrooms
  • 4 each Risotto cakes (see directions)
  • Olive oil, salt and pepper to season cod

Risotto

  • 1 Tbsp olive oil
  • 1 cup Arborio rice
  • 1/3 cup dry white wine
  • 4 cups heated chicken stock
  • ½ small sweet onion, small diced
  • 4 thyme sprigs, picked and chopped fine
  • 2 cloves garlic, crushed and minced
  • 1 small shallot, minced
  • 1 Tbsp chilled butter
  • 1/8 cup fresh grated Parmesan cheese
  • Sea salt and fresh ground black pepper

 Thyme pan sauce

  • 2 cups chicken stock
  • 4 thyme sprigs
  • 1 bay leaf
  • 5 whole black peppercorns
  • 2 Tbsp whole chilled butter
  • ¼ tsp sea salt

Roasted chanterelle mushrooms

  • 1 # chanterelle mushrooms
  • 2 cloves garlic, smashed and chopped
  • ½ small shallot, minced
  • 2 sprigs of thyme, picked and chopped fine
  • 1 Tbsp whole butter, cut into small pieces
  • 1 Tbsp olive oil
  • ¼ tsp sea salt
  • 1/8 tsp fresh cracked black pepper

ABOUT THE RECIPE

This is a great fall dish, it uses left over risotto and incorporates a wonderful mushroom that is only available for a short time in the early fall.  These wonderful meaty mushrooms cook up and have a nice nutty flavor.  This sauce is rich, buttery, and compliments the mushrooms and fish nicely.

 If you don’t have any leftover risotto you can make a fresh batch and use it either as a creamy risotto or cool it down and make cakes.  I love risotto cakes, you get the rich creamy rice middle surrounded by a crisp crust.

Recipe by Chris Garr, Executive Chef of Ivar’s.

Learn more about Alaska Cod

DIRECTIONS

Risotto

Using a medium sized sauce pan, heat the oil over medium heat.  Add the onions to the pan, stirring so they don’t stick, and cook them until they start to caramelize.  Add the rice, be sure to keep stirring so it doesn’t burn.  Cook the rice until it starts to toast and gets a nice nutty smell to it, add the thyme, garlic, and shallots and season with salt and pepper, cook for another 30 seconds then deglaze with the wine and reduce heat to a low medium, keep stirring and cook until the wine smell has gone.  Add the chicken stock in 3 batches, stirring constantly to avoid sticking and keep the rice kernels rubbing together releasing their starch to give you that nice creamy dish.  You’ll want to keep tasting the rice when it is getting close, it should have a soft texture but not be mushy.  Once it’s finished cooking, stir in the butter and parmesan cheese.  The rice can be used at this point or cool it down and form it into cakes and pan fry it later.  If you want to pan fry them, let the rice cool down and hand form it into cakes.

If you have leftover risotto then you can make dinner quite easy, if you want to make the risotto cakes then get the fish, sauce and mushrooms going before you cook the risotto.

Thyme Pan Sauce

In a small sauce pan, reduce the chicken stock, thyme sprigs, bay leaf and peppercorns until there is about a ½ cup of rich thick sauce left, whisk in the butter and strain the sauce through a fine mesh sieve into a bowl, then spoon onto the plate.  This sauce will take about 30 minutes to make, so halfway through its cooking get the rest of the dinner going.

Roasted Chanterelle Mushrooms

Use a towel or a mushroom brush, clean all the dirt and pine needles off the mushrooms, tear the mushrooms into large chunks, no need to use a knife as they tear very easily.  Toss the mushrooms in a bowl with everything except for the butter, lay them out on a sheet pan, spread the cut butter over the mushrooms.  Cook the mushrooms at the same time as the cod so that everything comes up together.

Heat the oven to 400 degrees, season the cod with olive oil, salt and pepper and set it in a baking dish.  Halfway through the sauce reducing, put the fish and mushrooms in the oven to bake for 15 minutes.  While the fish and mushrooms are cooking and while the sauce is finishing it’s reduction, heat a large sauté pan over medium heat with 2 Tbls olive oil in it, once the pan is hot lay the risotto cakes in the pan, be careful to gently set them in the pan so you don’t get splashed with oil, let the risotto cake cook for about 3 minute, until it develops a nice rich caramel color, then flip it over and repeat this process on the other side.

Once the cakes are done searing, set them on the plate, finish the sauce and then continue the plating of the rest of the ingredients.