Cod with butter beans, fennel and aioli recipe

This recipe is a classic from The Seafood Restaurant, and one that Rick and Jack included in their top 50 from the last five decades of the restaurant to include in our 50th Anniversary cookbook (signed copies are available here). It also happens to be the dish that former Sous Chef at The Seafood Restaurant, Nathan Outlaw, cooked alongside current Head Chef Pete Murt at our celebratory chefs’ dinner.

“This is a hot version of the classic Provençal dish aïoli garni. I would suggest a Côtes de Provence rosé, a Portuguese white Dâo or a white Corbières from south-western France to go with this.” – Rick

Ingredients for Rick’s cod with butter beans, fennel and aioli recipe

SERVES 4

• 50 g dried butter beans
• 2 eggs
• 1 fennel bulb
• 4 fillets of cod, skin on, 175 – 200g
• Melted butter, for brushing
• 6 basil leaves, thinly sliced
• 1 teaspoon sea salt
• Freshly ground black pepper
  For the sauce:
• 225g finely chopped mixed carrot, leek, celery and onion
• 50g unsalted butter
• 1 tablespoon cognac
• 10g dried mushrooms
• 1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
• ¼ medium-hot red chilli, seeded and chopped
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 teaspoon Thai fish sauce (nam pla)
• 600ml fish stock
• ½ teaspoon salt
• 4 fresh basil leaves, finely sliced
  For the aioli (makes 175ml)
• 4 garlic cloves, peeled
• ½ teaspoon salt
• 1 medium egg yolk
• 2 teaspoons lemon juice
• 175ml extra virgin olive oil

How to make Rick’s fillet of cod with aioli

1. Bring the butter beans to the boil in a large pan of salted water. Simmer gently until very soft. Remove from the heat and keep warm in the cooking liquid.
   
2. To make the sauce, sweat the mixture of carrot, leek, celery and onion in a large pan with half the butter, until soft. Add the cognac and let it boil. Then add all the rest of the sauce ingredients, except the remaining butter and the basil leaves. Simmer for 30 minutes. Then pass the sauce through a fine sieve. Bring it back to the boil and simmer until reduced to about 150ml.
   
3. Boil the eggs for 7 minutes. Drain, remove the shells and keep warm.
   
4. Remove the outer leaves of the fennel but don’t cut off the tops. Slice into thin sections then cook in salted water until just tender. Drain and keep warm.
   
5. Preheat the grill to high. Brush the pieces of cod on both sides with melted butter and place, skin side up, on a greased baking tray or the rack of the grill pan. Grill for 8 minutes or until just cooked through. This will depend on the thickness of the fillets. Place the cod on 4 warmed plates. Drain the butter beans and divide between the plates. Add the fennel, then cut the eggs in half and put one half on each plate. Add a spoonful of aïoli to each serving.
   
6. Bring the sauce to the boil and whisk in the last 25g of butter, then add the basil leaves. Pour the sauce over the beans and fish and serve.

To make the aioli: Put the garlic cloves on to a chopping board and crush them under the blade of a large knife. Sprinkle them with the salt and then work them with the knife blade into a smooth paste. Scrape the garlic paste into a bowl and add the egg yolk and the lemon juice. Using an electric hand mixer, whisk everything together and then very gradually whisk in the olive oil to make a thick mayonnaise-like mixture.

Happy cooking

Recipe from Rick Stein’s Coast to Coast, 2008, BBC Books