Cod Loin Fillets with Brown Butter Sauce
For your next barbecue, try this simple grilled cod with an herby brown butter sauce you will love.
Introduction
This is a very simple and fragrant butter sauce for white fish. Just as on page 33 (How to BBQ), drying the fish fillets for a few hours or overnight will greatly improve your chances of fish that doesn’t stick and a crisp skin you want to eat. I keep things super simple here and serve this with long pasta tossed with green vegetables and fresh herbs.
Ingredients
| 4 x 200g (7oz) | skin-on cod loin or haddock fillets |
| 1 tbsp | olive oil |
| sea salt and freshly ground black pepper | |
| For the brown butter sauce | |
|---|---|
| 150g (5½oz) | butter |
| 5 | bay leaves, ideally fresh, torn |
| 2 sprigs of | fresh rosemary, needles picked |
| ¼ | nutmeg, finely grated |
| 150ml (5fl oz/⅔ cup) | white wine |
| To serve (optional) | |
| cooked long pasta (e.g. spaghetti, linguine, bucatini) tossed with cooked green veg and fresh herbs |
Method
A few hours or the day before you want to cook, remove the fish from its packaging and place it skin-side up on a rack over a tray. Slide into the fridge, uncovered, to dry the skin.
Fire up the barbecue ready for hot direct fish cooking (page 32), setting a grill tray or fish cage over the fire to heat up. Leave a fire-free area to move the fish to, so it can finish cooking over a more gentle indirect heat.
While it’s heating, set a small frying pan (skillet) over the fire – it’s fine on top of the heating grill tray. Drop in the butter and, as it melts, add the bay leaves, rosemary, nutmeg and some salt and black pepper. Allow the butter to caramelise and brown for a few minutes, then pour in the wine. Let the wine bubble and reduce by a third, then slide the pan off the direct heat to keep warm.
Take the fish from the fridge and drizzle the olive oil over the skin. Rub it out to a thin even layer and sprinkle generously with sea salt flakes.
Set the fish skin-side down onto the hot grill tray, pressing down with a fish slice as you go. Cook for a few minutes until the skin is crispy and eases away from the grill tray. The flesh should be opaque and just starting to flake – a temperature probe will read 60°C (140°F) when it is cooked. If the skin is crisp but the flesh needs more time, simply slide the tray off the heat and finish indirectly, with the barbecue lid down.
Serve the fish with the butter sauce drizzled all over, alongside/on top of anything else you fancy eating with it.
Technique: direct to indirect cooking.
Fire setup: two-zone grilling.
Reviews
Have you tried this recipe? Let us know how it went by leaving a comment below.
Our team will respond to any queries as soon as we can - this may take longer over weekends. You do not need to resubmit your comment.
Please note: Moderation is enabled and may delay your comment being posted. There is no need to resubmit your comment. By posting a comment you are agreeing to the website Terms of Use.
