Cod Gratin

I have been without a Menu Plan for the last two weeks which made my meals somewhat all at sea, I have also had no Internet, as I suspect I have already said once or twice ;). I was very much reliant on my cookery books and my head, which was a really nice change, although thinking of things to make on the hop did not come easy. I like having the time to sit down and think about what I'm going to eat, find recipes and know what I have in the freezer.

One evening I was stuck for inspiration and searched through my cookery books for something to do with the fillet of cod which I had got out the freezer, and that meant that I did not have to go to the shops to buy any extra ingredients and I came across a recipe in my Leiths Easy Dinner Parties book for Individual Cod Gratins.



I don't have any individual gratin dishes so I just made a bigger one in a large dish and froze the leftovers. I also used veg stock rather than fish stock, creme fraiche instead of double cream and cheddar instead of Gruyere as those were the ingredients that I had in, and it still worked! The sauce however was a little runnier than I expected, but that may be because I didn't boil some of the sauce ingredients for long enough. I served it with some sauteed carrot and okra and it was delicious.

Individual Cod Gratins (from Leith’s Easy Dinner Parties)
Serves 6

900g Cod fillet, skinned
30g butter
6 small leeks, white part only, thickly sliced
Salt and pepper
290ml/1/2 pint dry white wine
425ml/ ¾ pint fish stock
150ml double cream
2 tbsp grainy mustard
3 tbsp chopped parsley
170g Gruyere cheese, grated
2 tbsp dry white breadcrumbs

Preheat the oven to 200C.

Trim the cod fillet, remove any bones and cut into 1 in cubes and divide between 6 individual gratin dishes.

Melt the butter in a large saucepan, add the leeks and sweat until soft but not too coloured. Season to taste with salt and pepper and divide between the gratin dishes.

Put the wine into a saucepan and reduce by boiling rapidly to a quarter of the original quantity. Add the stock and reduce again by half. Finally, add the double cream and reduce by half. Stir the sauce every so often to prevent the cream from catching on the bottom of the pan.

Add the mustard and parsley and season to taste with salt and pepper. Divide the sauce between the gratin dishes and sprinkle over with cheese and breadcrumbs.

Bake in the oven for 15 mins or until the top is golden-brown and bubbling.