Cod in Parsley Sauce
Cod fillets poached in milk and served with a smooth white sauce made from the poaching milk and plenty of parsley.
Photograph credit: Tfafp (8418321278) by Andy / Andrew Fogg from near Cambridge, UK · CC BY 2.0 · Wikimedia Commons
Cod in Parsley Sauce: Step by Step
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Put the cod, milk and bay leaf in a wide pan and heat to a bare simmer. Poach for 8 minutes until the fish flakes.
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Lift out the fish with a slotted spoon and keep warm. Strain the milk into a jug.
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Melt the butter, stir in the flour for 1 minute, then whisk in the milk a little at a time and simmer for 5 minutes until thick.
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Stir in the parsley, salt and pepper and pour over the cod.
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Things to Watch For
- Poach at a bare simmer.
- Whisk the milk in slowly to avoid lumps.
- Add the parsley at the end.
- If the sauce is thin, simmer it for another 2 minutes.
About This Recipe
How do you get a white sauce that tastes of fish, not just of flour? You make it from the milk the fish was poached in. That is the whole trick, and it costs nothing.
Poach the cod in the milk with a bay leaf for 8 minutes, at a bare simmer. Boiling toughens the fish and curdles the milk. The fillets are ready when the flesh turns opaque and flakes under a fork. Lift them out gently and keep them warm.
Melt the butter, stir in the flour for a minute, then add the strained milk a little at a time, whisking out lumps. Add the parsley at the end. It stays bright green and tastes fresh. Cook the parsley for too long and it turns grey.
Pour over the fish and serve with boiled potatoes and peas. Choose thick, even fillets, as thin tail ends overcook before the rest of the fish is ready.
On the Table Alongside
Boiled new potatoes · Peas · Buttered carrots · Crusty bread
Sides from the same cuisine on this site: Braised Red Cabbage, Dairy-Free Scones, Duck Fat Roast Potatoes.
Leftovers
Best eaten straight away. Keeps in the fridge for 1 day, reheated gently.
Cod in Parsley Sauce Nutrition Facts
Per serving, calculated from the ingredient list with USDA FoodData Central figures (SR Legacy). A calculation, not a laboratory analysis: brands, cuts and how you measure change the real numbers. How the figures are worked out.
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Compiled by Turab
Checked by script for timings, diet labels and nutrition arithmetic. How the recipes are checked. Found a mistake? Tell us.
First published ; last changed .
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