Merluzzo con chorizo – Mediterranean cod

You can make this simple recipe ahead of time: pro = it melds and soaks up all the flavours  con = the butter beans can soak up the liquid to the extent it becomes a bit dry… but the solution is simple – add a bit more stock… or pink Martini…

The ‘merluzzo’ is Italian for cod and this is where the recipe comes from originally, the feta is obviously from Greece…. but the chorizo and the paprika which I’ve included make this rather Spanish.

You can substitute the butter beans for other types of tinned bean, but it won’t look quite so professional, there’s something about the mad bigness of the butter beans that makes this dish look a bit special.

Serve in deep plates.

If you desperately need greens, you could serve on a bed of spinach. OR – a great success – add some cooked leeks to the mix at the end.

Recipe for Merluzzo con Chorizo

For 2

• 300g/10 oz cod, or hake, or other solid white fish fillet – skinned and cut into two
• 1 tbsp plain flour seasoned with a generous amount of freshly ground pepper
• Olive oil for frying
• 400g/14 oz tin butter beans
• 200g/7 oz feta
• 2”/5 cm mild chorizo – or even some mild salami would do
• Couple of walnuts of butter – this helps to make sauce a bit glossy
• 120ml/½ cup pink Martini
• 120ml/½ cup chicken stock
• Small bunch of flat-leaved parsley
• Spanish sweet smoked paprika

1. Coat fish in the flour and then fry it in large frying pan until golden on all sides.
2. Chop the chorizo into dice and add to the pan.
3. Once the chorizo is cooked through add the vermouth and the stock.
4. Add the drained butter beans.
5. Roughly crumble in the feta.
6. Snip over some of the parsley, and stir in without breaking up the fish.
7. Arrange on deep plates, dusted with a little paprika, and snip a bit more parsley over as well.
8. Serve!