Cod with puy lentils and red wine sauce

This recipe comes from Serge, Young’s seafood chef

Watch a video of this dish being made on the Young's website. 

Serves 2

Ingredients

2 cod fillets skinless, boneless

40g unsalted butter
25g carrot, finely chopped
25g celery, finely chopped
25g onion, finely chopped
a small pinch of ground allspice
a small pinch of ground cloves
a small pinch of grated nutmeg
300ml red wine
300ml fish stock
1/2 teaspoon sugar
1/2 tablespoon plain flour
coarse sea salt & freshly ground black pepper
chives (optional)

For the lentils:
125g dried puy lentils - no need to soak, just wash
1 sliced peeled onion
2 cloves of garlic
1 bouquet garnet
1 clove
salt

To make

Put all the ingredients for the lentils into a pan, cover with water, bring to boil then simmer until tender, for about 20 minutes. Drain and cover to keep warm.

For the sauce, melt 25g of butter in a pan, add the carrot, celery and onion, fry over a high heat for about 5 minutes until the vegetables are well softened, split and set aside in a ramekin size amount of this vegetable mixture and keep warm. Then with the vegetables that are left in the pan add the red wine, bring to the boil. Boil until the sauce is reduced to about 1/2 the amount, then add stock, sugar, ground cloves, spices and season with salt, reduce further for a few minutes. Strain the reduced sauce into a clean pan, crush the vegetables to get the flavour out. Mix the remaining 12g of butter with the flour to make a smooth paste (beurre manié). Bring red wine sauce to the boil and then whisk in some of the paste, a little at a time until all gone. Simmer for 2 minutes until the sauce is smooth and thickened. Adjust the seasoning if necessary. Remove the bouquet garnet. Cover and keep warm.

Pre-heat the grill to high. Brush the cod with a little melted butter and season with sea salt and black pepper. Grill the cod for 5 minutes each side.

To serve, spoon the lentils on to 2 warmed plates and place the cod on top. Spoon the sauce around the edge of the plate, sprinkle with chopped chives and the vegetables you set aside in the ramekin.