Steamed Cod With Ginger and Spring Onion – No Apology

A few years ago I wrote a brief blog post on things a blogger should not do. The stand-out advice I gave was to never start a post with some drivel like “Ooooh, sorry peeps, I haven’t posted in ages, I’ve been super-busy with my new fashion line.” My point being that the Internet doesn’t care. You don’t care and neither do I. So instead of raking my consciousness with guilt, I’m giving you a steamed cod recipe and no apology for not posting last week.

As it happens, I was preoccupied last week. But you too were filling your hours and days with profitable enterprise. I’ll bet you didn’t notice my absence. The only thing I did that may tickle your tastebuds was cook these delicious Steamed Cod parcels.

Ingredients

• 1 450gm piece of fresh cod
• 12 asparagus stalks
• 3cm piece of root ginger
• 5 or 6 spring onions
• 2 teaspoons of soy sauce
• 2 teaspoons of sesame oil
• A couple of pinches of black pepper

Using a sharp filleting knife, skin the fish as I show in the picture. Cut it into two pieces, making one slightly bigger than the other (you greedy thing!).

That’s a big piece of cod for just two people.

Wash and slice the spring onions into bite sized pieces. Peel and slice the ginger nice and thin. Only the bravest (most foolish) of your diners will eat the ginger. Prepare the asparagus stalks by breaking off the woody ends. Place the cod onto a bed of asparagus on a piece of greaseproof paper large enough to form a loose parcel. Place the ginger on and then add the spring onions on top. Pour over half the soy sauce and half the sesame oil. Sprinkle with the black pepper.

The sesame oil is good quality. My advice; spend the money for good oil.

Form a loose parcel with the paper. Tie the parcel with some kitchen twine. It is a bit fiddly but I make no apologies as it will prevent things falling apart mid steam.

I do a pretty good parcel. Why can I never wrap Christmas presents like this?

Place in a steamer (or steam oven) for 8 minutes. Remove the parcels and open, being mindful of the hot steam. Lift the entirety of the food from the paper using a spatula. Serve it on white rice. Pour the liquor over the dish and get it to the table double quick.

This is a really delicious and subtle bit of food. I encourage you to try it.

You will need to make no apologies for this delight of subtle tastiness. Just like I fell no need to apologise for my lack of posts….