Codfish Niçoise and farro risotto

These recipes didn't come as a package, and I don't think they should stay that way, but the individual recipes have merit. The fish would pair nicely with couscous or quinoa, especially the black variety that would make a nice color contrast to the red sauce. It needs something to slurp up the sauce without being too assertive. The farro risotto definitely asserts itself. It's darned tasty, so that's OK, but it cries out to be served alongside roast chicken or grilled pork and doesn't need any sauce to cloak it.

Codfish Niçoise

From “Great Good Food” by Julee Rosso. This book is organized seasonally, and then I’m sure by some indiscernible pattern internally to each season. It always struck me as a little random, but has lots of likely prospects. The tagline is “luscious lower-fat cooking,” so it’s healthful, but not wretchedly so.

Ingredients

2 large fresh cod fillets (about 1½ pounds for 4 servings)

1 medium lime, juiced, about 3 tablespoons, divided

1 teaspoon olive oil

2 cups thinly sliced onions

1 tablespoon thinly sliced garlic

1 can (28 ounces) plum tomatoes

2 bay leaves

1 tablespoon chopped fresh marjoram or oregano

1 2-inch cinnamon stick

2 tablespoons sliced pickled jalepeños

1 tablespoon juice from pickled peppers

½ cup green olives, halved

¼ cup capers

Method

Place fish in nonreactive baking dish. Sprinkle with 2 tablespoons lime juice. Cover and chill for an hour.

In large skillet, heat oil over medium heat. Add onions and saute until softened. Add garlic and cook for a minute. Add tomatoes and their juice, smashing tomatoes slightly to break them up. Add bay leaves, marjoram, cinnamon, jalepeño peppers and their juice and cook for 10 minutes. Salt and pepper to taste. Add olives, capers and remaining lime juice. Simmer for 5 minutes. Remove from heat. (Sauce can be made a day ahead and chilled after this step.)

Preheat oven to 350. Pour sauce over fish and bake for 10 to 15 minutes or until fish flakes easily.

Rating: Nice sauce. Just mildly spicy from the pickled peppers, and the cinnamon is a nice touch. You need a robust fish to stand up to it however; the cod very nearly disappeared and was almost overwhelmed by the sauce. Of course, if you’re not too fond of fish, perhaps you’ll think that’s a good thing.

Variation: Chicken Niçoise. Since I was using half the amount of fish fillets, I reserved half the sauce for the next day and poured it over 4 chicken thighs and baked it at 375 for 40 minutes. The chicken stood up to the sauce more robustly than the fish and it paired well with the chicken.

Farro risotto

Adapted from “The Sexy Forever Recipe Bible” by Suzanne Somers. No, I probably wouldn’t have picked this up if I’d had to pay for it, given the title, but so far all the recipes I’ve made from it have been respectable.

Ingredients

3½ cups broth

1 tablespoon olive oil

½ medium onion, chopped finely

1 cup uncooked farro

1 tablespoon butter

¼ cup grated Parmesan cheese

Method

Heat broth to a simmer and keep warm. In a saucepan, heat olive oil over medium heat. Saute onions until translucent. Stir in farro and cook for a minute to coat grains. Add 1 cup of the broth, and cook, stirring frequently, until liquid is almost absorbed. Keep adding broth, 1 cup at a time, until all liquid is absorbed and the grains are puffy.(This is going to take some time. The original recipe claimed 15 minutes. I'd allocate 30.) Stir in butter and Parmesan cheese. Salt and pepper to taste.

Rating: Nutty, buttery goodness. The onions oddly aren’t noticeable in the end product, which almost seems as much sweetish as savory. Very robust side dish. I'd say it serves 4.