Simmer Time, Simmer Time
"Just Add Water" simplifies cooking with one easy technique: heating liquid
Amateur copywriters love to start pitches with improbable questions. Here’s one:
Ever imagine yourself whipping up something new for dinner, only to stop short when you remember that you can barely boil water?
If I were Lauren Chatttman, I’d be a little peeved at that lame introduction to her interesting concept for a cookbook: recipes that call for a minimum of prep, with boiling or simmering as the prime cooking method.
Admittedly, the concept is simplistic, but not everything has to be complicated. And some days, boiling water is just about all I can manage. (One of our go-to “lazy” meals is frozen Chinese dumplings. Simply boil and serve.)
Three recipes from this book looked appealing for a June dinner: Boiled Carrots with Butter and Chiles, Sesame Rice Salad with Asparagus, and Cod Fillets in Fennel Broth. I could almost do all three for one meal, but I think that might be too many competing flavors.
The cod fillets won, because we have fennel seeds from our garden, and an abundant crop of pea pods for a side dish.
I had to buy a fennel bulb, though, as the garden ones are more like woody taproots. There’s probably a trick to getting them to become more bulb-like; must research.
Cod in Fennel Broth Recipe
Peel and cut 2 carrots into 2-inch pieces, peel and quarter 2 medium-size onions and thinly slice 1 fennel bulb (first trimming off the ends).
Fill a pot with 4 cups water, Add the carrots, onions, half the fennel, 6 sprigs fresh thyme, 1 teaspoon fennel seeds, 1 bay leaf, 1 teaspoon salt, and ½ cup dry white wine.
Bring the water to a boil, then lower the heat and simmer, covered, for 30 minutes.
While the broth is simmering slice 1 pound small red potatoes ¼ inch thick. (I used yellow potatoes since I had them already.)
Strain the broth through a sieve into a large sauté pan and discard the solids. (Chattman doesn’t actually say what to do with the solids. This is why we use tech editors, people.)
Bring the broth to a boil, lower the heat and simmer, uncovered for 5 minutes.
Add the potatoes and remaining fennel and simmer for another 10 minutes.
Heat a few cups of boiling water in case you need it for the next step.
Add 4 1-inch-thick cod fillets (about ½ pound each) to the broth. If the broth does not cover the fish, add boiling water to just cover. Reduce the heat to low, cover, and cook just until the fillets are opaque, 8 to 10 minutes.
Place the fish in shallow soup or pasta bowls, along with the vegetables. Season the broth with salt and pepper to taste, pour it over the fish and vegetables, and serve.
This dish was easy to prepare, and flavorful, but it also felt a little … wasteful. In hindsight, maybe I should have rescued the onions and carrots from making the broth and added them to the final dish. The fennel flavor was not overpowering, maybe because I had a pastis before dinner.
The peas turned out great; I sautéed them briefly with butter and garlic, then steamed them for a few minutes. They’re delicious straight from the vine, but are on the verge of getting tough.
Will I make this recipe again? Probably not, but I’m glad I tried it. I’ll bookmark the other two recipes to try later.