Recipe: cod with leek mash, beurre blanc sauce and roasted mustard

Chef Jonathan Zandbergen published a cookbook featuring a surprising element: a fifth season. Here is a beautiful cod dish with potato and leek, perfect for winter. Comfort food with a fancy twist!

‘This recipe is easy, quick, and delicious. The secret is in the roasted mustard. Frying the mustard removes its sharp flavor and brings out the soft, deep roasted notes. You can store the mustard well after roasting. Try using it in risotto too,’ says Zandbergen.

How to make cod with leek mash, beurre blanc sauce and roasted mustard

• Fry the mustard over medium heat in 125 ml sunflower oil.
• Stir well every 2 minutes with a pan scraper.
• After about 30 minutes, the color of the mustard changes and it starts to fry. The moisture evaporates and the mustard seeds come loose in the oil.
• Drain the mustard seeds on kitchen paper.
• Finely chop the white onion, finely slice 1⁄2 clove of garlic, and sauté them in 125 g butter.
• Clean the leek and slice finely.
• Add the leek to the onion and season with salt and pepper.
• Stew the leek until soft and tender.
• Meanwhile, cook the potatoes until tender in salted water and drain.
• Add the milk and potatoes to the leek and mash finely.
• Season to taste with additional salt and pepper if necessary.
• Bring the wine and shallot to a boil and reduce until syrup-thick.
• Lower the heat and whisk in 125 g butter, piece by piece.
• Strain the sauce and season with salt and pepper.
• Season the cod with salt and pepper.
• Heat some oil in a frying pan and fry the cod skin-side down for 2 minutes.
• Turn the cod over.
• Add the thyme, 1 crushed clove of garlic, and 1 tbsp butter.
• Fry for another 4 minutes, constantly spooning the butter over the cod.
• Serve the cod with the leek mash and the beurre blanc.
• Sprinkle with some fried mustard.

Tip: Sautéing means frying without browning. As the cell walls of your ingredient break down, moisture is released. The onions begin to ‘sweat’. This is why we also call this technique ‘sweating’. Adding salt speeds up the process. The sharp flavor of the onion disappears and its natural sweet notes come forward.

Title: Five Seasons
Author: Jonathan Zandbergen
Publisher: Carrera Culinair
Price: €31,99

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