Cod with sweet potato slices and sauce vierge

Sauce vierge!! It's French and it sounds complicated! I don't know about you, but for me, anything food related with a french name either makes it sound more sophisticated or complicated. Well, it is actually as easy as 1-2-3 and it takes that long to make it. There is barely cooking in this sauce, and you don't even have to warm up the oil if you prefer but I personally think that warming up the oil slightly with the ingredients will infuse it with more taste.

COD WITH SWEET POTATO & SAUCE VIERGE RECIPE

Ingredients:

• 2 cod fillets


• 2 sweet potatoes


• 50g butter (25g for cod, 25g for sweet potatoes)

• 2 tomatoes (peeled, de-seeded, chopped)


• 1½ tbs chopped basil


• 1 tbs chopped coriander


• 70ml extra virgin olive oil


• Juice of ½ lemon


• Freshly ground black pepper & sea salt to taste

Method:

1. Make a cross cut on the bottom of the tomatoes and place in boiling water for 5 minutes. Remove and rinse with cold water. This will enable the skin to peel off easily.


2. Peel the sweet potatoes and slice them into about 5mm thick.


3. Place the sweet potato slices in a sauce pan and pour hot water over it, enough to cover them. Add salt and 25g butter.


4. Boil the sweet potatoes for about 10 minutes or until just cooked through to keep the shape intact. Make sure to not over cook until too soft as the slices will fall apart.


5. Heat a non-stick pan with olive oil and place the cod fillets on it to crisp up the skin.


6. Add the knob of butter and spoon the hot butter and oil over the top of the fish until just cooked through.


7. Remove fish from pan and let rest on a kitchen towel to soak up the oil.


8. While the cod is cooking, warm the olive oil on a very low heat, be careful not to boil it.


9. Stir in the chopped tomatoes, basil, coriander leaves, freshly ground black pepper and salt in the warm oil for about 1 minute.


10. Remove from heat and squeeze in lemon juice. Sauce vierge, done. Place this aside for plating later.


11. To plate, use a slotted spoon to carefully remove the sweet potatoes. Place each slice gently on the plate to create a flower shape.


12. Position the fish in the middle and spoon the sauce vierge around the cod and a little of the liquid on top of the fish.