Recipe: Potatoes with cod and mushrooms

Ever since I was little, I've had a fondness for mushrooms. More than once, I've thought that when cooked well, mushrooms could be ten times more delicious than meat, and they're especially light. Apart from being stir-fried alone, mushrooms are also frequently used in soups or cooked with meat, like chicken stewed with mushrooms. The freshness of the chicken and the mushrooms together is a double delight.

However, what I want to introduce today is the pairing of mushrooms with cod. When I don't feel like eating chicken and find mushrooms a bit monotonous, I always turn to this dish. It's less fatty than chicken with mushrooms, making it very suitable for a rich yet light dinner. Adding some small potatoes to it turns the dish into a full meal.

Below, I'll introduce the amounts for one person, but you can adjust the quantities according to your needs. Personally, if I'm making it for two meals, I usually buy two cod fillets, about half a pound in total, from the supermarket. The same goes for white button mushrooms, also around half a pound. I marinate the cod fillets in lemon juice to remove any fishy taste, squeezing enough lemon juice over the fillets for about 10 minutes, then cut them into bite-sized pieces. While marinating the cod, I take two purple onions and quickly slice them into pieces, following the natural lines to separate them into many small purple crescents.

I generally wear disposable gloves when handling onions, otherwise, my hands will have a strong smell. If the button mushrooms are small enough, they can be eaten whole; if they are larger, they can be cut in half, but not into thin slices, to better match the thickness of the fish pieces.

Now, heat up a pan and add a tablespoon of olive oil to sauté the purple onions. Then, add the mushrooms directly and stir-fry for 5 minutes. The aroma of the mushrooms comes out instantly. Then, add the marinated fish fillets and the soul seasoning, a small pinch of chopped parsley.

Parsley has a refreshing taste and a subtle citrus aroma, which can further neutralize the smell of the fish, making the overall flavor more balanced. It has a very mild texture among herbs, unlike mint or cilantro, which would instantly affect the entire dish's flavor. Parsley neutralizes, not masks. If you're using fresh parsley, you'll see its beautifully shaped leaves, with some serrations, very similar to celery, in a dark green or bright green color, very beautiful. So, it's also often used for decorative purposes. If you don't have fresh parsley, you can also easily buy dried chopped parsley, a common herb in Western cooking for deodorizing fish, whereas using ginger would give it a Chinese flavor.

After adding the parsley, we can season. Still emphasizing lightness, add a little salt and black pepper, then simmer on low heat for 5 minutes, and it's ready.

I mentioned that you could also add potatoes to make this dish a complete meal. However, the potatoes need to be cooked separately. If you can find small potatoes, about the size of an egg, that would be ideal. Such potatoes are more floury, have a delicate texture, and cook quickly. Larger potatoes are more suitable for shredding or for long, high-pressure cooking.

Find a relatively deep pot to boil the potatoes, keeping the water boiling on medium heat for about 25 minutes. So, if you plan to add potatoes, you might start boiling them when you begin marinating the fish. The potatoes do not need to be peeled, keeping the skin on makes the dish look more rustic. You can also add a little salt to the water to give the potatoes some flavor.

Once the potatoes are done, drain the water and try to dry them with kitchen paper to prevent bringing excess water into the mushrooms and cod. Cut the dried potatoes into thick slices, similar in size to the mushrooms and fish pieces. Then add the potatoes to the mushrooms and cod, stir a few times to let the potatoes soak up the delicious juice, and it's ready to serve.

This dish doesn't require much knife work, and its overall presentation is very simple. So it's very suitable to be served on plates with natural patterns and speckles, light gray ones are the best. The white color of the cod, the light gray color of the mushrooms, the golden color of the potatoes, and the green of the parsley make it a visually pleasing dish. When eaten, the cod is fresh and tender, the mushrooms are full and rich with a woody aroma, and the potatoes are floury, bringing a very comforting grandmother's cooking feeling, making it a refreshing and satisfying dish.