Cod and bacon couscous
For this recipe, I drew very heavily on the one published in the French magazine Cuisine et Vin de France, February–March 2016.
Preparation
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Step 1
Peel and wash the vegetables and cut them into batons.
In a frying pan, sauté them for 5 minutes if you have a steam oven, or cook them through completely if you don’t. In that case you’ll need a little more fat, as celery has a tendency to catch on the bottom.Meanwhile, wash the watercress and pick off the stalks. Bring the stock to the boil in a saucepan, drop in the watercress and let it cook for 10 minutes. Blitz it to make a sauce.
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Step 2
Wrap each piece of cod in a slice of smoked streaky bacon and sauté them in a large frying pan with the tiniest bit of fat, as the bacon already releases some.
If you have a steam oven, leave them for a minute or two on each side, just long enough for the bacon to colour a little. If you don’t, cook them at the same time as you prepare the couscous so they don’t overcook.
For the couscous, cook the same volume of water as you have couscous (one bowl of couscous = one bowl of water). Lightly salt the water and pour it over the couscous. Cover and leave to swell for 5 minutes.
If you have a steam oven, put the vegetables and the cod in for 8 minutes at 100°C. If you have a temperature probe, stick it into the fish and pull it out at 54°C in the centre.
Reheat the watercress sauce in the microwave if needed and serve it on the side.
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