Recipe: Noah Rosen's wild Alaskan black cod with fresh garbanzo hummus and saffron-Pernod jus

June 6, 2:42 PMLA Cooking ExaminerErika Kerekes

Previous Next

Comment Print Email RSS Subscribe

Subscribe

Get alerts when there is a new article from the LA Cooking Examiner. Read Examiner.com's terms of use.

Email Address   Include other special offers from Examiner.com Terms of Use

When I met Noah Rosen, who used to run the Dining Room at the renovated Hotel Shangri-La in Santa Monica, he had recently added this stunning dish to the restaurant's menu, which he revamped every few weeks. He paired the mussels (aqua-farmed in Carlsbad) with the cod because "I thought about what cod would be eating, and shellfish seemed about right."

I watched Rosen make this dish in the restaurant's kitchen one morning before the lunch rush. Both the hummus and the sauce were made ahead of time, so I don't have exact measurements or methods, but the chef ran them down for me.

For the hummus, he buys the fresh garbanzos at the Santa Monica farmers market from Flora Bella Farm. The beans are blanched, shocked in ice water, shelled, then pureed in an industrial food processor with tahini, lemon zest, extra-virgin olive oil, salt, pepper, and a mellow garlic paste (he soaks the garlic to tame its sharpness).

The saffron-Pernod jus is even easier: Rosen sweats shallots slowly, adding salt to bring out the liquid, then adds a pinch of saffron (adding the saffron before any liquid helps bring out its flavor and color, he says). He deglazes with anise-scented Pernod, then adds chicken stock. He uses chicken stock, even though the sauce is for a fish dish, because it carries the flavors of the saffron and Pernod more easily, he says.

Click here for more cooking tips from Noah Rosen.

Noah Rosen's wild Alaskan black cod with fresh garbanzo hummus, mussels and saffron-Pernon jus

• 1 6-ounce filet wild Alaskan black cod, with skin
• salt and pepper
• 2 Tbsp grapeseed oil
• 1 Tbsp butter
• 1/4 cup fresh garbanzo hummus (see notes above)
• 1/2 cup saffron-Pernod jus (see notes above)
• 6-8 small mussels
• Fennel fronds and extra-virgin olive oil, to garnish

Heat the oven to 350 degrees.

Generously salt and pepper the skin side of the cod fillet. Use more salt than you think you'll need, because some will come off in the saute pan.

Heat the grapeseed oil in a saute pan over high heat until very, very hot. Lay the cod in the pan skin-side down. Turn the heat down a tiny bit and cook the cod about four minutes, pressing down to ensure all the skin is touching the pan evenly. Slide the saute pan into the hot oven and cook another four minutes, untl the fish is cooked almost all the way through.

While the cod is cooking, put a small covered saucepan on the stove with the saffron-Pernod jus over medium heat. When the sauce boils, put in the mussels and cover the pan. The mussels are done when they open, about 3-4 minutes. If you put in the mussels at the same time that you put the cod in the oven, they will be ready together.

Remove the pan from the oven, place it on the stove WITHOUT any flame underneath, and add the butter to the pan. Gently, carefully, flip the fish to finish cooking for a minute or two.

To plate: Spoon the hummus onto the plate. Place the fish alongside and garnish with the mussels. Pour the jus into the bottom of the dish. Decorate with fennel fronds and drops of olive oil, which will float and glisten prettily on the surface of the sauce.