2021 Vuelta - Stage 1: Burgos (Catedral)
Bienvenidos a 2021 Vuelta España! While I have 4 culinary ridelaongs now under my belt, this is the first one I am doing for the third most popular road race in the world, the Tour of Spain. Last year’s Giro overlapped with the beginning of the Vuelta, so I couldn’t possibly make it work. What’s in store? Well, of course, there will be some tapas along the way; many pork products, and a lot of simple, but delicious dishes.
This year’s route really avoids the big cities due to Covid precautions, so some of these daily dishes will definitely be new to me, and hopefully to you as well. Coming up with stage specific meals was much harder for this road race. I must give great credit to the web content creators for the Tour de France and Giro d’Italia as they really provide a ton of useful information outside of just cycling-specific topics on their sites. You can get a real feel for these towns. The Vuelta? Not so much. I had to do a lot of research online and through 6 cookbooks.
Today’s dish, I love for a few reasons. One, just look at the photo - the colors jump out at me and are reminiscent of Spain’s beautiful flag. Two, it’s my daughter’s favorite fish: Cod. Finally, this is a simple meal that takes little expertise/effort and delivers on flavor; something you all have asked me to do - simpler meals! Finally, you can cook this dish up in about the same time it took the riders in today's time trial. So, what are you waiting for? Get cooking!
Cod Piperade
3 red peppers
Large Spanish onion
Extra-virgin olive oil
4 plump garlic cloves, minced
4 filets of cod
Seed and slice the peppers into ¼-inch strips. Halve and peel the onion and slice it in ¼-inch thick.
Heat ⅓ cup of evoo in a large cast-iron pan or skillet over medium heat. Add in the peppers and onions along with a pinch of salt and cook for about 15 minutes, adjusting the heat downward after a few minutes, and stirring occasionally. A little browning at the end is ok, but you are trying to just soften the peppers and the onions should be golden and tender.
While the vegetables sauté, preheat the oven to 350, and prepare the cod, by blotting it dry with a towel and seasoning with sea salt and black pepper just before searing.
After 15 minutes of cooking the vegetables, stir in the minced garlic until fragrant, about a minute. Then, using a slotted spoon, transfer the vegetables to a casserole dish. Reserve.
Add ¼ cup of evoo to the skillet and raise the heat to medium high. Place the fish down in the skillet and allow to sear for about 4-5 minutes, undisturbed. Using a metal spatula, lift one of the fillets to ensure the sear is full and the fish will easily release from the skillet. That is when the fish is ready, do not fuss or struggle with the fish until it has seared for at least 4 minutes.
Place the cod, seared-side up, into the casserole, on top of the sautéed peppers and onions. Move some of the peppers and onions on top of the fish and pour any remaining pan juices on top of the fish and finish cooking in the oven. This should only take 5-10 minutes for the fish to reach 140-145 degrees.
To serve, place some peppers and onions on a plate, top with the cod, placing a few vegetables on top, covering everything with some pan juices from the casserole dish. ______________________________ Copyright 2021, Brendan McCann, All Rights Reserved.
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