Italian cooking
Fresh cod alla livornese with polenta
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Golden cod fillets finish cooking in a tomato sauce with garlic and parsley. Soft polenta catches the sauce, sharpened with olives and capers.
Method
- If preparing original and lighter portions together, set aside the ingredients and quantities shown for the lighter portions; the remainder is for the original portions. Prepare the two versions separately wherever their cooking or seasoning differs. Divide the quantities given for the whole preparation between the pans or bowls, without using the full quantity in each. Chop the garlic and parsley stalks. Heat 15 g oil in a sauté pan, add the garlic, stalks and chilli, and stir over a medium heat for 45 seconds without browning. Pour in the tomatoes and 100 g water, then add 2 g salt, the olives and capers. Simmer uncovered for 18–20 minutes, until the sauce coats a spoon. While it reduces, bring the 640 g water for the polenta and 3 g salt to the boil in a saucepan; keep covered at the gentlest simmer until ready to start the polenta.
- Pat the cod pieces dry, season with 1 g salt for the fish pieces only, in proportion to the fish portions, and add pepper. Dust lightly with flour, then shake off all but a thin coating. Allow 10 g oil for searing in total, setting aside the share for the fish-free portions to add to their sauce. Heat the fish's share in a non-stick frying pan over a medium-high heat and brown the cod for 2 minutes per side, without moving it until the crust releases from the pan.
- If making fish-free portions, divide the tomato sauce between pans according to the planned portions now, before adding any fish. Place the cod in its sauce and immediately start the polenta as described in the next step. Cover the sauté pan and cook the fish over a low heat for 5–7 minutes: the centre should turn opaque and flake, with a thermometer reading 63°C at the centre. Cook gently for longer if the pieces are thicker. As soon as the fish reaches this point, take the sauté pan off the heat and keep covered while finishing the polenta, without continuing to poach.
- As the fish goes into the sauce, bring the salted water prepared in step 1 back to the boil and pour in the quick-cooking polenta in a steady stream, whisking. Lower the heat and stir for 5 minutes, or the time stated on the packet, until soft and creamy with no hard grains. Take off the heat and stir in the 10 g finishing oil in total, divided between the versions.
- Divide the polenta between deep plates. Top with the cod and its sauce, then scatter over the chopped parsley leaves. Serve straight away, before the polenta firms up.
Variants and their steps remain below the recipe.
Fish-free
- Reference variation for two servings.
- Fresh cod fillets, prepared by the fishmonger → Tinned cannellini beans (400 g tin) 400 g (Displayed drained weight for the planned fish-free portions)
- without Plain wheat flour
- Use the quantity of cod shown in the main preparation only for those eating fish, and 400 g drained cannellini beans for the fish-free portions in this section. Divide the tomato sauce according to the planned portions before adding fish. The flour shown in the main preparation is already allocated solely to the cod: do not divide it again. Add this section's share of searing oil (10 g) to the bean sauce, without using it for the fish.
- Heat the cannellini through for 6–8 minutes in the small saucepan of sauce. Divide the polenta, finishing oil and parsley between the portions of each version. If the whole meal is fish-free, use 400 g cannellini, omit all the flour and add all the oil reserved for searing the fish to the bean sauce, using the amount for the chosen version. In this case, start the polenta 2 minutes after beginning to reheat the cannellini, using the water already brought to the boil while the tomato sauce was reducing; follow this timing for the lighter version too.
Tender cannellini in the same tomato sauce with olives and capers, served with the same polenta; a pareve variant with no fish cooked in its pan.
Lighter version
Reference variation for two servings.
The tomatoes and capers taste brighter against the smaller serving of less rich polenta. With less oil, the fish has a lighter crust, but its flesh stays just as tender if cooked gently.
- Polenta (maize meal) : 110 g
- Extra virgin olive oil : 20 g
- Water : 540 g
While the tomato sauce reduces, bring the 440 g water for the polenta to the boil with its share of salt, then keep covered at the gentlest simmer. Pour in the 110 g quick-cooking polenta when the fish goes into the sauce, following the same sequence as the main recipe; keep the 100 g water for the sauce. Divide the oil into 10 g for the tomato sauce, 5 g for searing the fish or adding to the cannellini sauce, and 5 g for the polenta. Take the lighter fish portions off the heat as soon as they reach the stated doneness too.
Less polenta and oil, with the same amount of fish and tomato sauce.
On your plate
Recipe
715 kcal · protein 47 g · carbs 74 g · fat 25 g
Quantities per person
- 200 g Fresh cod fillets, prepared by the fishmonger
- 80 g Polenta (maize meal)
- 200 g Tinned chopped tomatoes (400 g tin)
- 5 g Garlic
- 6 g Flat-leaf parsley
- 20 g Black olives in brine (Kalamata, Gaeta or Israeli)
- 7.5 g Capers
- 7.5 g Plain wheat flour
- 17.5 g Extra virgin olive oil
- 0.25 g Chilli flakes (peperoncino)
- 3 g Fine salt
- 0.25 g Ground black pepper
- 370 g Water
Fish-free version
681 kcal · protein 23 g · carbs 90 g · fat 24 g
Quantities per person
- 80 g Polenta (maize meal)
- 200 g Tinned chopped tomatoes (400 g tin)
- 5 g Garlic
- 6 g Flat-leaf parsley
- 20 g Black olives in brine (Kalamata, Gaeta or Israeli)
- 7.5 g Capers
- 17.5 g Extra virgin olive oil
- 0.25 g Chilli flakes (peperoncino)
- 3 g Fine salt
- 0.25 g Ground black pepper
- 370 g Water
- 200 g Tinned cannellini beans (400 g tin)
Cooking tips
This version uses fresh cod; it calls for neither salt cod nor soaking to remove salt. The displayed time assumes quick-cooking polenta that takes 5 minutes: traditional cornmeal needs longer. The fish and beans share the sauce only before the fish is added.
Livorno-style fish adapted for fresh cod, with polenta; a sauce of tomatoes, garlic and parsley, olives and capers.
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