PARMA HAM COD WITH LEMON CAPER SAUCE

This is a little bit fancy. The parma ham forms a salty skin for the soft cod and you serve it with mushy pea purée, crispy crushed spuds and a lovely lemon and caper sauce. The mushy pea purée is called that because it isn't quite a purée, nor is it mushy peas. It's nice though. Bit of mint. Peng. The sauce really brings it all together, it is powerful.

30 Minutes Probably

Ingredients

(To Serve 4)

4 Cod Loins
4 Slices Parma Ham
4 Sage Leaves
A Lot of Butter
15-20 New Potatoes
400g Frozen Peas
Olive Oil
Salt & Pepper
5-6 Fresh Mint Leaves
2-3 Tablespoons Capers (if they're large, chop them smaller)
Handful Fresh Parsley
3 Tablespoons Lemon Juice
Zest of One Lemon
A Clove of Garlic

Ingredients

Instructions

Preheat an oven to 200ºC. Get your new potatoes into salty water to boil for about 8 minutes. You want them to be softened, but not as soft as they need to be for mashed potatoes. A bit soft. While they bubble away you can wrap your cod loins. The best way to do this is to pop them down and give them each an inch square of butter on top, then a single sage leaf. Wrap your little fish butter sage tower in a piece of parma ham. The entire piece of fish does not need to be covered, but the butter and sage should be secure on top of the fish. These can be set aside until it is time to crisp up that hammy jacket.
Get your peas into salty boiling water with a few mint leaves to soften for about 5 minutes. At this point your spuds should have had long enough boiling and can be drained. Get a frying pan with a little olive oil in it nice and hot. Pour in the slightly wet spuds and use a potato masher to just crush them all slightly. You're not making mash, don't forget! Season them with a good bit of salt and pepper and then add a knob of butter and give a final mix about. Pour these onto an oven tray and then stick them in the oven. They need about 10 minutes on 200ºC. You'll turn the heat down to 180ºC when the fishy bits go in, the spuds are fine to stay in the oven until the fish is done.
Drain your peas and use a hand blender or a food processor to whizz them up with the mint. Season with salt and pepper. You can also stir through a teaspoon of butter for extra silkiness. Get a frying pan hot with a splash of olive oil. It is time for those ham wrapped fishies to become nice and cooked. On a medium heat give them about 3 minutes on each side. The ham should become nice and crispy. Drop the oven to 180ºC. When they're done they can go on a tin foil lined tray and into the oven with the spuds for 10 minutes and not a second longer.
At this time we shall create our beautiful lemon and caper sauce. It's pretty simple. Finely chop a handful of parsley. If you have big capers then slice them up, if they're nice and small you're all good. Melt like 2 tablespoons of butter on a low heat. This is a very buttery sauce, you may need even more if it isn't looking like enough. While that butter melts, mince one clove of garlic and get it into the butter. Get your lemon zest and juice involved and give everything a bit of a stir. At this point it is important to keep the pan moving and shimmying as it will help the sauce come together. Add your capers and your parsley and keep everything moving for a minute or so before transferring to a jug.
If your peas are a bit chilly you can give them a minute on the hob to warm up. Get your fish and spuds out of the oven. Spread some pea business on a plate and top that with your potatoes. The spuds should be a strange mix of crispy edges and soft potato. Nice textures. Top with your fish and pour over your lemony capery sauce. Dig in and smile.