Cod with Avocado Sauce

Monday 2 November

We had gotten some avocados from Madison's, and though one had been used and one was bad inside (you can't tell until you split them open), the other was ripe and ready.  So we decided on a recipe from Barbara Hansen's Mexican Cookery: Pescado con Salsa de Aguacate, using Trader Joe's frozen bags of cod pieces (no kidding).

Once the fish was defrosted, we put it in a skillet with 6 black peppercorns, 1/4 tsp. salt, a crumbled bay leaf, a small onion sliced into rings, half a lime's worth of juice, and water to just cover.  Brought it to boil, then lowered the heat and simmered, covered, until it flaked and was done (cod is tough, so takes a full ten minutes if not more; white fillets would have been less). 

While the fish cooked, put the peeled avocado into the robot-coupe with a teaspoon of lime juice, 1/2 teaspoon of Worcestershire, 1/2 tsp. salt, and a sprinkle of white pepper, and whizzed it up while adding a drizzle of heavy cream, until it was a luscious consistency.  The original recipe also calls for 3/4 tsp. of the mysterious Maggi seasoning, so we just added a little extra Worcestershire.

One of the things we didn't expect was that the onions were a great part of this dish, giving a little extra relish and crunch to the tender fish and sauce.