Simple and Delicious Cod in Parsley Sauce
By: Sheri Wetherell
Published: May 30, 2013

This easy fish recipe is features tender pieces of cod that are poached in a delicate easy to make white sauce. That may sound complicated, but really, it's simple! In this video you'll also learn how to make a lump free white sauce. Watch how simple and delicious this dish is to make (transcription provided below).


A great British classic which you don’t really see anymore, cod in parsley sauce, very simple, start to finish, 10/15 minutes depending on the size of your cod.  And what I’m going to do is make a light béchamel enriched with a little cream.  I’m going to poach my fish in it rather than steam or boil my fish so all the goodness stays in the sauce.  It’s very simple.  As you can see, prime quality cod, butter, flour, milk, cream, parsley and again, the secret ingredient, the Knorr fish stockpot which makes it so easy. Melt our butter in the pan, add our flour to the butter.  And as you can see, we’ve mixed the two together very well.
Now we start to cook our rue.  Most people have problems when they’re making white sauce.  It becomes lumpy.  That’s because you’re making it too thick.  The secret is little butter, little flour.  So 21 grams of each is perfect for one pint of milk.  And use a whisk, not a wooden spoon.  I’m cooking my rue on a very low heat.  Now, we start to add our milk.  Work the rue.  As you can see, I’m adding my milk little by little.  I’m working the rue quite aggressively to break it all down, to make it creamy and smooth.  Add the last of the milk.  Now we add our fish stockpot, dissolve it in.  No need to season; everything is done for you with the fish stockpot.  I’ve worked my sauce from start to finish with my whisk to create that rich creaminess and to make sure I have no lumps.  And then we add our cream.  And again, this is optional.  So there we have a sauce which has taken five/ten minutes to make.  It’s not too heavy.  It’s not too light, perfect for poaching fish in with a great flavor.  Just throw in our fish and now we just cook it slowly in the sauce.  So here you think, what’s going to happen?  The fish is going to start to cook.  It releases its own juices so all that natural flavor from the fish is going into our sauce.  At the same time we continue to cook our sauce and then we finish with a bit of parsley.
So if you really ask, what am I doing?  I’m poaching my fish very gently and by doing that, all those natural juices are still in my sauce.  It’s a very easy way of cooking.  If it starts to boil then you know it’s too hot, just keep it just about 90 degrees.  That’s now been cooking for approximately two minutes, so what I’m going to do, I’m just going to turn my fish.  How do I know when it’s cooked?  Just see these little veins here, just press them down and just imagine feeling the center of it, you’ll just start to see them separate and that’s how you know when your fish is perfectly cooked.  So our cod now has been cooking for approximately three and a half/four minutes.  So now we take our parsley, last minute of cooking.  Again, it’s your choice how much parsley you use.  Work the parsley into the sauce gently.  So that’s taken about from start to very finish, max. 12/13 minutes.  Okay, it might be 15 depending on the thickness of your cod.  There’s a great British dish, works fantastically well with creamed potatoes, with peas, think of Britain.  It’s one of those sauces you never rush.  If we’re really honest, we never make fish stock at home, you can never buy a good fish stock.  This is restaurant quality.