Cast Iron Seared Pike with Braised Mustard Greens and White beans

I do a similar meal but use salmon instead of pike and kale instead of mustard greens.  Either way, this is a very simple, delicious, nutritious meal.  From the WSJ.  Serves 4

Total Time: 15 minutes

Serves: 4

½ pound bacon, chopped

2 garlic cloves, thinly sliced

8 cups loosely packed mustard
greens, stemmed and roughly
chopped (or escarole)

Salt and freshly ground black
pepper

¾ cup chicken stock

2 cups cooked white beans
(see recipe online)

1½ teaspoons butter

4 pike fillets (or salmon or lake

trout), 6 ounces each

1 teaspoon grapeseed oil
(or vege table oil)

1 cup firmly packed chopped

mixed fresh herbs

(e.g. parsley, tarragon,

watercress), stems removed

Juice of 1 lemon

1 teaspoon olive oil

What To Do:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

2. Heat a large cast-iron pan over medium-high heat. Add bacon and brown for about 2 minutes. Pour off all but 2 tablespoons fat. Add garlic and fry for about 30 seconds. Add greens and stir until wilted, about 1 minute. Season with salt and pepper, to taste.

3. Reduce heat to medium-low. Add stock to greens and bacon. Cook for 1 minute, then add cooked white beans. Once beans are warmed through, after about 1 minute, fold in butter. Scrape beans-and-greens mixture into a bowl, along with its cooking liquid. Set aside and keep warm.

4. Season fish fillets with salt and pepper on both sides. Wipe off cast-iron pan and place it over medium-high heat. Add grapeseed oil and then fish. Brown fillets for 1½ minutes on each side. Transfer pan to preheated oven and cook fish for 3½ minutes more. Meanwhile, put herbs in a small bowl and add lemon juice and olive oil. Toss and season with salt and pepper, to taste.

5. To serve: Spoon the stew of beans and greens onto a platter. Top with fish fillets and garnish with dressed herbs.

Sauteed Cod with Mustard Greens

A couple of weeks back my husband and I, with some good friends, ate at The Spence.  It's Bravo's Top Chef winner, Richard Blais's, new place.  One of the entrees we selected was the black cod.  The fish was so delicious that when I saw this recipe in the Oct. 27 issue of the WSJ, I had to try it.  It's by the world renowned chef, Eric Ripert.  I'm making it this evening but by looking at it, I assure you, it will be delicious.

Sautéed Cod With Mustard Greens

Sautéed Cod With Greens

Total Time: 30 minutes Serves: 4

Ingredients

¼ cup olive oil

3 tablespoons fresh lime juice

2 tablespoons soy sauce

1 tablespoon fresh grated ginger

1 teaspoon plus 1 small shallot, minced

3 tablespoons canola oil

8 cups mustard greens, stems removed, torn into rough pieces

2 cloves garlic, minced

1 tablespoon butter

Fine sea salt

4 (6-ounce) cod fillets (about 1½ inches thick)

Freshly ground black pepper

What To Do

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Meanwhile, make vinaigrette: Whisk olive oil together with lime juice, soy sauce, ginger and 1 teaspoon minced shallot until thoroughly combined. Set aside.

2. Make mustard greens: Heat 1 tablespoon canola oil in a large sauté pan over high heat. Add greens and cook, tossing, until wilted, about 2 minutes. Add garlic, small minced shallot and butter to pan. Sauté until aromatics soften, 2-3 minutes. If pan looks dry at any point, add a small splash of water. Once greens are tender and brightly colored, after about 5 minutes total, season with salt to taste. Set greens aside and keep warm.

3. Make fish: Set a large ovenproof sauté pan over medium heat. Pat cod dry and lightly season with salt and pepper. Pour remaining canola oil into the pan, and once oil begins to shimmer, lay the fillets, flat-sides down, into the hot pan. Once a thick golden crust forms on underside of cod, after about 5 minutes, transfer pan to oven. Roast until fish turns white all the way through, about 4 minutes.

4. Remove pan from oven and, securing the top of each fillet with your hand and the bottom with a fish spatula, gently flip fillets. Return pan to oven and roast fish 1 minute more.

5.  To serve, divide mustard greens among four plates.  Top greens with cod fillets.  Whisk vinaigrette once more and spoon it around greens.  Serve immediately.