Sauteed Cod

Sauteed Cod
How to Cook Everything, Mark Bittman

1 c flour
salt
pepper
1/2 tsp cayenne pepper, or to taste (optional)
2 tbsp olive oil
2 tbsp butter
2-4 cod fillets, 4-6 oz each, about 3/4-1" thick

Heat a large skillet over medium heat for 2-3 minutes.

Season the flour with the salt, lots of black pepper, and the cayenne.

Add olive oil to the pan; when hot, add butter.
 

When the butter foam subsides, dredge each steak in the flour.

Place them in the skillet.

Cook over medium-high heat, rotating the steaks so they brown evenly, and turning after about 4 minutes. They'll be done after 7-8 total minutes of cooking.

Check for doneness by peeking between the layers of flesh with thin-bladed knife -- when the knife meets little resistance and little or no translucence remains in the center, the fish is done.

Easy, peasy and uber-fast. I should've cut the seasoned flour in half since it was for four fillets and I only made two. In total, there was probably enough there to do at least four fish steaks, so don't be afraid, you won't be short. Prep, dredging (only one step!), and frying was a piece of cake. This is a recipe I'll be doing again, for sure. A bonus is that only two dishes were dirtied to prepare this fish.

Oh yeah, the taste? Very good. It was simple, with just a tinge of pepper, which you can adjust to your liking. After having this, I really do wonder if that cod Rodney had purchased that one day a while ago for Potato-Crusted Cod was funky or if the recipe was just crappy. This cod, unlike that last cod recipe I tried, was not at all wet at serving. Like I said, we'll have this again.

Cost:

• cod: $4.25
• everything else, SWAG: $0.50

Total: $4.75 or $2.38 for each of two servings.



We had our cod Basic Rice Pilaf and Bittman's suggestion of Caramelized Pearl Onions.