"When the cod went so cheap, but so plenty"

A couple of weeks ago I actually cooked at home... a rarity, by any measure. I have been working in the restaurant business for a while now and being away from your home five nights a week makes it hard to even keep any food in house, much less make anything good. I always find that I making relatively simple dishes, ones that don't require super long prep times; I'm not braising beef or pork on my day off. I tend to favor fish or cuts of meat that need a relatively short cooking time, pork chops, sirloin, chicken, etc.

In this case I made a shrimp pasta to start, very simple. Seared the shrimp in hot olive oil, set aside. Sweat onion and garlic in the same pan, also olive oil. White wine, bring to simmer, add canned tomato, cook out for 15-20 mins. Season with kosher salt and red pepper flakes. Add the linguine to the sauce and finish cooking. Dilute sauce with pasta water if necessary. Re-add shrimp with some parsley chiffonade.

For a second course I made cod. I love cod, but more than cod I love bacalhau, salt preserved cod. The drying process of making bacalhau insures that what mild flavor the fish has is concentrated and the quantity of salt insures that one's taste buds jump to attention. Unfortunately I had to settle for fresh cod in this case. I prepared it with a fennel, onion, chorizo and parsley salad. I sauced it with no more than lemon juice and olive oil. First I sliced the chorizo into rounds and rendered them over medium heat in olive oil. I set them aside and placed them in a bowl with sliced fennel, red onion half-moons, and parlsey, seasoned with salt. Meanwhile I dusted the cod with salt and flour and fried it in the chorizo oil, at first over high heat to get it some color then over medium low to let it cook through. I dressed the salad with good olive oil and lemon juice. If I had been making this a more haute preparation I think that a preserved lemon vinaigrette would have been great. Otherwise, a mayonnaise based sauce could be really great. Not to mention using bacalhau. Also, a high quality chorizo is necessary. I used a Goya chorizo and it just wasn't doing it for me. Here's a mediocre picture:

On the whole, I thought it was a very good meal, and we were drinking a very nice rose cava, which went quite well with both dishes. It was creamy, yeasty, with a mild red fruit profile, very refreshing, plenty of acidity. It might be enough to get me to cook a home a little more.