Baked Cod with Mustard Cream Sauce

Black Lentils, Golden Roasted Beets and Quick Pickled Leeks

Serves 4

Ingredients:

4 6 ounce fresh cod filets, patted dry
2 large golden beets, scrubbed and wrapped loosely in foil
2 stalks leeks, the white part thinly sliced into rings
1/3 C mild olive oil, divided to use in all preparations
½ cup black lentils, rinsed and drained
½ C mild vinegar like champagne or peach
1 T sugar
2 heaping t yellow mustard
½ C heavy cream
½ C chicken stock
¼ C white onion thinly sliced
1 ½ C water boiling
Handful fresh basil leaves
1 t fresh thyme leaves
Clove of garlic chopped
Salt and pepper to taste
2 T butter

Direction:

• Place the thinly sliced leeks in a small bowl. Cover with the vinegar and sugar and a little salt and pepper. Let cure for at least an hour.
• Then take the wrapped golden beets and cook in a 400 degree F oven for 55 minutes. Remove and take foil off and cool. When you can touch them, take a paper towel and rub the outside of the beet. The skin will come off fairly easily. Then slice thinly and set aside.
• Bring the water to boil and then add the lentils. Cook to the package directions. (Partially covered, low and rolling boil.) I cooked them for about 25 minutes adding the chopped garlic in with the lentils. When they were done, I added the fresh basil and stirred it in, keeping it warm until it was time to plate the meal. Season well with salt and pepper. Black lentils are earthy and rich but bland! They’ll need some salty love.
• Now, drizzle a little olive oil in a small baking dish, just large enough to place all four cod filets so that there is about an inch between them. Drizzle with more olive oil, salt and pepper and a pad (or about 1/4 T) of butter on each filet and sprinkle on the fresh thyme. Cook for about 12-15 minutes on 375 degrees F or until you see the tops become opaque. Remove and cover with foil. They will continue to cook. DO NOT OVERCOOK!
• In a small saucepan, melt the rest of the butter until bubbling. Add salt and pepper and the onions and cook until transparent. Add the stock and reduce by half. Then add the mustard, and the cream, and mix well, cooking down a bit more and checking to see how much salt to add. Even a splash of vinegar is a good idea.
• To plate, arrange the beets first. Add a serving of the lentils. Then nestle a filet of the cod. Add the mustard cream sauce, some fresh basil julienned, and top with the drained pickled leeks!