Pan-fried Cod with Colcannon Sauce

This pan-fried cod with colcannon sauce is the perfect meal to celebrate St. Patrick’s Day. The creamy sauce is super rich, perfect with the tender cod.

I came across a version of this recipe on the (formerly BBC) Good Food website while searching for Irish recipes to celebrate St. Patrick’s Day. They were serving the colcannon sauce with steamed back bacon cut in thick steaks, something I cannot get here in Houston.

But that sauce immediately struck me as something that would be delightful spooned over cooked cod which is a rather bland white fish and could use a little bump in flavor. It was a great decision! 

Pan-fried Cod with Colcannon Sauce

Ideally, use the darker green outer leaves of the cabbage for color and contrast. Sadly, mine were rather pale. This is going to make more sauce than you need for the four servings of cod. Leftovers can be warmed gently over a low heat. 

Ingredients

For the colcannon sauce:

1/4 cup or 56g butter

3-4 cabbages leaves (mine weighed 4 oz or 115g whole)

2-3 green onions, plus extra for garnish

1 potato (my russet weighed 8.5 oz or 240g after peeling)

1/3 cup or 80ml white wine

1 cup or 240ml heavy cream

Fine sea salt

Ground white pepper

For the cod:

1 lb or 450g cod loin 

Fine sea salt

Ground white pepper

1 tablespoon butter

Optional for garnish:

Crispy bacon bits

Method

Cut the hard spines out of your cabbage leaves then roll them up tightly. With a sharp knife, slice them as thinly as possible. Then cut the spirals a couple of times across to shorten the strands. 

Peel and dice your potato. Slice the green onions.

Season the cod with the sea salt and white pepper and cut it into four reasonably even pieces. Set aside.

Melt half the butter in a pan and add the cabbage, potato and green onions. 

Cook over a medium low heat for 10 mins, covered, stirring often.

Pour in the white wine and cook till the white wine has all but evaporated and the potatoes start breaking down. 

You can speed this process along with a potato masher or fork. 

Add the cream and cook for just a few minutes until it is warmed through and starts to thicken. 

Season to taste with salt and pepper then remove from the heat. 

Stir the rest of the butter into the sauce and keep it warm until ready to serve.

To cook the cod, heat the butter in the pan until it just about starts browning, then put the cod in. 

Cook on one side until browned, then turn gently and cook the other side. Depending on the thickness of your cod, this could take from just a couple of minutes to as many as seven minutes. 

As you can see, one of my pieces from the end of the loin was much thinner than the others. I took it out first then left the rest until just cooked through. If you have an instant read thermometer, you are looking for an internal temperature of 145°F or 63°C.

Plate up the cod with a generous helping of colcannon sauce on top then garnish with green onions and some crispy bacon bits, if desired.

Enjoy! 

It’s Sunday FunDay and today we are sharing recipes for your St. Patrick’s Day celebrations. Many thanks to our host, Camilla of Culinary Cam. Check out the links below. 

• Colcannon, Ham Soup With Dumplings by Sneha's Recipe
• Easy Pretzel Ring with Beer Cheese Dip by A Day in the Life on the Farm
• Irish Beef Guinness Stew by Culinary Cam
• Pan-fried Cod with Colcannon Sauce by Food Lust People Love
• St. Patrick’s Day Brownie Bites Amy's Cooking Adventures

 

We are a group of food bloggers who believe that Sunday should be a family fun day, so every Sunday we share recipes that will help you to enjoy your day. If you're a blogger interested in joining us, just visit our Facebook group and request to join.

Pin this Pan-fried Cod with Colcannon Sauce!

.

Fish Sauce Roasted Chicken

Deliciously savory, a little bit sweet and spicy, this delectable fish sauce roasted chicken will have you licking your fingers and asking for more! 

Many years ago, back in my early days of blogging, I “met” a fellow expat who lived in Japan, then moved to Shanghai. I loved reading Nancy’s posts as she explored her new neighborhood and found seasonal produce to eat and dishes to recreate. 

She shared her version of this fish sauce roasted chicken which came from Australian chef and cookbook author Adam Liaw’s Asian After Work. After I made it once, I was determined to find myself a copy of that cookbook since Nancy said it was great! 

I saved the search on various used bookselling sites back in 2014 or 2015. Occasionally I got emails that a copy was available but always for some ridiculously high price and usually with shipping from Australia, which was also crazy high. But 2024 was finally THE YEAR. And I now have the wonderful Asian After Work! So I figured it was time to share my version. 

Fish Sauce Roasted Chicken 

Adam Liaw calls for a whole cilantro plant in his recipe, using even the roots which is common in many Asian recipes. Unfortunately, most of us can’t find whole plants with roots in our supermarkets so we have make do with just the stems and leaves. Still delicious! 

Ingredients

For roasting the chicken:

2.2 lbs or 1kg chicken thighs, trimmed of excess fat 

1 onion, peeled and cut into slices

For the marinade:

1/3 cup or 80ml fish sauce (I like Squid brand, if you can find it.)

1 small bunch cilantro, stems and all, chopped, plus extra for garnish

1 clove garlic, sliced

2 tablespoons sugar

3 birdseye chili peppers, finely sliced

3 tablespoons fresh lemon juice

Method

Preheat your oven to 350°F or 180°C on the fan-forced setting or 375°F or 190°C if you don’t have a convection oven.

 

In a roasting pan, mix all of the marinade ingredients together, and stir well to dissolve the sugar. 

Add the chicken thighs to the roasting pan and spoon the marinade over turning them to coat. 

Tuck the sliced onion under the thighs and roast in the preheated oven, skin side up. 

Roast for 40 minutes, basting every 10-15 minutes. 

Remove the chicken when the skin is sticky and dark and the meat is cooked through. Garnish with a little chopped cilantro. 

Serve in a puddle of sauce with the onions. 

Enjoy!

Welcome to the 6th edition of Alphabet Challenge 2025, brought to you by the letter F. Many thanks to Wendy from A Day in the Life on the Farm for organizing and creating the challenge. Check out all the F recipes below:

• Jolene’s Recipe Journal: French Onion Soup 
• Blogghetti: Sheet Pan Chicken Fajitas 
• Karen’s Kitchen Stories: Fluffy Focaccia with Garlic Oil and Herbes de Provence 
• Sneha’s Recipe: Firni/Phirni 
• Food Lust People Love: Fish Sauce Roasted Chicken 
• Mayuri’s Jikoni: Fattoush Salad 
• A Messy Kitchen: Fennel, Tangerine & Olive Slaw 
• A Day in the Life on the Farm: Roasted Vegetable Farro Bowl 
• Culinary Cam: Fig Leaf-Wrapped Cheese 
• Faith, Hope, Love, & Luck Survive Despite a Whiskered Accomplice: Sausage Meatballs with Vodka Fennel Sauce

Here are my posts for the 2025 alphabet challenge, thus far:

A: Roasted Asparagus Soup

B: Blistered Sugar Snap Peas

C. Jersey Royal Chicken Chorizo Traybake 

D. Small Batch Dried Apricot Jam 

E. Whipped Espresso Cream 

F. Fish Sauce Roasted Chicken – this post!

Pin this Fish Sauce Roasted Chicken!

.

Norwegian Crispbread aka Knekkebrød #BreadBakers

Made with whole seeds and oats, Norwegian Crispbread aka Knekkebrød has a lovely nutty flavor with a bit more richness than the Finnish and Swedish versions.

And while Swedish and Finnish crispbread is traditionally round, with a hole in the middle for hanging, Norwegian crispbread is usually rectangular-shaped which seemed like a much easier thing to make!

What they all have in common is rye flour, which happens to be the main ingredient for this month’s Bread Baker’s theme. I used a dark rye. 

Norwegian Crispbread aka Knekkebrød

You can serve these plain or spread with butter. They are delicious topped with cheese, jam or chutney. 

Ingredients

1 cup or 135g rye flour

½ teaspoon salt

¼ teaspoon baking powder

¼ cup or 28g rolled oats

¼ cup or 32g pumpkin seeds

¼ cup or 34g sesame seeds

2 tablespoons golden flaxseeds

3 tablespoons olive oil

⅓ cup water or a little more if needed

Method

Preheat your oven to 400° or 200°C. 

Put all the dry ingredients in a bowl and mix them together well so that all the ingredients are evenly distributed.

Add the oil and water and combine well. 

It will be somewhat crumbly but if you take some and can press it into a firm ball that holds together, that’s probably enough water. 

If it’s too crumbly to stick together, add just a little more water, mixing well, until it does.  

Turn the mixture out onto a silicone mat or a piece of baking parchment the size of a half sheet pan (18 x 13 in or 46 x 33cm) and press the dough out to flatten it a little. 

Use a rolling pin to press it flat, pushing the sides in with your fingers to shape it into a rectangle.

My dough didn’t stick to the rolling pin but if yours does, you can use a second piece of baking parchment or cling film on top. 

Transfer the silicone mat or parchment to the baking pan. Score the top of the dough to make rectangles where you want to cut the crispbread into pieces.

Place the baking sheet in the oven and bake for around 20-23 minutes until the top is dry and firm and the edges are just starting to become darker.

Leave them to cool a minute or two then cut along the score lines to break the crispbread into the rectangles. 

Because of all the seeds, you might be left with a small pile of seedy crumbs on the cutting board once you plate up the crispbread. These are the baker’s treat! 

Enjoy! 

It’s the second Tuesday of the month so that means it’s time for my Bread Baker friends to share their bakes. Many thanks to our host, Camilla from Culinary Adventures with Cam who asked up to explore the world of rye by making rye or pumpernickel recipes. Check out the link list below.

• Connie's Swedish Rye by Culinary Cam
• Marbled Rye Bread by Karen's Kitchen Stories
• New York Jewish Deli Rye by A Messy Kitchen
• Norwegian Crispbread aka Knekkebrød by Food Lust People Love
• Pumpernickel Rolls by Sneha's Recipe
• Swiss Onion Rye Batard by A Day in the Life on the Farm

#BreadBakers is a group of bread loving bakers who get together once a month to bake bread with a common ingredient or theme. Follow our Pinterest board right here. Links are also updated each month on this home page. We take turns hosting each month and choosing the theme/ingredient.

Pin this Norwegian Crispbread aka Knekkebrød!

.