Food and Wine Pairing at LeVinRouge, Cod en Papillote and South African Pinotage

The following is a fantastically light and also delicious fish dish for those lengthier, balmier evenings as The summer season rapidly draws near. It’s a meal with all the emphasis on fresh produce and crunchy vegetables. It’s colorful, it’s exciting and in addition, it’s really so simple to put together of course, if all that isn’t sufficient to entice you, just observe that cooking ‘en papillote’ means there is no clean-up when you are done!!!
Pair with a young Pinotage that’s perfectly light for your fish.
Preperation Time: 15 mins
Cooking Time: 25 mins
Ingredients (Serves 2):
2-4 Medium Cod Fillets
1 of each: Carrott and Courgette
3 Cloves of Garlic
1 Onion
1 Tomato, 1 Lemon and Fresh Basil
Olive Oil & Soy Sauce
Nutmeg Ground
Salt & Pepper
Method:
Vegetables
Slice the carrot and courgette into medium sticks and mix with the finely chopped garlic. Roughly slice the onion.
Add olive oil to a warm pan and add the onion first for One minute followed by the other vegetables. Season with salt and pepper and stir-fry for an additional 3-4 minutes. The objective is they are starting to soften but still have some crunch in them.
Cod en Papillote
On your sheet of aluminum foil paper Or parchment (papillote), make a mattress of stir-fried vegetables.
On the top of the vegetable mattress place the 2 small / 1 medium sized cod fish and on the top of the cod, make a layer of fresh tomato slices. Top the tomato with a layer of fresh basil leaves. And then the final layer consists of slices of lemon.
Season with some salt, pepper along with a sprinkle of nutmeg ground
Complete with a drizzle of olive oil over the top of the lemon and some drops of soy sauce.
The folding of the aluminum foil / parchment is really important at this point. Pull the paper from the sides and fold at a height over the fish in order to leave some air in the pocket. This steams the fish in the oven. Close at the sides and repeat this process for every serving of papillote.
Cook for 15 mins at 180°C.
Remove from your oven and open up the aluminum foil / parchment very carefully in order to avoid a steam burn. Serve in the parchment or if you prefer to transfer, ensure that you move the juices found within also.
(Consider serving with white rice, or perhaps on it’s own)
About the Wine:
The 2011 Palesa Pinotage Fairtrade Bottle is rather light and well-balanced with lots of fruit. Note aromas of blackberry and banana with a hint of oak.
Enjoy!
Julie Whelan is Chief Spokesperson for LeVinRouge, a start-up Wine Accessories company devoted to delivering the highest quality Wine Aerator to market at reasonable prices. Their particular mission is to always provide a product into to customers’ homes and onto their dining tables which enables them to get the best flavours and aromas from their wine.