Cod with Aji Verde, Wilted Collards, and Lime Quinoa
Seared cod over quinoa and garlicky collard ribbons, with a cold aji verde of cilantro, jalapeno, lime, and yogurt spooned thickly over the warm fish.
Why You'll Love This Recipe
Aji verde is the sauce that sits on every table in a Peruvian rotisserie chicken shop, and once you have made it a few times you start putting it on everything. It is a blender sauce, about ninety seconds of work, and it does the job that a long braise would do in a slower dish: it brings acid, heat, herb, and richness all at once. Cod is what I reach for because it is mild and thick-flaked and gives the sauce something plain to sit against, and because a loin cut cooks through in six or seven minutes without any fuss.
The cooking is straightforward but the order saves you a pan. Sliced garlic and cumin go into the oil first and perfume it, then the collard ribbons pile in and cook down until they are glossy and tender but still dark green. The quinoa goes in to warm through and to catch everything left on the bottom of the skillet. Then the greens move to the plates and the cod goes into the same pan, seasoned and left alone until it releases on its own. Fish that sticks is fish that was turned too early, every time.
I put this in the middle of a working week when I want something that eats cleanly and still feels like a real plate of food. It is bright rather than heavy, so it does not sit on you in the afternoon, and there is enough fish and enough sauce that you are not hunting for a snack an hour later. It is also good cold, which is not true of most cooked fish, because the aji verde keeps the whole thing tasting fresh straight out of the refrigerator.
Ingredients
- 1 1/4 lb skinless cod loin, cut into 4 even pieces and patted dry
- 1 large bunch collard greens (about 14 oz leaves), stems cut out and leaves rolled and sliced into 1/2-inch ribbons
- 2 1/4 cups cooked quinoa, warm or at room temperature
- 1 cup plain nonfat Greek yogurt
- 1 1/2 packed cups cilantro leaves and tender stems
- 2 jalapenos, stemmed, seeds left in or taken out to taste
- 3 tbsp lime juice, from 2 limes, plus halves for the table
- 1 3/4 tbsp olive oil
- 4 garlic cloves, 2 sliced and 2 left whole for the sauce
- 1/2 small red onion, sliced paper thin
- 2 tsp ground cumin
- 4 scallions, sliced thin on a long angle
- 1/4 tsp fine sea salt
Instructions
- Make the aji verde: Put the cilantro, jalapenos, the 2 whole garlic cloves, the lime juice, and the yogurt in a blender with a pinch of the salt. Blend for forty five seconds, scraping down once, until the sauce is smooth and a solid bright green with no visible flecks of stem. It should pour thickly off a spoon. Refrigerate it while you cook so it stays cold against the hot fish.
- Perfume the oil: Warm the olive oil in a 12-inch skillet over medium heat, add the sliced garlic and the cumin, and cook for about forty five seconds, stirring, until the garlic is pale gold and the cumin smells toasted. Watch it closely, because both go bitter within seconds of catching color.
- Cook the collards: Add the collard ribbons in two handfuls with a splash of water and the remaining salt, and cook over medium-high, tossing often, for five to six minutes. They are ready when the ribbons have gone glossy and deep green and a piece bends easily between your fingers. Stir in the quinoa and the red onion and cook one minute more to warm through, then divide everything among four plates.
- Sear the cod: Wipe the skillet, set it over medium-high heat, and add the cod pieces to the dry pan with whatever oil clings to them. Cook for four minutes without moving them, until the undersides are golden and the fish lifts away from the metal on its own. Turn once and cook two to three minutes more, until the center reaches 145°F and the flakes separate when you press with a fork.
- Sauce and serve: Lay a piece of cod on each plate of greens and quinoa and spoon the cold aji verde generously over the fish so it runs down into the collards. Scatter the scallions over the top and serve with lime halves. Put the rest of the sauce on the table, because people will want it.
Variations
- Shrimp aji verde: Swap the cod for a pound and a half of shrimp, seared ninety seconds a side, for a faster version.
- Corn and lime: Add half a cup of charred corn kernels to the collards for the sweetness Peruvian plates usually carry.
- Sweet potato underneath: Serve the fish over roasted sweet potato rounds rather than quinoa when you want something rounder and softer.
- Herb-heavy sauce: Blend a handful of mint or parsley in with the cilantro for a sauce with more perfume and less bite.
- Grilled: Cook the cod on a hot grill pan for the char, and use the skillet only for the greens.
Storage & Leftovers
The components keep three days in the refrigerator and are better stored apart. Keep the aji verde in a jar with a film pressed to the surface so the top does not darken, and keep the cod separate from the greens so the fish does not sit in liquid and go soft around the edges.
Reheat the greens and quinoa in a skillet over medium heat with a spoonful of water, two to three minutes, and warm the cod on top of them with a lid on for the last minute. Gentle heat is the rule with cooked cod. A hot dry pan tightens the flakes and dries them out in under a minute.
Eat the leftovers cold if you would rather. This is one of the few fish plates that genuinely works that way, because the sauce goes on cold to begin with. Flake the cod through the greens, add fresh lime, and it becomes a lunch you can carry. The sauce itself freezes for two months in a small jar.
Notes & Tips
- Buy loin rather than tail: Cod loin is thick and even, so all four pieces finish at the same moment. Tail pieces taper and the thin end overcooks while the thick end is still translucent.
- Use the stems in the sauce: Cilantro stems carry more flavor than the leaves and blend smooth. Only the thick lower inch needs to go.
- Salt the sauce, not the fish, heavily: The aji verde is what seasons the plate. A light hand on the cod keeps the two from stacking up.
- Roll the collards before you slice: Stacking the leaves and rolling them into a cigar gives you even ribbons in about twenty seconds and keeps them from tangling in the pan.
- Let the fish come off the fridge shelf first: Ten minutes on the counter takes the chill off and helps the center reach temperature before the outside dries.
- Keep the sauce cold: The pleasure here is cold sauce hitting hot fish. Warm aji verde tastes flat and loses its brightness.
Nutrition & Mindful Eating
- Cod, collards, quinoa, and the yogurt sauce divide the work on this plate. The fish carries the protein, the greens bring the bulk and the mineral backbone, the quinoa gives it something to sit on, and the sauce ties all three together with acid.
- Cod is a mild, thick-flaking fish with a lot of protein for how light it eats, and it takes on whatever you put with it, which is why a sauce this assertive suits it so well.
- Collard greens are the sturdiest of the cooking greens and they hold their shape through the pan rather than collapsing to nothing. Those dark leaves are one of the better plant sources of calcium, and they bring real fiber along with it.
- Yogurt blended into the sauce is what makes it cling to the fish rather than run off, and it quietly adds both calcium and protein to a spoonful most people think of as seasoning.
- Cilantro, lime, jalapeno, and toasted cumin are the four flavors doing the talking, and the acid in the lime is not only there for taste. It helps your body take up the iron sitting in the quinoa and the greens underneath.
- As you eat, notice the moment the cold sauce meets the warm fish and how the lime keeps lifting the greens, and let yourself finish one plate slowly rather than reaching straight for a second.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can I use a different fish?
Halibut and tilapia both work. Halibut wants the same timing as cod, while tilapia is thinner and needs about two minutes a side. Anything firm and white will do here, since the sauce is the loud part of the plate and the fish is there to carry it.
How do I control the heat in the sauce?
The seeds and the pale ribs are where most of the burn sits. Scrape them out with a spoon for a sauce that is green and gentle, or leave one jalapeno whole and seed the other for something in between. Blend, taste, and adjust before the fish goes in the pan.
My cod fell apart in the skillet. What happened?
It was turned too soon. Cod releases itself from the pan when the crust has set, usually around the four minute mark, and prying at it before then tears the flakes. Use a thin fish spatula, slide it all the way under in one motion, and turn only once.
Can I make the sauce ahead?
Yes, and it is better on day two. Make it up to three days out and keep it cold and covered. The color dulls slightly, which you can fix with a squeeze of fresh lime and a quick stir just before serving.