Seared Cod with Almond Skordalia and Blistered Green Beans
Thick cod fillets seared until the edges go golden, set over the Greek garlic sauce called skordalia made with ground almonds, lemon, and olive oil, with green beans blistered hard in the same pan and finished with parsley.
Why You'll Love This Recipe
Skordalia is the Greek garlic sauce that gets served with fried salt cod on the twenty-fifth of March and again at the end of Lent, and it is one of those things people either adore or find alarming, usually on the strength of how much garlic went in. Most versions are built on bread or boiled potato. This one is built on almonds, which is the older island way, and it gives you a sauce that is thicker, nuttier, and quieter about the garlic without ever being shy. It takes about four minutes in a food processor and it is the entire reason this dinner works.
Cod is the right fish for it because it is mild and thick and comes apart in big translucent flakes that carry sauce beautifully. The trick is a dry surface and a hot pan: give it three or four minutes without touching it, and it will release on its own with a golden face. The green beans get the same pan afterward, left alone until they blister and blacken in patches, which turns them sweet in a way that gently steamed beans never manage. Sliced garlic goes in for the last minute so it toasts rather than burns, and the whole plate is built out of one skillet and one bowl.
A small occasion of a dinner, without spending an hour on it. Everything happens in one skillet, the sauce can be made two days ahead, and the plate looks like something when it lands on the table. It is also the rare fish dinner that people go quiet over, which I take as the highest compliment a weeknight meal can get. If there is skordalia left in the bowl, it is very good the next day spread thick on toast with a sliced tomato and a little more lemon over it, which is how it usually ends up in my house.
Ingredients
- 4 thick cod fillets (about 5 oz each), patted dry
- 1 1/2 lb green beans, stem ends snapped off
- 2/3 cup blanched almonds
- 7 garlic cloves, 4 for the sauce and 3 sliced thin for the beans
- 3 1/2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
- 3 1/2 tbsp fresh lemon juice, plus wedges for the table
- 2 tsp red wine or cider vinegar
- 1/4 cup chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley
- 1/4 tsp fine sea salt
- 1/2 tsp coarsely ground black pepper
Instructions
- Make the skordalia: Put the almonds in a food processor with the 4 garlic cloves and half the salt and run it until the nuts are ground to a fine, sandy meal, about a minute. Add 2 1/2 tablespoons of the lemon juice, the vinegar, and 3 tablespoons of cold water and run again. With the motor going, pour in 2 tablespoons of the olive oil in a thin stream until the sauce turns pale and thick, like a loose hummus. The stream has to be thin, since oil poured in all at once sits on top instead of emulsifying into the almonds. Add water a teaspoon at a time if it is too stiff to spoon.
- Let it sit: Scrape the skordalia into a bowl and leave it on the counter while you cook. Twenty minutes is enough for the garlic to soften from sharp to round, and the sauce thickens slightly as the almonds absorb the liquid. Taste it before it goes on the plate and adjust the lemon.
- Dry and season the fish: Pat the cod fillets very dry on both sides with paper towel, then season them with the rest of the salt and half the black pepper. Wet fish steams and sticks, and a dry surface is most of what separates a golden crust from a gray one. Let them sit at room temperature while the pan heats.
- Sear the cod: Heat 1 tablespoon of the olive oil in a 12-inch skillet over medium-high until it shimmers and moves easily. Lay the fillets in, skinned side up, and leave them alone for 4 minutes, because cod releases from the pan on its own once a crust has formed and breaks apart if you lift it early. They will release from the pan on their own when the crust has formed. Turn them once and cook 2 to 3 minutes more, until the flesh is opaque all the way through and flakes when you press it with the back of a fork. Move them to a warm plate.
- Blister the beans: Add the remaining olive oil to the same pan, turn the heat to high, and add the green beans in one layer with the rest of the black pepper. Leave them still for 3 minutes so that the undersides blacken in patches, since beans that are stirred give up their water and stew instead of blistering, then toss and cook 4 to 5 minutes more, until they are blistered and just tender with a little squeak left. Add the sliced garlic in the last minute and toss until it smells toasted.
- Plate it: Spoon a wide smear of skordalia onto each plate and set a cod fillet over it rather than sauce over the fish, so that the crust you just spent six minutes building stays a crust. Scatter the parsley over everything, add the remaining lemon juice over the fish, and put lemon wedges on the table.
Variations
- Walnut skordalia: Walnuts in place of the almonds give a darker, more bitter sauce that suits a stronger fish. Use the same weight and add a little extra lemon.
- Roasted garlic: Swap two of the sauce cloves for four roasted ones for a sweeter, rounder sauce that children will actually eat.
- Beets alongside: Boiled beets dressed with vinegar are the classic Greek partner for skordalia. Add a bowl of them to the table for a fuller plate.
- Broiled instead of seared: Broil the fillets 6 inches from the element for 7 to 8 minutes if you would rather not stand at the stove, and blister the beans in a hot oven at 450°F.
- Dill and caper finish: Chopped dill in place of the parsley and a spoonful of rinsed capers over the fish push the plate toward the islands.
Storage & Leftovers
The skordalia keeps five days in a sealed jar in the refrigerator and the garlic mellows further every day, so a batch made on Sunday is rounder by Wednesday. It stiffens when cold, so let it sit out for 15 minutes and stir in a little water before serving.
Cooked cod keeps two days and no longer. Store it in a shallow covered container and reheat it gently, covered, in a low oven at 275°F for eight minutes, or eat it cold flaked over salad, which is honestly the better option. Fish reheated hard goes rubbery and smells strong.
The green beans keep three days and are good cold. Do not freeze this plate. The cod goes watery and the beans collapse, and the skordalia separates as it thaws. If you want to get ahead, freeze nothing and simply make the sauce two days early.
Notes & Tips
- Grind the almonds first, alone: Nuts ground with liquid already in the bowl stay gritty. Take them to a fine meal on their own, then add the lemon and water and the sauce comes out smooth.
- Cold water, not warm: Cold water keeps the emulsion tight as the oil goes in. Warm water loosens the sauce and it can break into a puddle of oil.
- Dry the fish properly: Two minutes with paper towel is the single biggest factor in whether cod browns or sticks. Do it right before it goes in the pan, not an hour ahead.
- Use the fish pan for the beans: Everything the cod left behind ends up on the green beans. Do not wash the skillet between them.
- Let the beans sit still: Beans tossed constantly steam and go army green. Left alone on high heat for three minutes, they blacken in patches and turn sweet.
- Garlic goes in last: Sliced garlic added at the start of a high-heat pan is burnt before the beans are done. One minute at the end is all it needs.
Nutrition & Mindful Eating
- The cod, the almonds, and the beans divide the work on this plate. The fish carries the protein and stays light, the almond sauce underneath brings the fat and the body that make it satisfying, and a pound and a half of green beans is what turns two components into a dinner.
- Cod is a mild, close-textured white fish that flakes into big translucent pieces, and it is dense in protein while carrying almost no saturated fat, along with selenium and vitamin B12.
- Almonds ground into the sauce are doing more than thickening it. They bring vitamin E, magnesium, and a soft fiber, and their fat is what lets the sauce hold together and coat the fish.
- Green beans blistered hard in a dry pan go sweet and slightly smoky, and they keep enough snap to be interesting. They carry fiber and vitamin K, and the blistering concentrates rather than washes out their flavor.
- Garlic, lemon, and a splash of vinegar are the whole seasoning, and they are doing something specific: the acid keeps a rich almond sauce from sitting heavily, and the garlic softens from sharp to sweet in the twenty minutes the sauce rests before it hits the plate.
- As you eat, drag each forkful of cod through the sauce and notice how the garlic softens against the lemon, and give the plate the few extra minutes it takes to eat fish slowly.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is this going to be very garlicky?
It is a garlic sauce, so yes, though less fiercely than the potato versions. Four cloves in a batch this size is moderate by Greek standards. If you want it gentler, drop to two cloves or blanch them in boiling water for a minute first, which takes the edge off without losing the flavor.
Can I use a different fish?
Yes. Halibut, hake, and pollock all behave the same way and take a sear well. What you want is a thick white fillet that flakes in large pieces, since thin fish overcooks before it browns and gets lost under a sauce this assertive.
My cod stuck to the pan and tore. What happened?
It was turned too early. Fish releases itself once the crust has set, so if it resists, give it another 30 seconds and try again. The other cause is a surface that was not dry enough, so be thorough with the paper towel.
Can I make the skordalia without a food processor?
You can, and this is how it was done for centuries. Pound the almonds and garlic to a paste in a mortar with the salt, then work in the lemon, the vinegar, and the oil a little at a time with the pestle. It takes about fifteen minutes and comes out with more texture, which I like.