P and I had a long weekend in Winchester, it was a foodie weekend due to the restaurants we visited. Our first stop was hugh’s river cottage restaurant which served lovely food and the decor was beautiful. The next night we went to rick steins restaurant I had a shellfish platter and P had monkfish with a red wine sauce and lentils, it was awesome. I never thought fish and red wine would go together, white wine yes but red? It worked a treat with the meaty hake and earthy lentils if you have some red wine knocking around I would defo recommend giving this a go.

Ingredients (serves 2)

• 1 tbsp Butter
• 2 chunky Cod fillets
• 1 Shallot, chopped finely
• 1 small Carrot, chopped finely
• 2 sticks of Celery chopped finely
• Pinch of ground Allspice
• 2 Cloves
• Large Pinch of Curry Powder
• Large Pinch of Turmeric
• 300ml Red wine
• 300ml Chicken Stock
• 50g dried Puy lentils
• 300ml water
• 1 Bay leaf

Directions

Turn on oven to 200 degrees C

First put the Puy lentils into a saucepan and add the Bay leaf and the water. Bring to the boil and then simmer on a low heat for around 20 minutes

For the sauce, melt a knob of butter in a medium saucepan and then add a glug of olive oil.Put the carrot, onion, celery and spices into the pan and fry over a high heat for 10 minutes until the vegetables are well browned. Next add the wine and the stock and the bring to theNboil. Allow sauce to boil rapidly until it has reduced by half and then strain it through a sieve into a clean pan. Add a large knob of butter to the strained sauce, check the seasoning and keep warm

Pin bone and wash the Cod fillets Put 2 tbsps. of Olive Oil in an oven proof frying pan and heat for 30 seconds on a medium heat. Next add the Cod Fillets skin side down and then turn the heat to full and fry on both sides for about 90 seconds. Put the frying pan into the oven and roast fish for 5 minutes. After 5 minutes remove fish from the oven. You want the fish just cooked through, but if its slightly opaque you might need to put it back into the oven for another minute or two. Rest the Cod fillets wrapped in foil for about 5 minutes and put any resting juices into the sauce

Strain any liquid that is left from the lentils and spoon them into 2 bowls, place the cod on top and spoon over the sauce. Enjoy 😊