Bella Italia – Pesce del giorno | Polenta | Spinaci

Ingredients for 5 servings:

• 6 cod fillets (approx. 150-200 g per person, with skin)
• salt and pepper
• 3 tbsp rapeseed oil
• 1 garlic clove(s)
• rosemary sprig(s)
• thyme sprig(s)
• 1 tbsp butter
• 2 shallots
• olive oil
• 2 garlic cloves
• 500 g leaf spinach
• ½ tsp nutmeg
• 1 tsp salt
• Pepper from the mill
• 200 g polenta
• 500 ml vegetable stock
• 50 ml cream
• 50 ml milk
• 30 g butter
• 3 bunches of basil
• 2 bunches of parsley
• 60 g Parmesan, grated
• 1 garlic clove(s)
• 100 g pine nuts
• 150 ml olive oil
• ½ tsp sea salt
• Pepper from the mill
• 2 portobello mushrooms
• 5 olives (Taggiasca olives without stones)
• 1 tbsp pine nuts
• 2 sprigs of parsley
• 3 tbsp panko
• 1 tsp turmeric
• 50 g goat’s cheese
• 20 g Parmesan
• 2 sprigs of thyme
• 5 oranges
• 2 shallots
• 2 tbsp rapeseed oil
• 5 tbsp white wine
• ½ tsp cayenne pepper
• 2 star anise
• 2 bay leaves
• ½ tsp cardamom powder
• 3 tbsp flakes of butter, cold
• salt and pepper

Instructions

Working time approx. 55 minutes; Rest time approx. 5 minutes; Cooking/baking time approx. 1 hour 20 minutes; Total time approx. 2 hours 20 minutes

from the show “The Perfect Dinner” on VOX from 24.03.2025

Wash the fish, pat dry, and season with salt. Heat the rapeseed oil in a pan and fry the fish skin-side down until golden brown. Carefully turn the fish over in the pan, add the crushed garlic clove, thyme and rosemary, and the butter, and brown the fish in the hot butter. Wash the spinach thoroughly, drain, and bring to a boil in salted water. Pour into a sieve, refresh with cold water, and drain. Heat the olive oil in a pan and briefly sauté the chopped shallots and garlic. Stir in the drained spinach. Season with salt, pepper, and nutmeg. For the polenta, first make the pesto. Peel the garlic cloves and chop into large cubes. Roast the pine nuts in a pan without fat until golden brown. Rinse the basil and parsley, shake dry, and pluck the leaves from the stems, then roughly chop. Measure the olive oil and add it to a blender along with the garlic, pine nuts, basil, parsley, and Parmesan cheese. Blend until smooth. Season with salt and pepper. Combine the vegetable stock, cream, and milk in a saucepan and bring to a boil. Add the cornmeal all at once and stir in, then simmer over low heat until swelled or stir until the polenta is creamy. Stir in the pesto and butter and season with salt. Clean the portobello mushrooms and remove the stems. Pick and finely chop the parsley leaves. Finely dice the Taggiasca olives. Toast the pine nuts in a dry pan. Mix the cream cheese with the olives, pine nuts, panko bread, turmeric, and parsley and season to taste. Finely chop the thyme and Parmesan cheese. Preheat the oven grill. Fry the mushroom caps in hot oil with thyme sprigs for about 3-4 minutes on each side, season with salt and pepper. Remove the mushrooms, place them open-side up in a baking dish, and spread the stuffing on top. Sprinkle with thyme and Parmesan cheese. Bake in the oven on the middle rack for a few minutes until golden brown. For the orange sauce, juice the oranges. Heat the oil in a saucepan and sauté the chopped shallots. Add the bay leaves, star anise, and cardamom and sauté, then deglaze with white wine. Add the orange juice and reduce the liquid by half. Season with salt, pepper, and cayenne pepper. Stir in the cold butter with a hand blender and blend until fluffy. Bissi prepared this recipe as a main course in the show “The Perfect Dinner” – Day 1 in the AIDA special “On the High Seas II”, on Monday, March 24, 2025.