Skrei with Szechuan pepper sauce

Ingredients for 4 servings:

• 4 cod fillets (Skrei fillets), each 180 g
• 1 tbsp oil
• Salt
• 100 ml fish stock
• 4 sprigs of thyme
• 50 g butter
• 20 g flour (if you want the sauce to be thicker, use a little more)
• 1 shallot(s)
• 150 ml fish stock
• 50 ml vermouth (e.g. Noilly Prat)
• 100 ml cream
• 2 tsp Szechuan pepper, whole grains, ground
• 1 sprig(s) thyme, (leaves picked)
• Salt
• lemon juice

Instructions

Working time approx. 20 minutes; Cooking/baking time approx. 20 minutes; Total time approx. 40 minutes

Skrei is winter cod, so the dish can also be prepared with regular cod

First, prepare the sauce. While the sauce is cooking, you can prepare the fish. For the sauce: Finely dice the shallot. Melt the butter in a saucepan and sauté the diced onion. Dust with flour, let it cook briefly, and then deglaze with the fish stock. Add the cream and vermouth, bring to a boil, and simmer over low heat for about 20 minutes to remove the flour. Meanwhile, heat the oil in a shallow roasting pan or frying pan. Season with salt. Gently fry on both sides in the roasting pan over medium heat. Pour in 100 ml of the fish stock. Add the thyme sprigs and cook in a preheated oven at 140°C on the lowest rack for 6-8 minutes (convection oven for about 6 minutes). If you like, you can now strain the sauce through a sieve to retain the diced onion. Add the fish stock from cooking the Skrei fillets. Then season with Szechuan pepper, thyme leaves, salt, and lemon juice. Serve with parsley potatoes.