Going to be cool and dry this weekend, and

[K Frame]

cod is on sale at Giant.

That means baked creamed Cod and Potatoes for dinner Saturday.

One of my favorites!

[Andiron]

Worthless without a recipe,  and follow up pic 

[K Frame]

No recipe, really. I've never used one. I just make it.

But... here's sort of how you do it...

Pick a casserole. The size of the casserole will determine how much cod and how many potatoes you need.

Slice or cube the potatoes. Boil until they are just starting to get soft. DO NOT overboil. Drain and set aside.

Either cut the cod into strips, or cube. Strips are better with sliced potatoes, cubes are better with cubed potatoes.

Finely chop a medium onion. Sweat in a pan with some butter and salt until it's starting to go soft and translucent. Add some garlic. Don't burn the garlic.

Make a medium white sauce. Add to the white sauce some powdered mustard and any other spices you want. Melt in as much shredded cheese as you want. Go slowly, you don't want it to break.

Stir in the onions and garlic.

Butter the casserole, and layer the potatoes and cod. After each layer add some of the white sauce, making sure that you keep enough white sauce for the top.

In a pan melt some more butter and foam it out. Add seasoned bread crumbs and stir to mix. Top the casserole with the bread crumbs.

Bake in a 325 degree oven until the potatoes are done and the center is heated through.


It's best if it sits for 10 to 15 minutes before you eat it.

Plate up, and sprinkle liberally with hot sauce.

[Andiron]

Thanks for typing that out,  I'm definitely going to try it. 

My grandmother made a similar thing that was really good, but it's been lost to time.  I appreciate it.

[K Frame]

I got busy with other stuff yesterday and decided not to make it. I'm going to make a pot of chili this evening for lunches the rest of the week.

Given that the cod, potatoes, and white sauce are pretty bland, you can get as inventive as you want with spices and the like.

I've occasionally done a white wine reduction with the onions and garlic. Not terrible, but not great.

Shallots can be substituted for the onions and garlic.

Bacon or ham wouldn't be a bad addition at all.

I've always loved relatively simple dishes like this.


One of the other things you can do to increase the richness of the sauce a bit is to beat an egg with about a tablespoon of milk and then temper it into the sauce as it finishes.

If you don't know what tempering is, it's adding a little of the hot sauce to the egg a little at a time to raise the egg's temperature to ensure that it won't curdle when you add it to the sauce. If you've never done it before, google it. It's easy, but very important.