Steamed Cod on Black Rice with Tomato and Taggiasca Olives
Steamed cod fillet on a bed of Il Moro black rice, fresh tomato, Taggiasca olives and capers. Light Mediterranean cooking.
A light Mediterranean main course: cod fillet steamed with lemon zest and thyme, laid on a bed of Il Moro wholegrain black rice boiled the English way and dressed cold, napped with a sauce of fresh diced tomato, Taggiasca olives and desalted capers. Naturally gluten-free, dairy-free, with nothing fried. Fifteen minutes of active work, eight to ten minutes of steam, on the table in fifty minutes total for four people.
Steaming fish is one of the most honest ways of cooking there is: no flour, nothing fried, no heavy sauce to hide the flaws. You set the fillet on the basket, the water beneath bubbles with lemon zest and thyme, and in eight minutes the cod is ready, firm, opaque white, clean. Underneath, a bed of black rice that serves as both base and counterpoint: dark, fragrant, crisp against the white of the fish.
For the Mediterranean version we like to make in late June, when the tomatoes from our garden start to ripen in earnest, the herb sauce of the classic recipe gives way to a sauce of fresh raw diced tomato, pitted Taggiasca olives, salt-packed capers that have been desalted, hand-torn basil and oregano. Our Il Moro wholegrain black rice, dried at low temperature in the Lumellogno drying house, holds up its side of the conversation: a mineral, slightly nutty note that offsets the sweetness of the tomato and the briny savour of the olives.
Ingredients for 4 People
Ingredients
- 280 g Il Moro Acqua e Sole Wholegrain Black Rice
- 4 cod fillets of 150 g (MSC or certified sustainable fishing)
- 4 ripe vine tomatoes (about 400 g in total)
- 60 g pitted Taggiasca olives in oil
- 1 tablespoon salt-packed capers (desalted in water for 15 minutes)
- 4 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil (for the sauce)
- 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil (for the rice)
- 1 small clove of garlic
- 6-8 leaves of fresh basil
- 1 teaspoon fresh oregano (or good-quality dried)
- 1 organic lemon (zest in strips for the steam)
- 4 sprigs of fresh thyme
- to taste coarse salt, fine salt, black pepper, white pepper
Notes from Home
- Proper tomatoes in season, from June to September: the flavourless ones of November simply won’t do
- Salt the cod at most 5 minutes before steaming, never hours ahead: salting too early draws out water and leaves the fillet soft
- Tear the basil by hand, never with a knife: oxidation blackens it within minutes
- Desalt salt-packed capers for 15 minutes in water, then dry them: vinegar capers overpower the tomato
- Blanch the garlic for 30 seconds in boiling water: it softens the sharp bite without losing the aroma
Method
Cooking the rice (30-35 min)
We bring 2.5 litres of water to a gentle boil in a large pan and salt it with a level tablespoon of coarse salt. We pour in our Il Moro, stir once only and let it cook over moderate heat for 30-35 minutes, until the grain is soft on the outside and still slightly firm at the core. Start tasting from minute 28: wholegrain black rice takes longer than white, but it must not be overcooked.
Draining and base dressing (2 min)
Drain the rice, let it rest a minute in the colander so it loses its surface water, then tip it into a wide bowl. Dress with two tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil and a grind of white pepper. Stir with a wooden spoon and keep covered at room temperature until serving.
Diced tomatoes (3 min)
Wash the tomatoes, dry them, remove the stalk. Cut them in half, squeeze gently to get rid of the excess plant water and some of the seeds, not all of them, a few seeds hold the flavour. Cut the flesh into small half-centimetre cubes.
Aromatics, olives and capers (3 min)
Finely chop the clove of garlic, rinse it under running water for 30 seconds (a quick blanching, which softens the sharp bite). Cut the Taggiasca olives in half lengthwise. Rinse the desalted capers and dry them with kitchen paper.
Cold emulsion (4 min)
In a bowl combine the diced tomatoes, the olives, the capers and the blanched garlic. Pour in the four tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil, a pinch of salt, a grind of black pepper. Stir gently. Add the hand-torn basil (not knife-cut) and the oregano. Let it rest for 5 minutes so the flavours marry, never more than 15 or the tomato releases its water and the sauce turns watery.
Preparing the steaming basket (3 min)
Fill the base of the steamer (or of a pan with a steaming basket) with two fingers of water. Add the strips of lemon zest and two sprigs of thyme to the water: they will scent the steam from below, staying in balance with the tomato sauce without overpowering it. Bring to the boil.
Preparing and cooking the cod (10 min)
Dry the fillets with kitchen paper, run your hand against the grain to check there are no leftover bones (fish tweezers are useful here). Season lightly on both sides with fine salt, a grind of white pepper, and lay the fillets on the basket greased with the merest film of oil. A sprig of thyme on top of each fillet. When the water boils, set the basket in place, cover and cook for 8-10 minutes depending on thickness. The cod is ready when the flakes separate as you press with a fork and the colour turns from translucent to an even opaque white.
Building the bed of rice (2 min)
On each flat plate set a generous portion of our dressed Il Moro, forming a rectangular or oval bed about a centimetre and a half high. Press lightly with the back of the spoon to give it a stable base, never crush it. Transfer each cod fillet to the centre of the bed of rice, helping yourself with a wide slice: steaming leaves the fish delicate, so it is normal for a fillet to break, simply piece it back together with care.
Sauce and serving (1 min)
Stir the tomato and olive sauce once more, then nap a generous spoonful over each fillet, letting a little run onto the rice around it too. Finish with a few hand-torn basil leaves, a grind of black pepper and a thread of raw oil. Serve at once, before the fish loses its heat.
Lumellogno, Liguria, Pantelleria
Here at Lumellogno we have no sea, but the Saturday fish counter at the Novara market brings in Atlantic cod that the MSC fleet catches with judgement. The tomatoes arrive from the garden in late June, when they finally ripen in earnest, and they are cut with a knife without even needing to be peeled. The Taggiasca olives come down from Liguria, the salt-packed capers from Pantelleria, the basil grows in a pot beside the window. The Il Moro black rice we grow here, on the Novara plain, and we dry it at low temperature in our own drying house. Three different Italies on the same plate, and a steam cooking that keeps them all in balance.
Lumellogno · Liguria · Pantelleria
Il Moro as a base for Mediterranean fish
Il Moro wholegrain black rice is the variety we keep in the pantry when we want a dark base for delicate fish dishes. Compared with the classic white, it has a flavour of its own, a mineral and slightly nutty note that converses with the sweetness of the tomato and the briny savour of the olives without being overpowered, and a hold in cooking that leaves it whole even after 35 minutes of boiling. The difference is made by the low-temperature drying we do at Lumellogno, in our own drying house: it is a slow step that does not break the inner structure of the grain, and the rice stays separate under the fillet instead of going to mush on contact with the steam.
«For steamed cod in a Mediterranean key Il Moro works because it has character but does not bully: its mineral note offsets the tomato, the grain stays whole under the fillet, no competition, only balance.» From the Acqua e Sole kitchen, Lumellogno
A word of warning we feel we should give: the tomato sauce should be made at most fifteen minutes before serving, no more. If you leave it standing for an hour the tomato gives up all its water and what was a fresh sauce becomes a wet salad. It is made while the rice boils and the cod goes into the steam: the timings of the recipe are designed precisely so that everything arrives ready together.
Questions about steamed cod and black rice
Which cod should I choose to be sure of sustainability?
Can I use frozen fish?
Can the cod be replaced with another fish?
Suggested Pairing
To accompany this dish we like Piedmontese whites with good acidity and freshness, which stand up to the savour of the olives and capers without covering the cod. We happily open an Erbaluce di Caluso DOCG dry, or a young Roero Arneis DOCG, served cellar-fresh.
For those after something more festive, an Alta Langa DOCG brut, the Piedmontese classic method, goes beautifully with the steam of the fish and the herbaceous note of the sauce. Avoid the big tannic reds such as Barolo or Barbaresco: at cellar temperature they close up and clash with the freshness of the tomato.
Il Moro Acqua e Sole Wholegrain Black Rice
Our wholegrain black rice, grown at Lumellogno and dried at low temperature in our own drying house. A whole grain that holds the boil and makes an elegant base for steamed fish. A mineral, slightly nutty note that converses with the sweetness of the tomato and the savour of the Taggiasca olives, without overpowering the cod.
Take Il Moro homeOriginal Acqua e Sole recipe, from our kitchen at Lumellogno.