potato wrapped cod with lemon aioli and grilled asparagus and zucchini salad

THIS FOODIE FIGHT IS ON! i’m a proud participant in the first ever foodie fight, a competition between 6 bloggers who all have to use the same 2 ingredients to put their best dish forward. it was created by nick of macheesmo and dan of the food in my beard (2 really awesome blogs). go check them out, then come right back here, because, oh, do i have something to show you.

as soon as i found out the 2 main ingredients for the competition were potatoes and lemon, my mind instantly went to potato wrapped fish. lemon works with both fish and potatoes, and potato wrapped fish = instant fish and chips. add a little spring veggie goodness, and it’s good!

i figured that the fish would be the most challenging part, but it was even harder than i thought. the key is to get the potatoes really paper thin so they’ll wrap around the fish and also fry up and stay crispy. using plastic wrap to pull the potato packet together was a huge help.

i love that the wrapped potato gives the illusion of giant scales on the fish. after wrapping all the fish pieces, i put them in the fridge to firm up and moved onto the veggies.

what’s better than asparagus and zucchini? how about grilled asparagus and zucchini? even cooking it up for just a minute or two really changes the taste. the veggies got tossed with a bit of lemon juice and lemon zest as well as salt and pepper. the slices were very thin, but even after they were cooked, they still had a healthy bite to them.

ok, back to the fish. unwrapping the fish packet from the plastic was pretty tough, but i could breathe a sigh of relief once it was in the hot pan. like anything you want to crisp up correctly, you have to actually walk away from the pan and give it a few minutes. the potato will naturally release from the pan once it’s got a good crust on it.

amazingly, the fish stays incredibly moist while the potato gets perfectly crisp. since the fish and potato were both seasoned before cooking, the only thing you have to worry about is getting it in and out of the pan carefully.

the last part of the dish that tied it all together was the aioli. i thought it would be a good sauce for the fish, and it really added a garlicky and lemony tang. finally getting to taste the finished meal just felt good. the best thing about this competition was that it pushed me to try new cooking techniques. now i just need to learn how to not have it take me 3 hours to prepare a nice meal. it’s an honor to be in this contest with the 5 other talented bloggers, and i can’t wait to see what they’ve concocted.

so one last thing – HEAD ON OVER TO THE FOODIE FIGHTS SITE TO SEE ALL OF THE ENTRIES AND VOTE!

or you can vote below:

potato wrapped cod with lemon aioli and grilled asparagus and zucchini salad
makes 2-3 servings, depending on your appetite.

for the fish
3/4 lb cod, 3/4-inch thick, skinned and cut into 4-inch long fillets
2 idaho russet potatoes, peeled
oil for frying (vegetable or canola will work)
salt and pepper to taste

for the lemon aioli
1/2 cup mayonnaise
1 tsp dijon mustard
zest of 1 lemon
juice of 1 lemon
1 Tsp olive oil
3 cloves crushed garlic
salt and pepper to taste

for the salad
1 bunch asparagus
3 baby zucchini (or 1 large)
1/4 cup olive oil
zest of 1/2 lemon
juice of 1 lemon
2 oz shaved parmesan for garnish

1. prepare the fish: halve each potato lengthwise. using a mandoline slicer, slice each potato half very thinly. on a piece of plastic wrap, lay 5 to 6 paper-thin slices in a row, overlapping long sides slightly. make another row just like the first one, overlapping the short ends of the slices in the first row to form a rectangle. sprinkle with salt and pepper.

2. pat the fish dry and sprinkle with salt and pepper. place fish across overlapped short ends of slices. fold the loose potato ends over the fish, forming a packet. press to adhere, or pat with olive oil to help seal. use the plastic wrap to help fold the pieces over and hold them together. you can place the fish packet in the fridge while you make the rest, or while you make the salad and aioli.

3. to cook the fish, heat 3-4 Tbsp oil in a skillet on medium-high heat. once the pan is hot, carefully unwrap the plastic from the potato-fish packet and place seam side down in the hot oil. cook until golden on bottom, about 4 minutes. flip and cook on other side for 2-3 minutes more. remove from pan to rest for a few minutes before serving.

4. make the aioli: mash garlic and 1/4 tsp salt in a small bowl until paste forms. whisk in mayonnaise, mustard, olive oil, lemon zest and juice, and season with salt and pepper to taste. cover and chill.

5. make the salad: using a vegetable peeler, shave the zucchini into long thin strips. thinly slice the asparagus on a diagonal. toss the slices together with olive oi. heat cast iron grill pan on medium-high heat and place vegetables strips on grill. cook for 1 minute, flip, and remove when pieces have light grill marks. toss grilled vegetables with lemon zest, juice and garnish with parmesan.