This recipe originated as a quickly whipped up dinner with ingredient I had in the fridge, but an instant success. I love courgettes fritters as replacement for carbs alongside a dinner. These fritters are made extra crispy through the addition of Parmesan.
The browned butter lemon sauce really brings the dish together and is a really quick sauce to whip up for fish. Buerre Noisette if you are feeling fancy! It adds a little colour to the dish and really compliments the courgette fritters.
I am loving samphire at the moment and it looks so pretty on a plate, but asparagus, tenderstem broccoli or green beans are all perfect options.
Lemon Butter Cod with Parmesan Courgettes Fritters and Samphire
Serves 2
Ingredients:
- 2 cod fillets (skinless, or skin on)
- Approx 50g butter
- Juice of half a lemon
- A few sprigs of parsley, roughly chopped
- Lemon slices
For the Fritters:
- 500g courgettes (approx. 2 to 3 courgettes)
- 1 tsp salt
- 1 egg (beaten)
- Approx 50g parmesan (grated)
- 75g gluten free plain flour
- ½ tsp baking powder
- Pinch of pepper
STEP 1: Preheat the oven to around 120C. Grate the courgettes and place in a bowl. Sprinkle with salt, mix and leave for 10 minutes to draw out the liquid from the courgettes. Squeeze out all of the water from the courgettes using a tea towel and place in a bowl.
STEP 2: Add the egg and parmesan to the grated courgettes and mix well to combine. Sprinkle in the flour and baking powder and season with pepper. Mix well until the flour is evenly blended. The batter shouldn’t be too watery – add a little more flour if necessary.
STEP 3: Heat a little oil in a non stick pan. Form thin patties from the courgette batter with your hands and add to the frying pan. You may have to cook in more than one batch depending on the size of the pan. The patties should be roughly the size of a burger but thinner – approx. 1 cm thickness. Cook for approx. 3 minutes on each side – they should be nicely golden brown on both sides. Transfer to a baking sheet and place in the oven to keep warm while you cook the remaining fritters and prepare the rest of the meal.
STEP 4: Add a knob of butter to the frying pan (I just use the same one recently vacated by the fritters) on a medium-high heat until bubbling. Add the cod fillets, skin side down if not using skinless fillets. Cook for 2-3 minutes and then carefully turn. Cook for a further 2-3 minutes on the otherside.
STEP 5: Bring a pan of water to the boil. Remove the cod from the frying pan and set aside, cover with tin foil to keep warm. Add the samphire to the pan of water. Add the remaining butter to the frying pan and bubble until browned. Add the lemon juice and stir gently. Remove from the heat.
STEP 6: To serve plate the fritters, top with the cod, scatter the samphire and spoon over the lemon butter sauce. Sprinkle with a pinch of chopped parsley.
STEP 7: Serve with lemon slices. Enjoy!
