ROASTED COD WITH BACON AND LEEKS

ROASTED COD WITH BACON AND LEEKS image

Yield 20

Number Of Ingredients 20

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Ingredients

1/2 pound smoked bacon, cut into 1/2 -inch dice
3 large celery ribs, cut into 1/2 -inch dice
1 large onion, coarsely chopped
3 large garlic cloves, chopped
1 pound spinach, stemmed
Salt and freshly ground pepper
2 cups finely diced white bread, toasted
1/4 cup chopped flat-leaf parsley
1 teaspoon chopped thyme
1 teaspoon chopped tarragon
One 6-pound whole cod, boned, head off
1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
3 large leeks, white and tender green, sliced crosswise 1/2 inch thick
2 large fennel bulbs--halved, cored and thinly sliced
1 cup heavy cream
1/4 cup freshly grated or drained prepared horseradish
1 cup dry white wine
1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper
2 dozen littleneck clams, scrubbed and rinsed

Steps:

1. In large skillet, cook bacon mod low heat until lightly colored and most of fat rendered, ~10 minutes. Transfer to plate. 2. Pour off all but 2 TBL of fat. Add celery and onion, cook mod heat until tender, ~8 minutes. Add garlic and cook, stirring, until fragrant. Increase heat to mod high and add spinach. Season with salt and pepper and cook, stirring, until wilted and excess liquid evaporates, ~4 minutes. 3. Transfer spinach mix to bowl and add diced bread, bacon, parsley, thyme, tarragon. Mix well and season with salt and pepper. Let cool to room temperature. 4. Preheat 425°. Season cod inside and out with salt and pepper, rub 2 TBL olive oil all over outside of fish. Open fish and sprinkle inside with lemon juice, then fill with stuffing; press gently to close. Using a sturdy needle and thread or toothpicks inserted vertically to pin fish together. Transfer to oiled rack. 5. In large roasting pan, toss leeks and fennel with 2 TBL olive oil, salt, pepper. Spread vegetables in even layer and set cod on rack on top. Roast in center of oven ~25 minutes. 6. In large bowl, whip cream to soft peaks. Beat in horseradish, season with salt/pepper; refrigerate. 7. Remove roasting pan from oven and pour wine around fish. Sprinkle with red pepper and arrange clams around cod, hinges down. Return to oven and roast ~15 minutes longer, until cod is cooked through and clams are open; remove clams as they open. Cover opened clams with foil. 8. When cod done, remove pan, preheat broiler. Remove all open clams from pan; discard unopened. Broil cod ~2 minutes to crisp skin, rotating pan. 9. Cut fish into serving pieces. Spoon fennel and leeks onto plates and top with cod and stuffing. Spoon roasting juices and clams over top. Pass horseradish cream at table. Stuffing can be refrigerated for up to 1 day. Stuffed cod can be refrigerated for ~4 hours before cooking.