Jono & Jules do food & wine

There are all sorts of good things going on in this dish from Ottolenghi Comfort. The beans turn lovely and creamy, the fennel is soft and sort of caramelised and the smoky ‘nduja butter is delicious. Highly recommended!

Wine Suggestion:

Braised fennel and cod with beans and ‘nduja butter – serves 4

• 60ml olive oil
• 2-3 large fennel bulbs, halved and cut into wedges
• 3 banana shallots, quartered lengthwise and peeled
• 1 head of garlic, unpeeled and halved widthways
• 1 x 400g tin of cannellini beans (or black-eyed beans – we couldn’t get these this time)
• 150ml chicken stock
• 125ml dry white wine (or dry vermouth if you have it)
• 4 skinless cod fillets (or haddock or hake)
• 50g crème fraîche
• 5g chives, finely chopped
• lemon wedges, to serve

FOR THE ‘NDUJA BUTTER:

• 45g unsalted butter
• 25g ‘nduja paste (we used an Irish one from Corndale Farm in Limavady)
• ¾ tsp Urfa chilli flakes
• ¾ tsp chipotle chilli flakes
• ½ tsp smoked paprika

Heat the oven to 220C fan.

You need a shallow casserole dish with a lid. Cut out a piece of baking paper into a circle roughly a cm less than the width of your dish.

Put the olive oil into the casserole and put over a medium-high heat. Add the fennel, shallots and garlic and sauté for about 6 minutes, or until the veg starts to catch a little.

Add the beans, stock, wine, 1 tsp of salt and a generous amount of black pepper. Stir gently and bring to a simmer, then place the paper on top, cover with the lid and bake in to the hot oven for 30 minutes or until the vegetables are soft. Remove the parchment and return to the oven without the lid (you can add a splash more stock or water if it looks a bit dry). Bake for another 10-15 minutes, until the vegetables have browned here and there.

Meanwhile, combine all the ingredients for the ‘nduja butter in a small saucepan and put over a medium-low heat. Bring to a gentle simmer, breaking the ‘nduja up with the back of a spoon to incorporate with the butter, then remove from the heat.

Season the fish very lightly with salt and some pepper. Drizzle 1½ tsp of the ‘nduja butter over each fish fillet and reserve the rest. Take the pan out of the oven and place the fish on top. Return to the oven, uncovered, for 7-10 minutes or until the fish is just cooked.

Remove from the oven and allow to rest for 5 minutes, then dollop on the crème fraîche, drizzle with the rest of the ‘nduja buttter and sprinkle with the chives. Serve with the lemon wedges for squeezing over.

(Original recipe from Ottolenghi Comfort by Yotam Ottolenghi, Helen Goh, Verena Lochmuller & Tara Wigley, Ebury Press, 2024.)