Cod Brandades in Chilli-Coconut Cream Sauce

Here, in Ben Garfinkel’s own words, is Mark Busse and Ben’s prize-winning entry that took first place in Blue Dragon’s cooking competition! Improvising with the ingredients on hand and using no recipe (as per the competition’s rules), Mark and Ben’s excellent dish certainly caught the judges’ attention!

Cod Brandades in Chilli-Coconut Cream Sauce: 

Our Vietnamese-inspired “brandades” (see Note) were a mixture of cooked white rice, cooked/chopped rice noodles, egg, salt and pepper, chopped green onion, sautéed white onion and garlic, fresh ginger, cod poached in coconut milk and Blue Dragon Chilli Coconut Stir-Fry Sauce (save these combined liquids!). These were formed into patties in ring molds and baked at 400 deg. F. for 20 min.

We used prawns shelled and marinated for 30 min. in a mixture of Blue Dragon Vietnamese Nuoc Cham dipping sauce, Sweet Chilli Sauce, and pepper. They were then flash-grilled for 30 sec. per side.

Slicing pineapple into wedges, we marinated it with Blue Dragon Sweet Chilli Sauce and grilled it for 5 min. To accompany our dish, we sliced Shanghai bok choy in half, brushed it with a little oil seasoned with salt and pepper, and grilled it 5 min.

Reducing the reserved coconut-milk poaching liquid (above) with a little white wine, we spooned it over the brandades and prawns. We finished the “brandades” with a flurry of roasted, chopped cashews and a sprinkling of julienned carrot and yellow pepper.

Note: A traditional “brandade” is an emulsion of salt cod and and olive oil, originally from France. Mark and Rick's version is their interpretation of the traditional.