Curried Cod with Potato Stacks

The first time I made this outstanding recipe, everything slid onto the floor as I transferred the stacks of vegetables and fish from the skillet to the serving dishes. A lesson learned: If you want the great presentation this recipe deserves, buy a set of baking rings to hold everything together.

I last used these rings for another excellent dish: Crab and Fennel Potato Towers. My baking rings are 3-½ in. (9 cm) wide and 1 in. (2.54 cm) high. They turn a good recipe like this into a great one!

Because a relatively large proportion of this recipe uses vegetables, this is an economical dish to make. The chunk of cod I bought for slightly more than $2 serves four or five adult diners - a genuine bargain! With taste, economy, and speed of preparation in mind, this recipe is a keeper! Served with a first-course salad, it’s also a complete and fully satisfying meal.  

Curried Cod with Potato Stacks: 

1/4 c. (60 mL) butter or margarine, melted
1 tsp. (5 mL) curry powder
1 tbsp. (15 mL) fresh lemon juice
One 11 oz. (312 g) cod, basa, snapper, barramundi or similar white fish, cut into 4 or 5 fillets
1 large red-skinned potato, skin left on and sliced thin
1 medium onion, sliced thin
1 carrot, scraped but not peeled, angle-sliced
2 tbsp. (30 mL) red bell pepper (“capsicum”), diced
2 tbsp. (30 mL) yellow bell pepper (“capsicum”), diced
Dash salt and freshly ground pepper
1-1/2 c. (375 mL) chicken, fish, or vegetable stock
2 tbsp. (10 mL) frozen peas, thawed

Combine butter, curry powder, and lemon juice in shallow plate or dish. Add fish, turning to coat both sides. Set aside in refrigerator. 

Turn to coat second side; refrigerate.

Place four or five baking rings in large skillet (see Note). Into each, stack potatoes, onions, carrots, bell peppers, and seasoning. Add stock. Over medium-high heat, bring just to the boil. Cover skillet, reducing heat to medium-low. Simmer 10 min., until potatoes are tender-firm but not cooked through. 

Stack vegetables in rings; add stock to skillet.

Simmer 10 min., until potato slices are tender-firm.

Top each stack with chunk of lightly curried fish, adding buttery marinade to stock. Re-cover skillet: Simmer a further 5 min., allowing fish to steam. 

Top potato stacks with fish; add marinade to stock in skillet.

Sprinkle peas inside baking rings, over and around fish. Re-cover skillet, heating peas through 1-to-2 min. Slip a wide spatula under baking rings, transferring potato-fish stacks to serving plates or bowls.  Remove baking rings.

Re-covering skillet just until peas heat through. 

Decant simmering stock from skillet to small jug. Pour hot stock over and around each potato-fish stack immediately before serving. 

Note: The inside diameter of your skillet determines how much stock to use. I used a large skillet with an inside diameter of 9-1/2 in. (24 cm).My skillet has sloping sides, so its outside diameter is about 2 in. (29 cm) greater. 

Pour lightly curried stock over and around fish.