Local Cod Wrapped in Local Savoy Cabbage Leaf and Tied with a Chive Ribbon

As you may know, I own the in Aquebogue, but I’m not the chef.  In this column, I don’t reveal recipes we serve at the Bistro, although in a previous article I did write my own variation of the Bistro’s . My Chef, Aristodemos Pavlou, doesn’t like to reveal his recipes. He doesn’t tell them to me, and he certainly doesn’t want me to reveal them to the public.

This recipe is “inspired” by a dish Chef Arie serves at the Bistro - local cod wrapped in savoy cabbage, tied up with a chive stalk ribbon. What’s different is that Chef Arie makes a local crab bisque sauce, while mine is a white wine and lemon sauce.

Ingredients:

• Local cod, cut into 4 oz. rectangular pieces
• Local savoy cabbage leaves, enough to wrap each piece of fish
• Chive stalks – Chef Arie says the big, long ones are better for tying
• 4 tbsp. butter
• A little olive oil
• Salt, pepper
• Fresh rosemary or thyme leaves or chopped chives for garnish
• 2 tbsp. white wine (local preferred)
• Half a lemon

Boil water in a saucepan and blanch the savoy cabbage leaves for 1-2 minutes, then rinse immediately in lots of cold water and drain in a colander. Cut out the thick center vein of each leaf. Chef Arie and I both agree, savoy cabbage is much better than regular cabbage – it’s more tender, more flexible, tastes better, makes a nicer presentation, and is available locally on the North Fork – but you can use regular cabbage leaves too.

Wrap a leaf around each piece of fish, and tie up with a chive stalk, as if tying a package with a ribbon. I wrote of the . We grow plenty of chives in the Bistro herb garden, as well as at my house in Mattituck.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

Sprinkle the fish packets with salt and pepper. Heat 1 tbsp. of butter and a little olive oil in a skillet and cook each fish packet, seam side up, for about 2 minutes.  Flip over and cook, seam side down, for another 2 minutes. Put seam side down onto a baking sheet and bake 7-10 minutes in the oven.

Meanwhile, in the skillet, melt the remaining 3 tbsp. of butter, add the 2 tbsp of white wine, heat through, add the juice of a half lemon, then salt and pepper to taste. Put the finished fish packet on the plate and spoon the white wine, butter and lemon sauce over the fish.

Sprinkle the fresh rosemary, fresh thyme, or the chopped chives on the fish or around the plate for a little garnish.