Crispy cod schnitzel with slow-roasted tomatoes

Inspired by Ben Slater's crispy cod schnitzel video (@slaterchef). His video gives no quantities or temperatures, so the numbers below are my own working, not his.

There was cod in the fridge and this was the plan. The tomatoes and chillies roasted for about 50 minutes at 150°C fan, until blistered and caramelised. No foil needed: the oil and juices stopped them sticking, and the sticky bits on the tray are worth scraping up.

Straight out of the oven the tomatoes tasted a bit flat, so I stirred in a teaspoon each of fish sauce and pickle juice, a pinch of sugar and a squeeze of lime while they were still warm. Then the cod was crumbed, shallow-fried and laid on top. It worked.

Next time: season the tomatoes more before they go in the oven.

You'll need

Tomatoes

• About 500 g cherry tomatoes
• 2–4 red chillies, pricked all over
• 1–2 tbsp fish sauce
• 1–2 tbsp pickled (sushi) ginger brine
• 1 knob stem ginger, grated
• A little olive oil

Schnitzel

• 2 cod fillets
• Plain flour
• 2 eggs, blitzed with 2–3 lime leaves
• Panko breadcrumbs
• Oil for shallow frying, a knob of butter

Rice

• 150 g jasmine rice
• 2 lime leaves, 1 lemongrass stalk, 1–2 tbsp desiccated coconut

Salad

• 1–2 shallots, thinly sliced
• 1–2 limes (zest and juice), salt, oil
• Soft herbs: coriander, mint or Thai basil

Prep

1. Heat the oven to 150°C fan / 170°C conventional / gas 3.
2. Toss the tomatoes and chillies with fish sauce, ginger brine, ginger and oil. Roast for 50–75 min until jammy. Start this first.
3. Rinse the rice; put it in a pan with 1.5× its volume of water, lime leaves, bashed lemongrass and coconut. Lid on, heat off.
4. Bash the cod between baking paper to 1–1.5 cm thick; salt lightly.
5. Coat in flour, then egg, then panko. Chill until frying.
6. Mix the shallots with lime zest, juice, salt and oil. Wash the herbs.

Cook

1. About 30 min before the tomatoes are done, bring the rice to the boil, then lowest heat, lid on, 10 min. Rest off the heat 10 min.
2. When the tomatoes are jammy, taste. If flat, stir in a little fish sauce, pickle juice, sugar and lime. Keep warm in the switched-off oven.
3. Heat a few mm of oil over medium-high until a crumb sizzles straight away.
4. Fry the cod 2–3 min until golden, add butter, flip, then 2–3 min more, basting.
5. Drain on kitchen paper; salt.
6. Tear the herbs into the shallots. Plate tomatoes, schnitzel on top, then salad, rice and a lime wedge.

Swaps

• No stem ginger: 1 tsp grated fresh ginger + 1 tsp honey or golden syrup.
• No sushi-ginger brine: 1 tbsp rice or cider vinegar + 1 tsp sugar + pinch of salt. Gherkin brine at a push: half as much, plus a pinch of sugar.
• No lime leaves: lime zest in the eggs and rice.
• Chicken works instead of cod.

Recipe inspired by Ben Slater · watch his video