One-Pot Miso Butter Cod & Rice

Ingredients

• 4 cod fillets
• 300 g basmati rice
• 100 g frozen peas
• black pepper, to taste
• 1 leek, halved and finely sliced
• 2 garlic cloves, crushed
• 750 ml vegetable or fish stock
• 1 tbsp white miso paste
• 25 g butter
• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 1 lemon, cut into wedges
• 2 tbsp chives or parsley, chopped
• Pickled cucumber, to serve

Method

1. Mash the butter and miso together in a small bowl until smooth and uniformly beige. Set aside — it'll melt into the stock later and carry seasoning right through the rice.
2. Heat the olive oil in a large lidded sauté pan over a medium heat. Add the leek with a small pinch of salt and cook for about 4 minutes, stirring now and then, until softened and silky but not coloured. The salt pulls moisture out and stops it catching.
3. Stir in the garlic and cook just until fragrant — 30 seconds, no more. Burnt garlic turns the whole dish bitter, so watch it and move on the moment it smells sweet.
4. Tip in the rice and stir for a full minute to coat every grain in the oil. You're toasting the starch lightly so the grains stay separate later, not gluey.
5. Pour in the stock and bring to a gentle simmer. Pat the cod fillets dry, season generously with salt and pepper, and lay them on top of the rice. Dot the miso butter over the fish and around the pan — as it melts it becomes the pan sauce, swirling through the stock and glossing the rice from above.
6. Cover, drop the heat to low and cook undisturbed for 15 minutes. No peeking — every lift of the lid loses steam the rice needs.
7. Scatter the peas over the top, replace the lid and cook for a further 3 to 5 minutes, until the rice is tender, the peas are bright green, and the cod flakes easily under a fork.
8. Take the pan off the heat and leave it to stand, lid on, for 5 minutes — this finishes the rice and lets the miso butter settle into the grains. Taste a spoonful of rice now: most of the salt comes from the miso and stock, but adjust with a final pinch if it needs lifting.
9. Crack over plenty of black pepper, shower with the chopped herbs, and bring the pan to the table. Spoon the cod and rice onto plates, squeeze a lemon wedge over each portion — the acid cuts through the miso butter and wakes the whole bowl up — and add a tangle of pickled cucumber alongside.