Pellet Smoker Cooking: Baked Cod over Wild Mushroom Rice

Apr 03 2014

Last night we ate a little on the fat side, double brat burgers and butter on corn on the cob. Tonight I did something more on the healthy side, baked cod and wild mushroom rice with a side salad.

My salad was classic Romaine mix with some crumbled Feta with tomatoes and basil topped with Italian dressing.

I had some dried wild forest mix mushrooms and some porcini mushroom powder for the rice. I reconstituted the dried mushrooms in some hot water for about 2 hours. I chopped them up and then added a half cup of the soaking water to a 2 cup measuring beaker, added a heaping teaspoon of the mushroom powder and filled to 1 ¾ cups with chicken broth. I added the chopped mushrooms in and this would go in my rice cooker with a cup of rice and a pat of butter. I like using the rice cooker since it goes to warm hold when the rice is done and I can have it hot when ready to serve.

The cod was a nice filet of wild caught Atlantic from Krogers. I used a recipe from Rachel Ray but changed ingredients some and the process. Two hours before cook time I cut up the filet in serving size pieces. I put them in a baking dish and drizzled on some lemon juice, covered and in the fridge.

I had my salads made and a cup of Panko bread crumbs browned some in a skillet with a little butter and olive oil. I turned the rice cooker on and preheated the oven to 400 deg. This was at 5:15 and we would eat at 6:00.

I took the fish from the fridge and removed from the baking dish, wiped out the excess juice and a little olive oil on the bottom. The cod went back in and topped with Hawaiian red sea salt, dried garlic flakes, dried parsley and a little ground pepper. I then spread the Panko bread crumbs over and baked for 15 minutes.

I served the cod over the mushroom rice and all tasted great, it did need some more salt. The cod was just right, mild and flaky. I will be using this method for fish again. The soaking with lemon juice helps remove fishy taste and gives a good flavor along with the other seasoning.

For the rice