Active preparation time: 25 minutes
Cooking time: 12 minutes
Serves: 2
2 Tbs (1 fl oz/30 ml) olive oil
Two 4-oz (113-g) pieces of fresh cod or other white fish
Kosher salt
6 oz (170 g) bulk chorizo sausage
1 Tbs garlic, minced
½ lb (227 g) black mussels, rinsed clean
2 Roma tomatoes, diced
2 Tbs parsley, chopped
1½ cup (12 fl oz/355 ml) saison
Juice of half a lemon
6 Tbs butter, chilled
6 oz (170 g) cooked fettuccini
Place the olive oil into a medium sauté pan and heat on high. Season the cod with a pinch of salt. Once you begin to see wisps of smoke in the pan, place the cod, gently and carefully, in the pan. Do not shake the pan. Allow the fish to caramelize and pull off the pan organically, 2–3 minutes. Turn the fish over and repeat the process on the second side until it is cooked through. Remove the fish to a paper towel to rest while you finish the dish.
Lower the heat to medium high, add the chorizo to the pan and cook through, breaking it up into small pieces. Add the garlic, mussels, tomatoes, and a pinch of salt and cook for 1 minute. Add the parsley and beer and reduce the heat to low.
Reduce the liquid by half. Stir in the lemon juice. Remove the pan from the heat and whisk in the butter until it has melted completely and thickened the sauce. Add a pinch of salt. Add the fettuccini and toss together until the fettuccini is coated. Divide the contents of the pan evenly onto two plates. Top with the seared cod and serve.
Beer suggestions: Cook with a Boulevard Tank 7 (Kansas City, Missouri), Funkwerks Saison (Fort Collins, Colorado), or Firestone Walker Opal (Paso Robles, California), and pair with a any of those or the classic Saison Dupont (Tourpes, Belgium).