I’ve been thinking about cooking this dish for ages after having a similar one at the brilliant Bayside Social in Worthing in April. I even bought some chorizo which has been in my freezer. This morning, considering what to eat tonight, I also found some cod. It was a fillet not a nice chunky piece of cod steak, which I would ideally have chosen, but it would do well enough. A tin of butter beans was in the cupboard with chopped tomatoes. I was all set to go …

Cod with Chorizo, Bean & Tomato Ragu – Serves 1 (enough ragu for 3-4)

• 1 serving of cod (fillet, loin, steak)
• 1 small onion, finely chopped
• about 1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
• 60g diced chorizo
• 1 x 440g tin chopped tomatoes
• 1 dessertspoon tomato purée
• 1 x 400g tin of butter beans (or other white beans)
• 1 small bunch parsley (about 15g), finely chopped
• sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
• extra parsley, olive oil and a dash of white wine vinegar for dressing

Put the chopped onion with the olive oil in a medium-sized saucepan. Fry gently until softening. Add the diced chorizo. Stir in well and fry for another couple of minutes.

Then tip in the tomatoes and stir well.

Stir in the tomato purée. Taste and season a little with the salt and pepper – carefully as the chorizo will be a little salty.

Drain the beans and add to the tomato mixture; stir in well but gently, so you don’t break up the beans.

Bring to the boil and then turn down and cook very gently for about 10 minutes. Don’t put the lid on – the plan is to make a thick ragu, not a sauce.

Now add the chopped parsley. Cook for another 5 minutes, stirring quite frequently so it doesn’t stick to the bottom of the saucepan. Check the seasoning.

Now your ragu is ready. Turn off the heat. I made mine a little in advance so had to heat through gently to serve.

I was going to dress the dish with more chopped parsley but then decided to make an oil dressing. I took a small handful of flat-leaf parsley, broke off most of the stems, and put the leaves in a mortar and pestle. I poured in a little olive oil with a pinch of sea salt and started pounding, adding a little more oil as I went. When it was about the consistency I wanted I tasted it. It was a little harsh and I added a dash of white wine vinegar, which really lifted it. I transferred to a small bowl.

Come almost suppertime, I heated a grill and rubbed my cod with a little olive oil. I started warming the ragu through and I also cooked some French beans to accompany the dish. When the grill was hot I cooked the cod – it only took a short time but it will depend on what size and thickness your cod is.

I spooned some of the ragu into a shallow dish, then carefully placed the cod on top. Then I drizzled over a little of the parsley dressing.

I served the cod dish with the beans on the side.

It looked pretty special – well it is Sunday evening! It tasted gorgeous. Cod can take the strong flavours of this ragu. The ragu is a wonderful combination of slightly salty and spicy chorizo, sweet tomato and soft, creamy beans which soak up the gorgeous sauce. And going  a little extra minute or two to make the dressing added a great touch and made it more special. It had all been a bit of an experiment – and it had turned out well!

I’ve got about two portions of the ragu left over which I’ll freeze as separate portions. I can use them with cod again or the ragu would go well with something like griddled chicken.