Pan Seared Cod with Chardonnay Butter Sauce and Rice Pilaf with sliced almonds and Golden Raisins

Ingredients for rice: 

1.5 cups of Chardonnay wine

1/2 cup golden raisins

2 cups water

1 TBSP unsalted butter

pinch of salt

1.5 cups long grain rice, like jasmine

1/2 cup sliced almonds

1 TBSP parsley

Directions for rice - start this first: 

1. In a small pot, heat 1/2 cup Chardonnay on low with the raisins. Just warm a few minutes and then turn the heat off and let them steep and plump in the wine. 

2. Pull the raisins out of the Chardonnay and reserve for later. Keep the remaining wine in the pot. 

3. To that pot, add remaining wine, water, butter and salt and bring to a boil. 

4. Stir in the rice, reduce heat and cover to cook about 15-28 minutes. Check on it about 12 minutes in. 

5. Let the rice sit in the pot for 10 minutes. Fluff with a fork and then add raisins and almonds. 

6. Reserve until ready to serve. 

Ingredients for butter sauce: 

2 cups of Chardonnay wine

2 sprigs of fresh thyme

1 sage leaf

1 shallot, cut into quarters

1/2 of a lemon, juiced

2 cloves of garlic, smashed

3 TBSP cold butter

2 TBSP milk or heavy cream or half and half

3 TBSP chopped chives

fresh crack pepper

Directions for sauce - start this second: 

1. In a saucepan, add the wine, thyme, shallot, garlic. Heat on medium heat for at least 10 minutes or until reduced to a light syrup consistency. 

2. Strain and return liquid to pot. 

3. With heat on low, whisk in cream and lemon juice and bring to a simmer

4. Whisk in cold butter. When you've achieved the velvety consistency you like, add some fresh black pepper and chives. 

Ingredients for fish: 

1.5 pounds of cod fillets - 4 fillets. 

1 cup bread crumbs

1 egg

salt, pepper, chili powder

2 TBSP butter

2 TBSP canola oil

1/2 lemon for garnish

PikNik crispy potato strings

parsley for garnish

Directions for fish - this is last when the sauce is finishing up: 

1. Preheat the oven to 400 desgrees. 

2. Season fish on both sides with salt, pepper and chili powder. 

3. Whisk egg in a large dish with 1 TBSP  warm water. 

4. Add bread crumbs to another large dish. 

5. Heat a cast iron skillet to medium high heat with 2 TBSP butter and 2 TBSP canola oil until really hot. 

6. Work quickly by dipping one side of the fish in egg, then bread crumbs. Pat the bread crumbs on and then place fish, breading side down in the pan.  Repeat with each piece and get all 4 pieces in the pan. 

7. Cook on high heat for 1-2 minutes. 

8. Don't flip, just transfer the fish into the oven for 4 minutes. 

9. Remove from the oven, flip over gently. 

10. To plate, add rice on the bottom, place fish on top of the rice, add the sauce around the rice. Garnish with parsley and some piknik crispy potato sticks. 

You want to take a bite of everything together and swipe it in the sauce around your rice. I don't put the sauce on the fish because I want to keep that crispy top we created in the oven. 

Wine used for cooking was: St. Audette Lumiere Chardonnay 2019

Wine for drinking was: Michel Lynch Graves Reserve Blanc 2019