Matt Tebbutt's glazed cod with pickled cucumber recipe

This cod fillet recipe is a great way to turn a fish dish into a truly delicious meal. Glazed with a cola marinade, this cod recipe with an Asian twists will be a crowd-pleaser. For the marinade, you'll need a can of cola, dry sherry and fresh ginger, as well as sugar and garlic. This mix of sweet and savoury flavours plus the hint of spice of the ginger give this white fish a zingy flavour. This marinade could also be used with other types of fish, like salmon. To allow the fish to really absorb the flavour, you'll need to leave it in the marinade overnight. After you've done that, this glazed cod recipes takes around 40 mins to whip up. By serving it with cucumber, you're not getting the oily goodness from the fish but also getting some of your 5-a-day. Cucumber also has a very high water content, which makes it a low-cal side dish - ideal if you're watching the scales. Matt says: 'Glazed cod is a restaurant staple and you can achieve great results at home using cola to marinate it, believe it or not! The sherry and ginger give this an Asian twist. Try doing the same thing with salmon, too.'

Ingredients

For glazing the cod

• 1 tbsp dark brown sugar 
• 2 tbsp dry sherry 
• 1 tbsp grated fresh root ginger 
• 1 garlic clove, grated 
• 1 × 330ml can of cola, reduced over a low heat to 2 sticky tbsp 
• 4 × 200g thick-cut cod fillets

For the pickled cucumber 

• 1 cucumber, thinly sliced lengthways and seeded 
• 300ml white wine vinegar 
• 60–80g caster sugar 
• 1 tsp coriander seeds
• Salt
• Coriander leaves, to serve

Method

1. Mix all the glazing ingredients, except for the cod, together in a large bowl to make a marinade. Sit the cod, skin side up, in the marinade and leave in the fridge overnight.
2. The next day, pickle the cucumber by placing the slices in a colander, sprinkling generously with salt and leaving for 30 minutes. Warm the white wine vinegar in a small saucepan with the sugar and coriander seeds. Remove from the heat when syrupy. Squeeze the excess water from the cucumber and drop it into the syrup in the pan. Leave to cool.
3. Heat the grill to its highest setting and cook the fish under it for 10 minutes or so. Just before serving, drain the liquid from the cucumber and stir through the coriander leaves. Serve the glazed fish with the pickled cucumber.