PSA: Oven-Roasted Cod Recipe

This is just to say that if you haven't tried my recipe for Oven-Roasted Cod with Tomatoes, Olives, Capers, Garlic, and Lemon, you are missing out.

That is all.

xoxo,
LPG

Oven-Roasted Cod with Tomatoes, Olives, Capers, Garlic, and Lemon

I was 32 when I started cooking; up until then, I just ate.

 --Julia Child

I think I've mentioned this dish or something similar to it in the past -- but I can't help post about it again. It is my go-to for a quick, no-fuss way to create an elegant and tasty fish dish.  

I had some cod handy, but you can use any other white fish -- halibut, bass, trout, snapper, tilapia, etc. (I wouldn't use salmon or tuna for this, as you want to use a fish that doesn't have a strong flavor.)  Also, a thick fillet is better than thin, as the pieces will break apart -- but a thin fillet will still taste terrific, so go with what you have in your fridge/freezer.  

There's not really a recipe for this dish, but here are the basics: 

To Do:

• Roughly chop: 2-3 ripe tomatoes and 1 lemon (include the rind, remove any large seeds) and put in a medium-sized bowl.  
• Add in 3-4 gloves of garlic (mince one and lightly smash the others), 1/4 cup of capers (drained), and about 3/4 cup of olives (I like a mix of green and black, and pitted is nice, but not necessary), also drained. 
• Dice 1/4 stick of butter into cubes and add to the mix.  
• Stir these ingredients all together gently, add a bit of salt/pepper and some parsley, and set aside so it can get a bit juicy from the tomatoes.

• In the meantime, preheat your oven to 350 degrees and spray a roasting pan with olive oil cooking spray.  
• Prep your fish by checking for any bones, cutting into uniform pieces if necessary, and patting dry (if was frozen).  

• Place the fish in the pan and top with the tomato mixture.  Squeeze a bit of fresh lemon juice over everything and pop in the oven for about 30 minutes -- until the fish is flaky and the tomatoes are soft.  

I had some baby spinach on hand, so I sautéed it and seasoned with a bit of olive oil and garlic powder and used that as the bed for my fish.  You can also serve with mashed potatoes, rice, or couscous.  Or, just serve it on its own--but have some crusty bread nearby, as it is nice to sop up the juices with something.  Note: Remove the lemons before plating and if your olives have pits, provide your guests with a small bowl where they can discreetly drop them.   :)

The result  of this wee bit of effort is a lemony, briny, buttery, fabulous fish dish that doesn't taste fishy.  And, served with a light green salad and crisp glass of white wine, it makes for a lovely summer meal.

Enjoy!

xoxoxoxo

Italian Crusted Cod

I was 32 when I started cooking; up until then, I just ate. --Julia Child

I don't often eat fish on Mondays. Maybe because it always seemed like a Friday thing -- at least growing up.  There would be a weekly fish fry on Fridays at the local restaurant and people would talk about "going out for fish on Friday." But, it was 80 degrees outside and I was thinking summer, ocean, seafood...I realized that I had some lovely, wild caught, Alaskan Cod fillets that would make a nice meal. 

I usually bake my fish with a sauce made of butter, lemon, capers, garlic, olives and tomatoes, but  I decided to mix it up a bit and try something new.

I preheated the oven to 425F degrees and then patted the fillets dry, seasoned them with a bit of salt and pepper and then coated them in a mixture of 1 tsp Dijon mustard, 2 TBS mayo, and 2TBS lemon juice and placed them on a greased cookie sheet.  Then, I mixed about 1 cup of bread crumbs, 2 TBS of corn meal, 2 TBS of grated Parmesan, and about 2 teaspoons each of oregano, basil, parsley and garlic powder, and a pinch of red pepper flakes.  I stirred in about 2 TBS of melted butter until the mixture was moist, then I covered each fillet with it.  I put in the oven to bake for about 15-20 minutes, until the fish flaked easily with a fork and was cooked all the way through.  The first 10 minutes, I covered with foil so the crumbs wouldn't brown too much, then I removed towards the end, so they could toast up a bit.

While the fish was cooking, I quickly cooked up some brown rice (I found a wonderful frozen bagged variety at my grocery store -- you just take it out of the freezer and pop it in the microwave, and 5 minutes later, lovely plain brown rice!) and then stirred in half a package of Roasted Red Pepper and Garlic Boursin cheese, some Italian herbs, and a bit of salt/pepper, until it was creamy, then kept warm. To serve, I molded onto the plates in a small mound, but of course since I'm the Gourmess, it didn't quite keep its nice shape for very long. Oh well.

I also still have plenty of veggies around from my latest organic food box order, so I cut up some lovely organic carrots into thin slices and cooked them in about 1 TBS of butter until just tender. Then, I tossed in some beautiful organic broccoli florets, added some salt and pepper, and cooked for 3 minutes more on low, then removed the pan from the heat and covered it, where the broccoli would continue to cook/steam until serving.

It took only about 30 minutes from start to finish to make everything, and I served it with some homemade bread.  It was a delicious way to end a Monday.

Yum!

xoxoxo