I know this is the week before Thanksgiving. I know it’s all about the turkey and the stuffing and to find a hunk of cod smothered in a fresh tomato sauce in your in-box was not at all what anyone had in mind on the 21st of November, I get that, I do. Maybe next week I’ll fall in line…….but for today, this is my kind of fish dinner, and for anyone who would like to attempt to eat more fish but is a little wary of the stuff in general give this a try. Cod is a super mild, forgiving fish, and poaching it in this amazing sauce keeps it easy, and all in one pan. Consider it the calm before the holiday cooking frenzy storm…..
Here’s what you need and what I did:
This will take about 30 minutes, start to finish, unless you are a really slow chopper.
A shopping list is at the end of the post.
Start with half of a medium-sized onion and give it a nice fine dice. Throw it into a medium-sized (12 inch or so) skillet with a glug or two of olive oil.
Cook this over a medium heat for about ten minutes, until it is softened and looks something like this…
While that is cooking down, give your Roma tomatoes and your sun-dried tomatoes a nice even dice, and finely mince one clove of garlic.
Stir the garlic in with the onions first, for about thirty seconds, and then dump in the tomatoes, all of em! Sploosh! Add two or three tablespoons of those cute little capers. Make sure you strain them out of their salty brine. Now give this a stir, and let it cook for a minute or two on medium heat.
In the meantime…….take your cod and season it with salt and pepper, both sides.
I had also just chopped up my herbs, which is why the fish looks a little green where I sliced it! What you see here is about a pound and a half of cod, which was perfect for four people who eat a lot! Now lay that pretty cod fish over the tomato mixture in the pan….
and put a lid on it. You are going to cook this until the fish flakes apart when gently prodded with a knife, about 6 to 8 minutes, depending on how thick your particular cod happens to be. Mine took about six minutes. Now gently, gently, remove the fish from its tomato hot tub (yes, it does fall apart a little, oh well) and transfer it to a plate. Go ahead and tent that with some foil to keep it warm. Now continue to simmer the sauce until it reduces and thickens up, about three minutes. Oh yeah, those beautiful fresh herbs you see there?
Toss em in at the very end. I used a lot, about a quarter cup each of the dill and parsley and basil. You can use whatever you like and in the quantities that you like. Give this a stir. Portion out that fish onto a plate and spoon over that really pretty fresh and herby deliciousness. You won’t even notice that your cod fell apart. ha. In keeping with the light aspect of this whole thing I thought some green beans on the side would work well….
This is what you need and what I did:
This will take you 10 minutes, really. The hardest part is snipping the little ends off of the beans.
I think this is about a pound of fresh green beans…..gosh, I am not 100% sure but that is about right. Trim off the ends (use a pair of clean scissors! Really easy that way) and toss them into a big pot of boiling water. Add a teaspoon or so of salt and let these go for about four minutes. Drain the beans and transfer them to a bowl where you will add a small can of chopped black olives (pitted, of course) 2 tablespoons (roughly) of chopped fresh basil, a tablespoon of fresh lemon juice (prob half a lemon), a glug of olive oil (that means about a tablespoon) and one clove of garlic, finely grated, salt and pepper to taste. Give this a mix to incorporate all the flavors - and you are done! So pretty, it deserved another photo.
Your shopping list will consist of:
1 onion (you only need half so if you have one leftover…..)
garlic
8 roma tomatoes
1 jar of capers (you will need about three tablespoons)
Fresh dill
Fresh parsley
Fresh basil
1 -1 1/2 lbs of fresh cod (which you will slice like I did) or 4 (6 to 8 oz) cod fillets
Fresh green beans
1 small can of black olives
1 lemon
Stuff you may already have on hand….
Olive oil, kosher salt, cracked black pepper