In Spain when we want to enjoy cod, we buy it dried and salted, Bacalao. And very good it is too once it has been desalted and cooked with love. Nowadays fresh cod is starting to make its way into the Spanish markets too, but in the UK, fresh is what is available – at a price.
In our temporary adopted home of Bexhill on Sea, we have an amazing fish and chip shop very close to home, and we do indulge ourselves from time to time. However, fried food like this is a rare treat and we bought some delicious fresh cod fillets to enjoy at home, cooked in a healthier way.
Ingredients (per person)
- One fresh fillet of cod
- One medium potato, peeled and cut into large cubes
- A quarter of a red pepper, cut into large chunks or strips
- A large carrot, peeled and cut into chunks or thick strips
- Half an onion, cut into about 6 pieces
- 2 cloves of garlic
- Approx 6 cherry tomatoes or one or two small tomatoes cut into halves or quarters
- About 6 spears of asparagus cut into 4 pieces
- About 6 green beans cut into 4 pieces
- Olive oil
- Salt & pepper
- Lemon
Do feel free to mix up the vegetables, depending on what you have available. Make sure to cut the root vegetables into chunks approximately the same size as these will start to cook first.
In a large oven tray lined with foil, put the potatoes and carrots, pour over a little oil and salt and mix in, ensuring all the vegetables have a light coating of oil. Bake on medium/high for about 25 minutes then add the rest of the vegetables, add a little more oil and season with salt and pepper. When the vegetables start to turn brown at the edges and the potatoes and carrots are soft enough to insert the point of a knife, reduce the heat to medium.
Place the cod fillets on top of the vegetables (this would also work well with any other firm fish such as salmon) season and cover with foil. Cook for about 15 minutes more. Check that the fish is cooked through by inserting a fork gently into the fish and looking to see that the fish is no longer transparent in the centre.
Serve the cod on top of the vegetables with a drizzle of oil and a squeeze of lemon juice.
And now for a gratuitous shot of the work in progress. The kitchen´s still not looking like a kitchen, but it´s taking shape…at least it no longer has a bathroom in it!
Chica Andaluza 
Fresh cod is so good but I also like to make a salad with the bacalao.
Yes, flaked up it goes so well with lots of things – we have a salad with bitter oranges which we love (Ensalada Cateta) but for economy it´s often tuna instead of bacalao 😦
Yum yum, you know I used to have a chippy here in Barcelona? It was dang hard to find fresh cod! And congrats on the progress!
Wow – that´s impressive! Actually, there is one in a nearby village in Spain mostly inhabited by expats but it always smells so dreadful (not sure how often they change the oil) that we have never used it!
Yeah, that seems to be the main problem. We used to change the oil daily….expensive, but hygenic!
That’s one of my favourite ways to cook fish, but I add a lot more garlic 😉
Nice work on the kitchen – that really improves the shape. Was it a kitchen / bathroom conversion / add on from the 60’s?
You didn´t see how big the cloves were! But I agree, more garlic is always better. Strangely the kitchen was always there with an outside loo and what they turned into the bathroom was originally a scullery as we found the old brick floor (couldn´t save it though) and marks from where they probably had the old butlers type sink. Progress eh? Such a shame it was all ripped out, but maybe people will say the same of what we have done in 50 years time!
Looks and sounds delicious. Good luck with the decorating. I cna never believe how expensive cod is. The acronym should be OMC !
Am still chuckling at this – have to say I was a little taken aback when the fishmonger told me how much it was. Makes me realise what good value the fish and chip shop is!
What a fantastic meal Tanya – we don’t eat fresh fish nearly enough and when we do, more often than not I buy hake.
Love the pics of the transformation – very exciting.
🙂 Mandy xo
Thanks Mandy – it´s more expensive for us to buy fish here than in Spain, but it was worth it. Glad you are enjoying the DIY pics too 🙂
Even here, in the Land of Cod (Cape Cod, Mass is only a short ride away), the price is outrageous…and it has almost always been sitting around too long. Frozen-at-sea is a better choice for most folks, for price and quality…
Love the veggies…so warm and Autumnal!
I agree – it is outrageous, but I guess that´s the over fishing we can blame it on. Will have to eat more local fish 🙂 Mind you, it´s local for you!
Lovely dinner and the kitchen looks way better already 🙂
It´s starting to take shape and the walls were plastered today so it looks even better!
It’s always good karma not to have a bathroom in the kitchen, don’t you think? Love this one dish recipe.. very healthy after our Canadian Thanksgiving where we’ve stuffed ourselves silly:D
So true! Actually, when we were having the rubble and rubbish cleared from the house, one of the young men doing it was from a centre which supports young people with Special Needs. Never have I heard so many gems of wisdom from someone…when he asked me where the bathroom had been I told him and he said “Well, I´d have found that very off putting trying to eat my supper while someone was sitting in the bath”! We both had a good giggle together, he was a lovely boy.
Ahhhh.. that’s just the cutest story!! You’ve made my day! I hope you’re having a good one!!
I really have to stop reading your blog when I am hungry! Everything you make looks fabulous. This looks not only wonderfully healthy but easy to make too – and as someone who appreciates easy this may have to go on the list. When I have saved up for the fish!
Ah thanks – most of my recipes are pretty easy, especially these days as we are so hungry that I need to cook quickly and eat!
Looks very good! 🙂
Thanks ZBD – sorry I haven´t “visited” for a while, will pop over soon!
This is one great looking dish, Tanya. Cod certainly isn’t cheap and over-fishing is the cause, as you said. Still, a little can go a long way when prepared like this. I have to make this for Zia. She loves roasted vegetables and will really enjoy this. Wait until she hears it’s yours!
You really have made progress on that kitchen. Yes, there’s more to be done but it won’t be long now when, with a coat of paint, you’ll hardly recognize it as the room you first entered.
Thanks John – I think this would be great with salmon or even some cheap white fish fillets…whatever is available! Since posting the kitchen has been plastered and at the end of this week the plumber and his team come in so we´ll have…wait for it…water!
That train wreck looks like the inside of my brain at the moment…can ANYONE tell me why a Diploma in Landscape Design should require so much maths?! 😉
Everything requires maths…so my maths teacher was always telling me! Actually, I think she was right…even sewing and cooking need maths 😉 Give your brain a rest from time to time though…all work and no play makes Jack/Jill a very sad boy/girl!
Pure mathematics is where I live. NOT structured mathematics where I have brain meltdowns. Too many processes and too many bad teachers in my formative years! 😉 cooking, sewing, day to day mathematics I can handle, its quantitive and repetitive stuff that drives me nuts. 2097 plants in our design and every single one of them needs to be quantified, priced and listed! I sometimes think that our lecturer is a computer! 😉
Eek 2097 plants – you definitely need brain food to cope with that!
Not any more…my brain melted 😦
How are you holding out with the kitchen construction project? Of all the rooms under repair this one causes major havoc so I hope it is complete soon for you. Love your fresher and more healthier version of the roasted veggies and cod. Take Care, BAM
It´s going well and at least it´s the second one so we have a kitchen to cook in, in House No 1! Glad you like the cod with veggies – it was lovely 🙂
I love cod, it would be, probably one of my favorite fish. Your meal is lovely. Great progress on the kitchen! 🙂
Cod is so good isn´t it..a treat though! Yes, that kitchen is coming along…slowly 😉
Things are coming along. Salted cod sounds awesome, but you can get great fish so many ways. Does the fish man deliver to the kitchenless? Anyway, this looks fantastic.
I think the fish man would love to deliver to the UK but alas, the motorway tolls are too expensive! I am now a woman with one small kitchen in house number 1 and the disaster you see in house number 2…shouldn´t complain though!
First, and most important, that kitchen still has awhile to go, but glad you no longer have to contend with a bathroom alongside! Had a Portuguese housekeeper for many years: poor gal trying to convince us of the benefits of bacalao 🙂 ! Sorry, never achieved!! Ignorant us!! Great recipe of yours for cod – my main question-mark is that of the Q of including asparagus, which, to me, seems to belong to a different kettle of vegetable ‘fish’ : ) ?
Oh yes, asparagus…definitely a different kettle of vegetable…but I love it! So glad that horrid bathroom has gone, it was so repulsive to look at and even worse when we ripped it out. Urgh!
We get some beautiful cod here too. This loos so delicious and perfect for a fall meal.
What we liked about it was that it filled us up without feeling…”OMG, I can´t move after eating so much”!
¡Estupenda receta Tanya! Insisto en escribir mis comentarios en español porque:
a) es más fácil para mi
b) me aseguro de que entre Big man y yo consigamos que mantengas tu estupendo nivel de español mientras disfrutas de ese maravilloso paraje inlés 😉
A la cocina le queda un montón todavía, peri te diré que me encantaría poder tener un proyecto similar entre manos. Me gustan mucho este tipo de proyectos y ver cómo poco a poco todo va tomando forma.
Saludos desde madrid y los últimos días del veranillo de San Miguel (30 grados!!)
Estoy muy contenta que escribes en español porque es buena práctica para mi tener que contestar en español! A la cocina sí, todavía nos queda un montón…pero…poquito a poco! Y que alegría de tener unos días del veranillo de San Miguel. Aquí en Inglaterra no hemos tenido nada de “Indian Summer” (como se dice en inglés) pero los colores del paisaje son increíbles gracias a la lluvia 😉
I love cod – and I love roast veges. Never thought of trying them together. I’ll give this a try when I can afford the fillet of cod – (one of our more expensive fish choices). I like the sound of the dried and salted cod. We have a variety of smoked fish and I love the taste. It would go better with the roast veges I think.
The kitchen!! I remember when……… we did our kitchen four years ago but it looked no where near as challenging as yours.
I adore smoked fish Diane and have also enjoyed some here in the UK as it´s not something we typically find in Spain!
Do you need extra help? I can paint some and follow directions and all I ask for is amazing meals when I’m done. Divine!
Your paint brush await you 😉
I wish we had a good fishmonger nearby. Maybe its something I need to investigate. Especially as this looks just so good.
They´re usually more expensive than the supermarket but I´d rather buy a decent pice of fish beautifully prepared less often and then really enjoy it!
Absolutely…that’s why we don’t each as much fish as I’d like…supermarket fish is so unappealing.
I cooked this the other day, with merluza (hake) – delicious, though spuds stuck – will use more oil next time. Thanks!
I adore hake – shame about the sticky spuds, mind you, you get crispy bits that way!
I know, lurve those crispy bits. Sometimes I fry onions just to eat the caramelized crispy bits!
What a healthy and colorful plate of food! I love cod, but we can’t get it fresh here…in fact about the only fresh fish we can get is trout…which is wonderful, but not the same. This makes me want to roast some veggies this weekend. I’m amazed at all the work you guys are doing on the house…definitely coming along, and sad that you couldn’t save the brick floor, but at least you guys care about saving what you can!
I love trout – in fact I prefer it to salmon so am jealous! Yes, where there are original features, we´re doing our best to save them and bring them back to life 🙂
There’s some real comfort food, Tanya! Bacalao intrigues me but I haven’t gotten my hands on any yet. And roasted vegetables are one of the most comforting, satisfying things on a plate anywhere (even in a bathroom.) 🙂 And thats some good work going on around your house!
Actually, your comment made me think of an episode of a programme we had in the UK called The Darling Buds of May – a period drama about a couple in the country with a large family and a smallholding (idyllic)! One night they get invited to dinner at the house of the Lord of the Local Manor and it´s awful – cold and draughty with tiny portions (Ma Larkin, the wife, is a big girl!) so they get back to their home and the final shot is of the two of them in their enormous bath with a cooked breakfast for a second supper in the rail thing between them and a bottle of something and the two of them tucking in with all the steam swirling around – classic!
I remember seeing that one !! A classic 🙂
A classic indeed 🙂
I always think a kitchen is better without a bathroom! Great use of a gratuitous photo 🙂
Well, I suppose you could always have a bath, while drinking a glass of wine and stirring the sauce if you really had to have a tub in the kitchen 😉
My husband insists that we should include more sea food into our diet and I am looking for recipes to inspire me. This looks like a great on. We love oven roasted vegetables and I think paired with fish they would make a great meal
This would be a good one for you then!
Everything you make looks fabulous.