Cod in Foil

Cod in Foil – Getting a little Fishy:

You will find me posting quite a few fish recipes over the next few days because I was lucky enough to win a parcel of fish from DelishFish.  I’m an unapologetic fish fanatic and I do love fish from Scotland because, of course, it’s where my father’s family came from.  I don’t think we have a single fisherman in the family.  My grand-dad was a Doctor and my GREAT grand-dad was the postmaster on Skye.  My great aunts, who I still remember, were three lovely ladies called Morag, Margaret and Jessie.  They were brought up on Skye before all training as teachers and moving to the outskirts of Edinburgh.  Very much ‘pride of Jean Brodie’ types, I used to visit them as a little girl and be charmed by their accents and by the feast called ‘High Tea’ that we just didn’t have down South.

DelishFish is a family business based in Petershead, on the North East tip of Scotland and they really pride themselves on the quality of the fish they sell.  The business is 5th generation of fishermen, fish merchants, fish smokers and fishmongers.  My cod was perfectly filleted and skinned, which made this dish really quick to prepare.  They also have their own smokehouse and I am really looking forward to trying some of the smoked fish I’ve been sent.  Watch this spot!  But, for the first thing I’ve made with the fish I received I really wanted to do something simple that would showcase the fish rather than my dubious skills as a cook!  This is one of the easiest recipes I’ve posted and really makes me wonder why anyone would buy a ready meal ever again.  Not only is this dish quick and easy to prepare, but THERE’S ALMOST NO WASHING UP!  You just throw the foil away and hey presto!

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Cod in Foil

Prep Time

5 mins

Cook Time

20 mins

Total Time

25 mins

 

This dish is infinitely variable. You can make it with butter instead of oil, with stock instead of white wine, you can leave out the tomatoes and olives and you can use any mix of herbs you choose. Just remember that the total cooking time is 20 minutes so any vegetable that will take longer than that will need to be pre-cooked.

Course: Main Dish

Cuisine: British

Servings: 1

Author: Fiona Maclean

Ingredients

• Cod Fillet or Steak
• 1 teaspoon Capers
• 1 glass Dry white wine
• 1 handful Fresh Thyme
• 4-5 Cherry Tomatoes
• 4-5 Olives
• 2 teaspoons Extra Virgin Olive Oil

Instructions

1. Take a large oblong piece of foil and raise up the corners so you have the start of a parcel
2. Put the olive oil onto the foil, then add the fish, tomatoes cut in half, olives and chopped capers. Scatter the thyme over the fish and season with a little pepper
3. Pull up the foil and start sealing up the sides. Your aim is to create a package with space at the top so the fish steams in the juices of the vegetables and the wine
   
   
4. Pour in the white wine and seal up your parcel
5. Put in a pre-heated oven at 170c for 20 minutes
6. You can serve this at the table in foil packages, or unwrap them carefully and plate up.

I did make an aubergine parmigiana to accompany this, not pictured.  But, you could pair this dish with new potatoes, with steamed spinach or just with some crusty bread.

Oh, and because there’s quite a lot of thyme in this recipe I’m entering it into Herbs on Saturday.  My thyme is a sweet one, growing on my windowsill at the moment till the weather improves.  I’d also make this with fresh oregano, parsley or basil…depending on what I had available.  I do think it’s a recipe that really benefits from using fresh rather than dried herbs.