The afternoon gave way to the early evening and it was time to cook. Today's project was a Mediterranean White Fish Dish. I, like many at this time of year, get a little jaded by the short days and traveling in the dark. I had read that one way of combating this was to have plenty of fresh fish in your diet. This was a key reason for settling on the dish I chose to cook.
The ingredients were as follows:
For the Tomato Sauce:
Five Tomatoes cut into cubes.
Five Shallots, peeled, topped and tailed and cut into thin slices.
Two Cloves of Garlic, peeled, topped and tailed and cut into narrow pieces.
Half a teaspoon of Black Pepper.
Two teaspoons of Dried Basil.
Two teaspoons of Oregano.
For the Fish Part:
Two Fresh Cod Steaks.
Two tablespoons of dried Thyme.
Two tablespoons of dried Rosemary.
One Lemon sliced evenly width-ways.
Ten Green Olives that have been de-stoned.
For the soundtrack to the cooking I chose the Beatles' landmark record from 1967 "Sergeant Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band". A close mate of mine had sent me a link to an insightful article by Michael Jackson's acclaimed producer Quincy Jones in which Jones declares the Beatles to be poor musicians. Jones may have a point, you wouldn't put many of the members in the top draw for technical virtuosity. However what they lacked in that department is made up for by the wonderful overall sound they generate coupled with the warmth and passion of their music. All of these qualities are present on this memorable album.
The method to prepare this dish is as follows:
Tomato Sauce:
1. Heat some Olive in the Le Cresceut on the hob.
2. Add the Garlic Cloves, Shallots and herbs.
3. Fry on a medium heat for around 15 to 20 minutes stirring regularly until the Shallots begin to go brown. This was a tip I picked up secondhand from my Dining Partner's Mum, who's curries have such a distinct and delicious because she cooks the onions well prior to adding many of the other ingredients.
4. Add the Tomatoes and fry for another 15 minutes.
5. Take the Le Cresceut off the hob and leave on one side.
The Fish:
1. Take a high-sided Pyrex dish and put enough foil in it to hold the sauce and the fish so they can be wrapped loosely in a parcel by the foil.
2. Line the bottom of the foil with the Tomato Sauce.
3. Spread the Lemon Slices evenly on top of the Tomato Sauce.
4. Sprinkle half the Thyme and the Rosemary on the Lemon Slices.
5. Put the Cod Steaks on top.
6. Sprinkle the rest of the Thyme and Rosemary on the Cod Steaks.
7. Spread half the Olives evenly on the Cod Steaks and the rest on the Tomato Sauce.
8. Fold the foil over the top of the food to form a parcel.
9. Bake in the oven on Gas Mark Four for 25 minutes.
When the dish was ready I served it with a side of Sweet Potato Fries that I had fried from scratch using one small Sweet Potato while the other food had been cooking in the oven. There's clearly a difference in eating fresh fish as the Cod was succulent and flavoursome unlike its frozen and processed counterpart. It also lacked the plastic taste of that type of frozen fish.
The Lemon, Thyme and Rosemary blended well to enhance the flavour and the Tomato Sauce had a rich taste without being sickly that made me think I was at a beach-side restaurant on a classy Portuguese or Spanish Resort. The Sweet Potato Fries also were a healthy alternative to chips or Potatoes. It was a tasty meal that counterbalanced the dark skies and horizontal rain that continued outdoors.
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| Ready to serve- the Olives sit atop the Cod Steaks which themselves lie on a bed of Lemons, herbs and Tomato Sauce. |
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| A new angle- the Cod and Sauce stacked against a small wall of Sweet Potato Fries. |
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