ASIAN STYLE COD

Asian style, oven baked cod -

with courgette & beetroot spaghetti and silver chard

This recipe is basically for the cod (or any firm white fish) - the courgette, beetroot and chard are there because we have a glut on the allotment - luckily we love all three and the added bonus is they are good for you!

Ingredients (for 2)

2 generous portions of cod fillet (150-200g each)

Olive oil or sunflower oil and/or butter

2 garlic cloves, (chopped or minced)

Fresh ginger (about 2cms) peeled and chopped or grated

1 small red chilli

1 tablespoon light soy sauce

Salt and pepper to season

juice of half a lemon

1/2 glass dry white wine (optional)

Method

Preheat the oven to 180C (160C fan oven).

Cut two pieces of cooking foil large enough to make a parcel for each portion of fish. Place each fillet on an oiled piece of foil, season with salt and freshly ground black pepper, spread the chopped garlic and ginger over each fillet, sprinkle over the chopped chilli add a squeeze of fresh lemon juice and drizzle over the light soy sauce. (I then folded up the edges of the foil and added a splash of dry white wine but this optional).

Scrunch up the foil to seal the fish in a loose parcel - some space is needed so that the fish steams as it cooks and remains moist.

Place the parcels on a baking tray and put in the pre-heated oven and cook for 15 minutes.

Strip the leaves from the chard stalks. Cut the stalks in pieces about 1 cm and gently soften over a medium heat with olive oil or butter and a chopped garlic clove.

chopped chard stalks

chard stalks softened in olive oil or butter with garlic

Slice or roughly chop the chard leaves

shredded chard leaves

Gently steam the chard leaves for 2-3 minutes, then add to the softened chard stalks and cook for a further 2 minutes.

Spiralise the beetroot and courgette and steam for 2-3 minutes.

spiralised beetroot and courgette

When the fish is cooked, put a portion of cooked chard on a warmed plate....

....and top with the lightly steamed beetroot and courgette

Unwrap the fish and place each fillet on the pile of vegetables and pour over any juices from the parcel.

If you don't have chard, beetroot and courgettes, this is excellent served on a bed of wilted spinach with creamy mashed potatoes (and the mash is even better with some added chopped preserved lemons ).

John Austin

Hove August 2017