Cooking with Blobby

Again, maybe this should be more of a food blog. I'm not sure I could keep up with new recipes though. 

We have salmon once a week - usually Mondays. I'm not really tired of it, as you can prepare it different ways, well to a degree. But I thought it would be nice to try a different kind of fish. 

Normally, that is tilapia because it's pretty forgiving now matter how you make it. While 710 is too nice to say it, I don't think he enjoys tilapia, so I'm going with cod. Baked cod at that. 

Fish - unless you're doing horribly elaborate, is pretty easy to make. Yes, overcooking does it no favours, but that's true of lots of proteins. 

Ingredients 

Yield: 4 servings 

4 (4- to 6-ounce) skinless cod fillets  (I used two 7oz fillets, as my fishmonger thought it better)

Salt and black pepper 

3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil 

1 tablespoon minced fresh parsley or dill (or 1½ teaspoons dried) 

1 tablespoon minced scallions or chives 

1 medium garlic clove, minced, or ½ teaspoon garlic powder 

1 small lemon 

Preparation 

Step 1 Heat the oven to 400 degrees. 

Step 2 Pat the cod fillets dry with a paper towel and place them in a baking dish large enough to hold them without crowding. Season all over with salt and a few grinds of pepper. 

Step 3 In a small bowl, combine the olive oil, parsley, scallions and garlic. Zest the lemon over the bowl (1 to 2 teaspoons) and mix well with a fork. 

Step 4 Brush the herb mixture all over the fillets, turning to coat on both sides. Squeeze half the zested lemon over the dish, then cut the remaining lemon half into wedges. 

Step 5 Bake until the fish is cooked through and flakes easily with a fork, 14 to 18 minutes, depending on the size and thickness of the fillets. Spoon the juices over the fish and serve hot, with the lemon wedges alongside.

It was all fine. A little underwhelming to me, though 710 really liked it. Perhaps the filets were under seasoned (i.e. salt).  I always under use salt, but in this case, I think it needed it. I almost never salt things on my plate, but I did this. 

I think I over herbed too, but I don't think that overpowered anything. I think I should have squeezed more out of that half a lemon than I did. But overall the sauce tasted good. Perhaps using butter instead of olive oil? 

And the cooking time was more than 18 minutes. Perhaps the filets were too large for that cooking time. 

I'd try again, but play around a bit more.