Baked Cod Provencal

A delicious, healthy taste of the Meditteranean, cooked in just the one tray!

Yes, that's right. Not only does this taste amazing, you only need one tray to cook it in, so less pots to contend with, too!

Succulent fillets of cod cook perfectly in the oven, on top of a bed of delicious roasted vegetables full of Provencal flavours. Shavings of lemony fennel inspired by Gordon Ramsey, top it all off perfectly for a contrasting texture, with fresh herbs.

Serves two, 318 calories per serving.

Cumin-Spiced Salted Cod with Ackee, Red Pepper and Tomato

This is my fresh spin on 'Ackee and Saltfish', a traditional Caribbean dish made with ackee, the national fruit of Jamaica.

It has all of the traditional flavours - the main difference being that instead of using dried and reconstituted salt fish soaked overnight (which sometimes people can find a bit strong, who aren't used to it) then boiled and flaked into the dish, I use fresh cod given a brief salting, then brush it with a light cumin butter for an extra dimension and then grill it and serve on top of the ackee.

It really is delicious, and easy to make - you can prepare all your ingredients (and any side dishes) while the cod is salting, then it takes less than 15 minutes to cook. It makes a surprisingly filling and very healthy meal on its own if you're avoiding carbs or keeping the calories down; or you can serve it with your choice of 'rice and peas' (my recipe for Jamaican rice and peas is here), plain white rice, or even dumplings, fried plantain, hard dough bread or breadfruit if you want some Caribbean accompaniments, Plus it's a novel way to serve saltfish and ackee, particularly to guests!

Thai Crab Cakes or Fish Cakes with Sweet Chilli Sauce and Fresh Pickled Vegetable Relish - includes Thermomix method

One of my favourite Thai dishes, and so versatile - a dinner, a starter, a snack, a buffet dish...

Fish cakes are one of the iconic street food dishes of Thailand, and they're delicious dipped into a piquant sauce. I think my favourite thing about Thai fish cakes is the fact that there's no filler in there - no bread crumbs, or potato - they're just pure, delicious un-stodgy protein! Here I've given them a little twist, by replacing some of the raw fish with crab meat, and lightly pan frying them and finishing off for a few minutes in the oven rather than deep-frying them - but you're welcome to deep-fry them if you prefer... I think they're really good cooked this way though, and somewhat healthier.

This recipe makes around 20 to 25 fish cakes, and serves four to five as a main course (there are four of us including two children, 10 and 11 with hearty appetites - I made twenty, and we had five left over) - obviously it would serve far more as a starter (divide the mix into 24, and you'll have three each to serve eight people), and would make a great warm buffet dish. The secret is not to overcook them - you want a nice, light, dare-I-say-it almost slightly 'bouncy' texture. They really are deliciously tasty - no wonder they are so popular! They even freeze well, either raw or cooked (I prefer to freeze them lightly cooked, for ease) - just defrost and re-heat or cook lightly.

If you're counting calories, then the calories per serving if divided between five people are as follows:
Fish Cakes - 142; Pickled Vegetable Relish - 50; Sweet Chilli Sauce - 48; Total calories - 240. (You can take off 30 if you leave out the peanuts, and add on 76 for a 200g portion of cauliflower rice, or 149 calories per serving for a portion of Thai Jasmine rice (45g uncooked). 50g mixed leaves is around 10 calories). [Calories in square brackets next to ingredients]

Salt Cod Stew, with Chickpeas, Spinach and White Beans

So, having put up my Salted Chillies recipe, I was reminded of my Salt Cod Stew recipe which we had last night, re-heated from the freezer (which it does rather well!).

The best thing about this dish, is that you don't have to buy salt cod and soak it overnight - you can make this with fresh cod, using my easy method of salting and cooking it, which takes just over an hour and gives you tender, moist, subtly salty cod flakes!

It also makes enough for six to eight people (or many more if serving as a selection of tapa), stretching an expensive fish a long way, and... freezes well!

So, why not have a go?

Potaje de Garbanzos, Judías Blancas, Bacalao y Espinacas
(Chickpea, White Bean, Salt Cod and Spinach Stew)

Serves six as a hearty meal, eight as a lighter meal, and probably a good dozen as tapas! Freezes well, so you can portion it up for future meals in small bags.  347 calories per serving between six (261 calories between eight, 174 between twelve).

Don’t be put off by the idea of salt cod – it’s really easy to make the equivalent to de-salted salt cod (Bacalao), with just an hour’s salting, and 30 minutes soaking and it’s delicious! Use any combination of chick peas, butter beans and white beans you fancy, as long as they add up to around 850g cooked weight.

Salt Cod - how to quickly make your own 'Bacalao' (Spanish salt cod)

Although you can buy (dried) salted fish in the UK it's more likely to be the kind you'd use in Jamaican cooking. A lot of people can find salted fish of this variety a little, well... too salty, and not be overly fond of the texture.

It's certainly not the kind of salted fish you'd want to use in Spanish cooking.

This however, is a fantastic substitute for 'Bacalao', tender and moist with just the right levels of salt - and you don't have to 'de-salt' it overnight to use it, and can prepare it from fresh to finished in under two hours, cooked and ready to eat or use in recipes. Delicious in my Chickpea, White Bean, Salt Cod and Spinach Stew.

Just two ingredients are needed - cod fillets (preferably with skin on) and enough coarse sea salt to evenly cover the flesh. 500g of fresh cod will give you the equivalent of 250-285g de-salted, soaked Bacalao (salt cod).

Method
Place the cod fillets in a single layer, skin side down, on a plate or dish which will catch liquids that are released from the cod when it is salted. Sprinkle reasonably generously (as in photo) with coarse sea salt (don’t use fine salt, or it will be too salty) and leave for an hour (no longer). By this time, the cod will have released some liquid and absorbed some of the salt flavour. Rinse off all of the salt, then place in a large container with plenty of cold water for 30 to 45 minutes, changing the water twice (after 10-15 minutes, then again). Remove, pat dry and it is ready to cook.

Bring a large pan of water to the boil, turn the heat right down to low, and add the salted cod to the water for 5 or 6 minutes, until only just cooked, then remove and put on a plate for a couple of minutes, until cool enough to handle. Use your hands to gently break the cod into large flakes, discarding the skin (and any bones you find), then gently stir into your dish, trying not to break up the flakes too much if for example, it's a stew, or incorporate more firmly into Spanish style fish cakes, before cooking.

Alternatively, you could cook for a few seconds longer, and serve whole with something like my Chilindron sauce (a spanish garnish of onions, peppers and tomatoes, popular served with chicken and fish dishes).

Cod with Romesco Sauce

Romesco Sauce is delicious with many different things...

...and the great news is, if you haven't yet had the fortune to try it, it's extremely simple to make - you just grill and blitz!

I've included it in a recipe with cod here, but it's delicious with any white fish (especially seabass, bream or monkfish) as well as with chicken or even roasted vegetables. You can even make it ahead and warm through, if you prefer. It's also a nice crowd-please if you've got people over for dinner - in fact, all of this is good to entertain, as it's generally well-recieved, quick to put together at the end, and you can prepare your vegetables, potatoes etc. ahead, prior to cooking them (the vegetables can even be cooked ahead and re-heated, if cooking roasted vegetables such as my roasted vegetables with oregano, and if serving with my Catalonian spinach with raisins and pine nuts, that only takes minutes to make).

If someone has a nut allergy, you can thicken the sauce with fried bread instead of nuts (the Spanish did it both ways, depending on their access to almonds!), you can use hazelnuts instead of almonds, or a combination of the two, and you can use additional olive oil to thin the sauce out a little, if you wish.

Bacalao en Salsa Romesco
(Cod with a Roasted Tomato, Garlic and Almond sauce)

A delicious way to serve cod, shown served with spinach with raisins and pine nuts (87 calories per serving) and roasted new potatoes (110 calories per serving).

Serves two (with an extra portion of sauce leftover if you don’t eat it!) only 225 calories per serving for the cod and Romesco sauce. 332 calories if served with the potatoes and spinach dish as shown.