Although I don't work a regular nine to five, there are still times that I get slammed with work. With two public speaking engagements and two TV appearances this week, I needed to keep my recipes quick and easy. During these ultra-busy times, I often turn to quick pastas, or some kind of protein with a simple sauce that can be made in the same pan.
This week, that meal ended up being this pan-roasted cod with a cherry tomato and basil pan-sauce. It has an incredibly good effort to taste ratio, and the vibrant colors means the dish requires almost no styling to make it look good (I literally slid the fillets out of the pan and dumped the sauce on top).
The one point you need to be careful with is to dry the surface of the fish thoroughly and make sure the pan is hot. Both these steps help ensure that the fish does not stick to the pan. Using a non-stick pan will make your job a bit easier, but you'll lose out on the nice brown layer of fond on the bottom of the pan.
This brown fond is like a concentrated fish bouillon, and forms the base for our pan-sauce. I used a splash of white wine to wash the fond into the sauce, and fortified its umami with the juices from the sweet cherry tomatoes. A few basil leaves and a splash of lemon juice finish the sauce off, and just like that, you have an easy fish entree that wouldn't look out of place in a fine dining restaurant.
Perhaps the best part of this dish is that the leftovers make for a fantastic pasta. Just break up the fillets into bite-size pieces, boil your favorite pasta in well salted water, and toss the drained pasta with the cod and the tomato basil sauce. A sprinkle of lemon zest and parsley on top transforms a delicious dinner into a luscious lunch!
Cherry tomatoes not only add visual appeal to this dish, they're relatively sweet all year round, which means you can make this quick fix any time of the year! If you can't get your hands on fresh cod, other white-meat fish such as bass or halibut will work, or you could even make this with chicken, pork or tofu.
📖 Recipe
Units
Ingredients
- 500 grams cod fillets
- Salt
- Black pepper
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 15 grams garlic 2 large cloves, minced
- 300 grams cherry tomatoes
- ½ cup dry white wine
- 13 grams basil hand-torn
- 1 tablespoon lemon juice
- Flat-leaf parsley
- Lemon zest
Instructions
- Cut the 500 grams cod fillets into pieces that will easily fit on top of your spatula (if the pieces are two big they will fall apart when you try to flip them). Dry the fillets using paper towels and then generously Salt and Black pepper both sides of each fillet.
- Heat a frying pan over medium heat until hot and then add the 2 tablespoons olive oil and swirl to coat. Add the cod and fry one side until browned on one side. Flip the fillets over using a spatula and fry until the second side is browned and the fish is almost cooked through.
- Transfer the fish to a plate and add the 15 grams garlic to the pan, frying until fragrant.
- Add the 300 grams cherry tomatoes and ½ cup dry white wine and boil, deglazing the pan in the process.
- Return the cod to the pan and then add the 13 grams basil. Reduce the sauce until it has thickened, flipping the cod over a few times to coat evenly.
- Turn off the heat, drizzle the 1 tablespoon lemon juice over the pan-roasted cod and garnish with minced Flat-leaf parsley and Lemon zest.
Sean says
Problem with the recipe is that the measurements go back and forth from metric to standard. Would be nice if it was one or the other so that converting the measurements would be easier.
Marc Matsumoto says
Hi Sean, the thinking here is that most digital scales have the option to use grams which I prefer because even small quantities can be measured in whole numbers. For example if I'm adding 2 grams of a spice to something it's weird calling for .07 ounces of it. The volumetric measurements are in US cups, but they'll be much harder for US readers to convert since they aren't going to have metric cups laying around. By the way, most of our recipes have a function to convert between metric and imperial in the recipe card. This was an old one without the conversion function but I've added it in.
Rene J Corn says
I would use butter instead of olive oil or both mixed adds to flavor and browns up better