Nori-wrapped Ginger Soy Steamed Cod

This nori-wrapped Ginger Soy Steamed Cod is marinated with sautéed ginger and garlic, green onions, soy and lemon juice, for a healthy flavorful dish. The roasted nori is a delightful added bonus!

Right after poaching, steaming fish is the most reliable way to cook it to make sure it doesn’t dry out. The trick though is how to make it flavorful as well. No one likes boring fish!

Enter the marinade. A 30-minute rest in some cooked aromatics, oils and lemon works beautifully to add a punch of piquancy while, in the case of this cod, the nori wrap also adds a little saltiness and a most welcome extra hint of the sea. The goal is to complement the cod with the cooked aromatics, not to overwhelm its delicate flavor. 

Nori-wrapped Ginger Soy Steamed Cod

This recipe is adapted from two recipes from Delia’s How to Cook, books 1 and 3. If you don’t know Delia Smith, one of Britain’s great cookery writers, you’ve been missing out. Her recipes are clear, concise and every single one I’ve ever tried has been delicious. 

Ingredients

2 1/2 in or 6cm piece ginger, peeled

1 tablespoon sodium reduced soy sauce

1 rounded tablespoon toasted sesame seeds

1 tablespoon sesame oil

1 tablespoon canola or other light oil

3 cloves garlic, peeled

2 green onions

1 lemon for zest and juice (about 3 tablespoons)

1.7 lb or 770g cod loin

fine sea salt

freshly ground black pepper

2 sheets toasted nori seaweed

lettuce leaves for lining steamer 

Optional for garnish: slice red chili peppers and cilantro

Method

Thinly slice the ginger then cut it into fine shreds. Mince the garlic and the green onions. 

Put the oils in a small pan and add the ginger and garlic. Gently cook them over a medium low heat until they are golden being careful not to let them get too dark. 

While the garlic and ginger are cooking, zest and juice the lemon into a small mixing bowl. 

Use a rubber spatula to scrape the ginger and garlic into the small bowl, along with all the oil that is left in the pan. 

Add in the toasted sesame seeds, the soy sauce and the chopped green onions and give the whole thing a good stir. 

Cut the cod loin into four equal pieces and season them lightly with sea salt and freshly ground black pepper. 

Put a thin layer of the ginger garlic mixture in a small dish. Add the cod pieces and then top them with the balance of the mixture. Cover and leave to marinate for 30 minutes.

 

Cut your sheets of nori in two. Place one piece of cod upside down (so the side with the most aromatics is down) on each half sheet of nori.

Fold the ends over to close. Line a fan steamer with lettuce leaves (to stop the fish from sticking to the steamer) and place the nori-wrapped cod on top, seam side down. Repeat till all four pieces of cod are on the steamer.

In a large pot, heat 2 in or 5 cm of water to boiling. Put the steamer in the pot. 

Cover with a tight fitting lid and steam over the boiling water for 8-10 minutes or until the fish reaches an internal temperature of 145°F or 63°C.

Carefully remove the cod from the steamer and serve hot. Garnish with some sliced red chili peppers and cilantro, if desired. 

Enjoy! 

It’s that time of the month when my Fish Friday Foodies share recipes! This month we are all steaming seafood so make sure to check out the links below. Many thanks to our host, Karen of Karen’s Kitchen Stories!

• Kerala Style Surmai Fish Cutlets from Sneha's Recipe
• Ligurian Seafood Salad from A Day in the Life on the Farm
• Nori-wrapped Ginger Soy Steamed Cod from Food Lust People Love
• Sand Dabs en Papillote from Culinary Adventures with Camilla
• Steamed Fish Tacos with Avocado Salsa from Palatable Pastime
• Steamed Haddock with Brussels Sprouts in Vermouth from Goats and Greens
• Steamed Salmon with Fennel from Karen's Kitchen Stories

Would you like to join Fish Friday Foodies? We post and share new seafood/fish recipes on the third Friday of the month. To join our group please email Wendy at wendyklik1517 (at) gmail.com. Visit our Facebook page and Pinterest page for more wonderful fish and seafood recipe ideas.

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Cajun Crab Shrimp Corn Soup

This Cajun Crab Shrimp Corn Soup is rich and creamy, full of shrimp and corn (two kinds!) and lots of crabmeat. You might want to double the recipe! This disappears in a heartbeat. 

My mom has been telling me about this soup for quite a while and sending me multiple copies of the recipe. It comes from a lady who was a dear friend to my Aunt Karen in New Orleans. Ms. Debbie is a great cook (as was my wonderful late aunt of best pecan pie ever fame) and she was very happy to share. Like every Cajun recipe, it starts with the holy trinity of onions, bell pepper and celery. 

For some reason, my mom seemed to think it was a crab soup so maybe that’s how my aunt made it but in Ms. Debbie’s original recipe, it was called shrimp soup and the crab was optional. 

Since crabmeat is so expensive, you could just double the shrimp but I’m here to tell you that the addition of lump crabmeat is fabulous if it's within your budget for a special occasion. I must confess at this juncture that since my mom really really wanted me to cook this soup, she paid for the crab and I purchased the rest of the ingredients. We were both happy with the deal we struck.  So happy that after the first batch, I made one more on the same terms. 

Cajun Crab Shrimp Corn Soup

If my shrimp are large, I like to use a sharp knife to cut them right through the middle lengthwise into two shrimp-shaped halves. This means more bites of soup with shrimp in them. You could also leave yours whole if they are small or cut them into chunks. As for the cream of shrimp soup, mine was Campbell's. When my mom first shared the recipe, I thought that must be one of the old fashioned canned soups that is no longer made since I'd never seen it. Turns out I had just never looked closely enough at the soup aisle! One of my local grocery stores does indeed stock Campbell's cream of shrimp. Who knew?

Ingredients

1/2 cup or 113g butter

1 small onion

1 small bell pepper

1 long stalk celery

2 cloves garlic

1 lb or 450g shrimp, already peeled and cleaned

1 teaspoon Cajun seasoning (Tony Chachere's or the like)

1 can (10.5 oz or 298g) cream of shrimp soup

1 can (10.5 oz or 298g) cream of celery soup

1 can (14.75 oz or 418g) cream style corn

1 can (15 oz or 425g) whole kernel corn, drained

2 cups or 480ml half and half (or 1 cup milk and 1 cup whipping cream)

1 teaspoon liquid crab boil

1 lb or 450g lump crabmeat, picked over carefully for shell bits 

Optional for garnish: chopped parsley and a sprinkle of Cajun seasonings

Method

Finely chop the onion, bell pepper and celery and mince the garlic. Melt the butter in a Dutch oven a low heat then add everything but the garlic. 

Sauté for a few minutes until the vegetables are softened and the onion is translucent. Add the garlic to the pot. Sauté for another couple of minutes. 

Add in the shrimp and sprinkle on the Cajun seasoning. Stir well and cook till shrimp are pink. 

Add the rest of the ingredients, except the crab. 

Slowly heat the soup and then simmer for 30 minutes, stirring often. 

While the soup is simmering, pick through the crab carefully and discard any bits of shell you find. 

When you are ready to serve, add in the crabmeat and heat until it is warmed through. 

Stir gently to keep the crabmeat intact as much as possible. 

Serve in bowls with a sprinkle of chopped parsley and a pinch of Cajun seasoning for flavor and color. 

Enjoy! 

It’s third Friday of the month, time for my Fish Friday Foodie friends to share their seafood recipes! I’m hosting this month and chose seafood soups as our theme. There are lots of warm and comforting dishes in the list below, perfect for winter weather! 

• Cajun Crab Shrimp Corn Soup from Food Lust People Love
• Lobster Wonton and Corn Chowder from Karen’s Kitchen Stories
• Salmon Chowder from Making Miracles
• Shrimp Fra Diavolo Soup from Palatable Pastime
• Shrimp Ramen from A Day in the Life on the Farm
• White Hot & Sour Chicken & Prawn Soup from Sneha’s Recipe

Would you like to join Fish Friday Foodies? We post and share new seafood/fish recipes on the third Friday of the month. To join our group please email Wendy at wendyklik1517 (at) gmail.com. Visit our Facebook page and Pinterest page for more wonderful fish and seafood recipe ideas.

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Savory Craquelin Pastry Roast Salmon

The topping on this Savory Craquelin Pastry Roast Salmon is a great way to add flavor and also make sure roast salmon doesn’t dry out in the oven. It's flavored with garlic, thyme, smoked sea salt flakes, aleppo pepper and just a sprinkle of nutmeg. 

If you’ve seen my recipe for pineapple buns, you are already familiar with what craquelin pastry is, although to be fair, I never called it that. That thin topping I added to the buns - the one that baked up crunchy and shiny - is a craquelin. Indeed typically craquelin pastry is sweet. And it’s usually baked on a bread or pastry of some kind. 

The word itself is French, naturalment, and translates to “cracker.” I presume the topping was so named because it is crunchy like a cracker when baked, although I must warn you that that does not hold true when you bake it on top of fish.  It gets a little crunchy but certainly not cracker crisp!

Since craquelin pastry is usually sweet I was intrigued when I saw the recipe for savory craquelin in delicious. magazine and couldn’t wait to try it. Was it good? Suffice to say, I'll be making this again! The topping was flavorful and delightful and the salmon below was tasty and cooked to perfection.

Savory Craquelin Pastry Roast Salmon

As mentioned above, this recipe was adapted from one in the UK magazine delicious. March 2021 issue but you can also find it online. You can mix the craquelin by hand but it’s much easier to get it nice and smooth with an electric mixer and I promise you want it nice and smooth. 

Ingredients

4 salmon fillets, about 1.5 lbs or 800g altogether, at room temperature

Juice of 1/2 lemon, plus wedges for serving

For the craquelin pastry topping:

2 slightly rounded tablespoons unsalted butter (about 30g), at room temperature

1/2 teaspoon demerara sugar

1 teaspoon smoked sea salt flakes (I used Maldon.)

Sprinkle freshly grated nutmeg

1/2 teaspoon pul biber (aleppo pepper) or substitute 1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper, plus extra to serve, if you like

1 fat clove garlic, crushed and minced

2 sprigs fresh thyme, leaves picked off and chopped, plus extra sprigs to serve

3 tablespoons plain flour

Method

Preheat your oven to 425°F or 218°C and prepare your baking pan by lining it with baking parchment.

Use electric beaters to make the craquelin pastry topping by creaming the butter and sugar together until light and fluffy. Add in the salt, nutmeg, pul biber, garlic, thyme and flour.

Beat again until it’s thoroughly combined and spreadable.

Put the salmon on the lined baking pan, skin-side down. Dry the tops thoroughly with a paper towel. If the fish is wet, it’s a challenge to get the craquelin to stick and spread. 

Divide the craquelin dough between the salmon fillets. Spread each over the top of the fish using the back of a spoon. 

Pop the pan in your preheated oven and bake for 15 minutes. Finish it off under the broiler for 1-2 minutes or until the top is golden and the fish is just cooked through.

Sprinkle the fillets with the lemon juice, then add an extra sprig of thyme to each and a pinch more aleppo pepper or cayenne, if desired. 

Enjoy!

It's the second Friday of the month so that means it's time for my Fish Friday Foodie friends to share recipes with you. Our theme today is Salmon Chanted Evening 🤣   but feel free to make these for lunch as well! Many thanks to our host, Sue of Palatable Pastime for the fun theme name and all her behind the scenes work! 

• Chili Glazed Salmon from Karen’s Kitchen Stories
• Creamy Garlic Butter Salmon from Making Miracles
• Salmon Burgers With Cocktail Sauce from Sneha’s Recipe
• Salmon with Lemon Caper Butter from Palatable Pastime
• Savory Craquelin Roast Salmon from Food Lust People Love
• Smoked Salmon Pasta from A Day in the Life on the Farm

Would you like to join Fish Friday Foodies? We post and share new seafood/fish recipes on the third Friday of the month. To join our group please email Wendy at wendyklik1517 (at) gmail.com. Visit our Facebook page and Pinterest page for more wonderful fish and seafood recipe ideas.

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Baked Shrimp-Stuffed Sole Fillets

Baked Shrimp-Stuffed Sole Fillets take a rather bland fish to fabulous by stuffing it with shrimp, cream cheese, garlic and jalapeño, then baking it with a crunchy garlicky panko topping. 

Flounder aka lemon sole is one of our favorite fish to pan-fry or bake whole but here in the States whole fish on the bone doesn’t seem as common. We have to make do with fillets.

My local grocery store sells fillets of sole in groups of two or three, rolled together and displayed like little coils side by side in the seafood section. Like you might roll socks but then not fold the top over. That gave me an idea. Why not make some sort of stuffing to put inside and roll them up again? A simple Google search revealed that, once again, the world had beat me to it. No matter. It was a good idea and we enjoyed the dish thoroughly.

Baked Shrimp Stuffed Sole Fillets

This recipe is adapted from one on Epicurious. The original calls for 4-6 fillets yet says it serves only four. We found with side dishes, one sole roll each was plenty. This is a rich dish!

Ingredients

8 sole fillets  (approx. total weight = 1.28lb or 580g)

For the stuffing:

5.28 oz or 150g fresh shrimp - weight after peeled, deveined

1/2 cup or 120g cream cheese, softened

1 clove garlic

1 fresh jalapeño

1 generous cup or 35g cubed baguette

1/4 cup or 60ml milk

Fine sea salt 

Freshly ground black pepper

Bread crumb topping:

1 cup or 75g plain panko bread crumbs

1 garlic clove, smashed then minced 

2 sprigs fresh parsley leaves, minced

2 sprigs fresh thyme leaves, minced

1-2 tablespoon olive oil, plus extra for drizzling the topping

Method

Preheat your oven to 350°F or 180°C and prepare your baking pan by brushing the inside with a little olive oil.

 

Pour the milk over the bread cubes and push them down a bit so they are covered and they can soak it all up. Cut the shrimp into three or four pieces each. Crushed then mince the clove of garlic. Slice off the stem and mince the jalapeño.

In a large mixing bowl, mash the cream cheese with a fork. Add in the soaked bread and stir well. 

Add in the shrimp, garlic and jalapeño. Stir well to combine. 

Put 1/8 of the filling on the narrower end of each sole fillet. 

Roll up and place in the oiled baking pan. 

Continue the process until all stuffed sole rolls are in the pan. Sprinkle with a little fine sea salt and black pepper. 

To make the topping, combine all the ingredients except the olive oil with fork. This helps the herbs and garlic mix in more evenly dry.

Add olive oil. Mix again with a fork to distribute the oil evenly. Top the sole rolls with panko mix. Drizzle with a little more olive oil.

Bake in your preheated oven for 20 minutes. Brown a little more on the top with the broiler, if desired.

Remove from the oven and serve immediately. I highly recommend serving this with your favorite steamed vegetables or maybe some boiled baby new potatoes with mint and a lightly dressed green salad. 

Enjoy!

T.G.I.F. and yay for Fish Friday Foodies! Today we are sharing fish and seafood baked or roasted in the oven. Check out the great recipes below. Many thanks to our organizer and host, Wendy of A Day in the Life on the Farm. 

• Sneha’s Recipe: Air Fryer Whole Mackerel Fish Roast 
• Culinary Adventures with Camilla: Crispy Salmon Bellies
• Food Lust People Love: Baked Shrimp-Stuffed Sole Fillets
• Palatable Pastime: Honey Pistachio Crusted Salmon 
• Goats and Greens: Roasted Almond-Breaded Tapenade-Stuffed Trout with Mushroom Sauce. 
• A Day in the Life on the Farm: Roasted Chilean Sea Bass One Skillet Dinner 
• Karen's Kitchen Stories : Slow Roasted Salmon with Garlic Butter and Herbs

                                      

                                               

Would you like to join Fish Friday Foodies? We post and share new seafood/fish recipes on the third Friday of the month. To join our group please email Wendy at wendyklik1517 (at) gmail.com. Visit our Facebook page and Pinterest page for more wonderful fish and seafood recipe ideas.

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Southern-style Tuna Salad

My Southern-style tuna salad is an old family recipe, the one I grew up with. It’s like egg salad but, of course, with added tuna, like we make it in the Southern United States. 

Another short tale. Many years ago, I was on the board of the American Association of Malaysia. Once a month, we would meet to deal with association business and we would bring dishes to share for a working lunch. 

One month I made tuna salad sandwiches. They were fancy sandwiches, crusts cut off, this recipe inside. We were discussing some item on the agenda when the chairperson stopped short and looked right at me. “Your egg salad has tuna in it!” she exclaimed. My retort was “No, my tuna salad has eggs in it! Doesn't yours?” 

A lively discussion by the whole board (a mixed group of Americans from all over) followed whereby I learned that there seems to be a north-south divide. In the northern US states tuna salad does not have eggs, southern-style tuna salad does. Who knew? 

Growing up, this is the way I remember my grandmothers and my mother making the “dressing” for not only tuna salad but also potato salad (at least on the days when no one had the wherewithal to whip up homemade mayonnaise.) Homemade mayo was always preferred but, you know, who has time for that? (Another parenthetical aside: My elder daughter would disagree. She always has time for that and she is a pro at homemade mayo! But she is not with me right now and I cannot be bothered.) 

Southern-style Tuna Salad 

You can chop up the egg yolks along with the whites and just add them to the tuna salad but you’ll miss the opportunity to enrich the mayonnaise and mustard dressing and make it seem more like homemade. Trust me, it makes a difference in flavor somehow. 

Ingredients

4 hard-boiled eggs

2 cans (5 oz or 142g) wild-caught chunk white albacore tuna in water

1/2 cup or 120ml mayonnaise

2-3 tablespoons yellow mustard

1/4 teaspoon fine sea salt

1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

1/4 teaspoon cayenne

1/4 medium onion

To garnish: chopped green onions and a good sprinkle of cayenne

Method

Drain the canned tuna in a sieve and use the can lid to press out as much liquid as you can. If you don't the tuna salad will be a bit "wet."

Cut the boiled eggs in half with a sharp knife and put the yolks in a mixing bowl. Mash them with a fork. 

Add in the mayonnaise, mustard and seasonings then grate in the onion. I use a microplane so the onion is very fine (and juicy) because I like the flavor but personally don’t like to find crunchy bits of onion in my tuna salad. You are welcome to mince the onion with a sharp knife if onion bits don’t bother you. Mix well. 

Chop the egg whites and add them to the mixing bowl, along with the tuna. Mix well to combine. 

Garnish with some chopped green onions and a sprinkle of cayenne pepper, if desired. 

Chill until ready to serve. This tuna salad is great on bread rolls, sliced bread or crackers. It is perfect for a picnic. Just bring it chilled in the cooler, provide the appropriate starchy things and let everyone help themselves! 

Enjoy! 

This month my Fish Friday Foodie friends are going on a picnic. Check out all the picnic friendly recipes below! Many thanks to our host and organizer, Wendy of A Day in the Life on the Farm. 

• Fish Bread Rolls from Sneha’s Recipe
• Salmon Salad Spread from Palatable Pastime
• Shrimp Louis Sandwiches from A Day in the Life on the Farm
• Southern-style Tuna Salad from Food Lust People Love  
• Surimi (Imitation Crab) Salad from Karen's Kitchen Stories

Are you a food blogger who would you like to join Fish Friday Foodies? We post and share new seafood/fish recipes on the third Friday of the month. To join our group please email Wendy at wendyklik1517 (at) gmail.com. Visit our Facebook page and Pinterest page for more wonderful fish and seafood recipe ideas. 

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Red Pesto Linguine

Bright in color and flavor, this red pesto linguine is a spicy bowl of deliciousness made with anchovies and Fresno peppers. It’s even great as leftovers so make the whole recipe. 

I keep a lot of pantry staples on hand but one of my favorites is anchovies. That little can adds so much flavor and salt to almost any savory dish from a classic Caesar dressing to a simple caramelized shallot tart. If you have olives and peppers as well, which I almost always do, you can make gildas, which are a Spanish appetizer that goes great with a glass of something chilled. 

I’ve also been known to add anchovies to Dauphinoise potatoes, turning those creamy spuds into a Swedish dish called Jansson’s Frestelse and I have used them, along with bacon and olives, to top a traditional Liguria pissaladière. In short, if I can work some anchovies into a recipe, I'm going to try! 

Today, anchovies are the star ingredient of this red pesto. 

Red Pesto Linguine

This recipe is adapted from one on the Bon Appetit website where they used a scant six anchovies and, it would seem, none of the good and flavorful olive oil the anchovies were packed in. This is a missed opportunity which I have rectified. You can, of course, use whatever pasta shape you prefer but in my book, linguine is the best. 

Ingredients

1 can (2 oz or 56g) olive oil-packed anchovy fillets 

4 garlic cloves

About 1/2 cup or 120ml extra-virgin olive oil

1/2 cup or 60g walnut pieces

3 tablespoons double-concentrated tomato paste

2 fresh Fresno peppers

3 tablespoons fresh lemon juice

3 oz or 85g freshly grated Parmesan, plus more for serving

1 lb or 450g linguine or your favorite pasta shape

Sea salt for the pasta water

2 tablespoons unsalted butter

Method

Tip your can of anchovies into a measuring vessel and top up with good quality olive oil until you reach 2/3 cup. Use the side of your knife to smash the garlic and then chop it roughly. 

In a small pot, cook the anchovies, oil, garlic and walnuts over a medium heat, stirring often. 

Take it off the heat as the garlic is just beginning to turn golden. This takes several minutes but don’t walk off and leave it because you do not want the garlic to burn. 

Add tomato paste.

Cook, stirring often, until the anchovies have completely broken down, if they hadn’t already, and the mixture is a deep red. Remove the pan from the heat and set aside to cool. 

Cut the stems ends off of the peppers and then cut them in half lengthwise. Use a spoon to remove the seeds, then cut the peppers into smaller pieces. 

Transfer walnut mixture to a food processor. Add chili peppers and lemon juice. Process until completely smooth. 

Add in the grated Parmesan and process again until you have a thick paste. If it’s too thick for your processor, add a tablespoon or two of warm water and process again. 

Meanwhile, cook your linguine according to package instructions until al dente, lightly salting the water. Remove and reserve 1 1/2 cups or 355ml of the pasta water with a ladle. Drain the pasta in a colander. 

Scrape the pesto into the warm pot and add the butter. 

Pour the drained linguine back in along with a 1/2 cup of the pasta water. Use tongs or two wooden spoons to toss the linguine in the pesto until the butter is melted and the linguine is covered in sauce. Add more pasta water as needed. 

Serve the linguine topped with extra Parmesan. Because the more cheese, the better. 

Enjoy! 

It’s the third Friday of the month, the day my Fish Friday Foodie friends share seafood recipes. Many thanks our host, Sid of Sid’s Sea Palm Cooking who challenged us to use canned, frozen or pouched seafood to make appetizers or a meal for a theme she named Shortcut Seafood. Special thanks to Wendy of A Day in the Life on the Farm for stepping up to help with behind the scenes work. Check out the links below. 

• Culinary Adventures with Camilla is plating an Ensalada de Atún y Pimientos
• A Day in the Life on the Farm is serving up Linguini with White Beans and Tuna 
• Sneha's Recipe cooked up Prawn and Onion Stir Fry
• Food Lust People Love made some Red Pesto Linguine 
• Palatable Pastime is giving us a Tea Room Tuna Salad Plate
• Karen's Kitchen Stories is ladling out a Smoked Salmon Bisque 
• Making Miracles shares her recipe for Tuna Patties

Are you a food blogger who would you like to join Fish Friday Foodies? We post and share new seafood/fish recipes on the third Friday of the month. To join our group please email Wendy at wendyklik1517 (at) gmail.com. Visit our Facebook page and Pinterest page for more wonderful fish and seafood recipe ideas. 

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Spicy Cod and Merguez Traybake

This Spicy Cod and Merguez Traybake is a lovely combination of mild and spicy, flaky and chewy, a tasty way to enjoy both cod and merguez in one dish, not to mention fresh tomatoes and salty olives.

I like to joke that I was bilingual before I learned my second language because my first three years of school were in the British system. I learned to read and write the way they do. Year four - at an American school - was a relearning of spelling rules and punctuation. 

I spent the summer before that memorizing the whole times tables (through 12!) which apparently American kids had already learned as well. Worst summer ever for a nine-year-old! I was almost glad when school started and I could stop practising(Br.E.)/practicing(Am.E.) [In British English, "practise" is the verb and "practice" is the noun. In American English, "practice" is both the verb and the noun. And now you know my pain.] On the plus side, I still have the times tables cold. 

This recipe starts with a little vocabulary explanation of my title and an apology for those of you who already know. (I see you, my fellow American devotees of The Great British Bake-Off!) The way I’m using it here, the word traybake or sometimes tray bake as two words, is the British English equivalent of sheet pan dinner in the United States. That said, while a sheet pan dinner is always a main course, a traybake can also be something that is cut up and served as a sweet snack or dessert, like brownies or cake. 

In fact, if you browse the BBC Good Food website’s “traybake collection” there are only sweet recipes. You have to search for “savory traybakes” to get the links to our so-called sheet pan dinners. Even then, a few sweet recipes appear in the list. It’s all very confusing really.  

Now that I've gotten that off my chest and clarified absolutely nothing, on with the savory traybake! 

Spicy Cod and Merguez Traybake

The impetus for this recipe was our Fish Friday Foodies host Wendy choosing “seafood dishes that go with red wine” as our theme. This flavorful dish sure does! Do not worry too much about the exact weight of your merguez or your cod. I’ve given the exact weight of mine to give you a guideline. A little bit more or less won’t make much different to finished dish. This recipe is adapted from the British food magazine, Olive, where just to confuse matters further, they’ve called it a tray roast. Honestly. I can't even. 

Ingredients

10 1/4 oz or 290g small merguez (spicy lamb) sausages or large ones cut into chunks (Look for these at your local halal butcher. Yes, I bought mine here in the States.) 

1 large Spanish onion

3 tablespoons harissa, divided

3/4 cup or 110g red grape tomatoes

3/4 cup or 110g yellow grape tomatoes

1/2 cup or 85g dry cured black olives, unpitted

2 cod loins, 1.6 lbs or 710g total

olive oil

For garnish and serving:

flat-leaf parsley, chopped

1 lemon, cut into 8 wedges

Recommended to serve: my extra rich creamed potatoes (they are made with actual cream!) or your favorite crusty bread

Method

Preheat your oven to 400°F or 200°C. 

Peel and cut the onions into thin wedges, discarding the hard root end. Cut the little tomatoes in half and pit the olives by hitting them with the flat of a knife and removing the pits.  

Cut the cod loins into six equal pieces. 

Put 1 tablespoon of the harissa in a small bowl and mix it with 1 tablespoon olive oil to loosen. Brush the cod with the mixture on both sides and set aside. 

Put the merguez sausages in a large baking pan. Drizzle with a little olive oil and roast for 10 minutes in the preheated oven until browned on the outside. I left mine hooked together and then cut them apart with scissors, once browned. 

The merguez will release some lovely flavored oil. Stir the onions in it and roast for another 7 minutes. 

Add the tomatoes and olives into the baking pan. Dollop the harissa around and give the whole thing a right good toss with two rubber spatulas.

Spread it all back out single file.  Nestle the cod amongst the tomatoes, olives and onions. Give each piece of cod another tiny drizzle of olive oil. 

Put the pan back in the oven for 17-20 minutes or until the cod reaches an internal temperature of 145°F or 63°C and is just cooked through. This will depend on the thickness of your cod. Mine was pretty thick and it took the whole 20 minutes. 

Scatter with parsley and lemon wedges.

I served mine as I suggested above on a generous mound of creamed potatoes. If you don't have potatoes, you definitely need some crusty bread to sop up the delicious pan juices. 

Enjoy, as per this month’s theme, with a glass of your favorite red wine! 

P.S. Don't let the fancy bottle in the photo fool you, if you tried to zoom in. We enjoyed this dish with a French table wine called La Vieille Ferme that is as inexpensive as it is lovely. I included that bottle in the photo because it is special to us. It is a 1986 vintage which is what we've enjoyed every year (since 1987) to celebrate our anniversary. We aren't partial to a country or vineyard, especially since they are getting much harder to source each year. We'll be opening another one on 22 March! 

It's time for my Fish Friday Foodies to share what they've been cooking up! Many thanks to our host and organizer Wendy from A Day in the Life on the Farm for her behind-the-scenes work and this challenging theme. 

• Culinary Adventures with Camilla is serving up Crab-Stuffed Ravioli in a Spiced Pepper Sauce + 2017 Comanche Cellars Zinfandel
• A Day in the Life on the Farm is Exploring Malbec outside of France Paired with Pineapple Teriyaki Salmon 
• Making Miracles brings us Fish with Red Wine Sauce 
• Karen's Kitchen Stories shares Shrimp in Tomato and Chile Sauce
• Food Lust People Love has a Spicy Cod and Merguez Tray Bake
• Sneha's Recipe made Surf and Turf with Shrimp and Sausage Skewers

Are you a food blogger who would you like to join Fish Friday Foodies? We post and share new seafood/fish recipes on the third Friday of the month. To join our group please email Wendy at wendyklik1517 (at) gmail.com. Visit our Facebook page and Pinterest page for more wonderful fish and seafood recipe ideas. 

Pin this Spicy Cod and Merguez Traybake!

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