- Serves 2 - Ready in 20 minutes -
Gather together...
2 tsp rapeseed oil / olive oil.
3 sundried tomatoes, cut into small pieces with scissors - or add cut up halloumi or chopped bacon.
1 onion, finely diced (to save time day-to-day, I keep a big box of onions I've chopped ahead-of-time, in the freezer, so I throw in 2 handfuls of those).
1 garlic clove, peeled and chopped (or 1tsp lazy garlic).
2 x thick, skinless raw white fish (pollock / haddock /cod) fillets -MSC certified - (if frozen, defrost on medium-low for 3 to 5 minutes, stopping it to check every minute, until just defrosted).
Pinch ground pepper.
3 handfuls (150g) frozen peas, NOT defrosted.
½ a stock cube or 1tsp 'Marigold Less Salt Swiss Vegetable Bouillon powder' (available in bulk 1kg tubs).
200ml boiling water.
2 Little Gem lettuces, thickly sliced.
300g tub half-fat crème fraîche or Philadelphia soft-cheese equivalent.
To serve...
Slices of crusty bread / sliced panini, to dip into the sauce
Get cooking...
1. Heat the 2 tsp of oil in a large non-stick frying pan / wok. Add the three chopped sundried tomatoes (or the halloumi or the bacon, if using instead), the diced onion, and the peeled and chopped garlic clove. Cook gently, stirring often, for 5 mins to soften the onion, then push the contents of the pan to one side of the pan.
2. Boil a kettle half full of water (for the stock).
3. Put the two raw fish fillets into the pan, season with a pinch of black pepper and fry for 1 minute, then turn the fish fillets over and fry for a further 1 minute.
4. Add the 3 handfuls of frozen peas, sieve in the 1 tsp of stock powder (to avoid unpleasant lumps) and pour in the 200ml of boiling water. Stir and then bring to a simmer with the lid on- the pan will take about 5 minutes to get up to heat again (due to the addition of the frozen peas - they need to be added when frozen so that they keep their vibrant colour and firm texture).
5. Add the two chopped lettuces. Cook over a medium heat for 2 minutes more at a simmer, with the lid ON.
6. Add the 300g of crème fraîche / philly. Cook for 2 minutes more, stirring the vegetables occasionally, until the fish is just cooked and the vegetables wilted.
7. Dish out the fish evenly (it will probably have crumbled into smaller chunks whilst cooking). Serve with crusty bread / sliced panini, to mop up the juices.
My sister found this recipe - it is Good Food magazine's 'Cod with Bacon, Lettuce and Peas' - the cooking times have been slightly increased, the stock quantity decreased and the creme fraiche amount increased (so as not to leave half a tub of creme fraiche hanging about in the fridge).