Hello everyone. My name is Patty Anderson and I am the owner of the blog Cooking On A Budget. The blog focuses on families who work on a tight food budget showing them that they can provide good, wholesome meals to their families without having to rely on sodium or chemically laden canned or boxed products.
When I was approached to do a guest post using my Baked Cod with Warm Salad for Chef Hollie Greene of Joyfoodly I was honored and thrilled and eager to do it. Why? Because the focus is on eating healthy and passing onto our children the importance of a good balance of fruits and vegetables in our diets.
What is fabulous about this dish is that it is a French inspired preparation of a beautiful loin of cod that makes you feel like you are dining out in a fine restaurant but without the restaurant price! But that’s not all – cod is incredibly healthy for you too. A four ounce portion of cod is loaded with vitamin B12. You need vitamin B12 in your diet to keep homo-cysteine levels low. Lowering those levels reduces your risk for heart attack or stroke and reduces the likelihood of osteoporosis. Overall it’s low calorie and a great source of protein. It has blood thinning properties due to the omega-3 fatty acids.
When planning your evening meals you need to know that a four ounce portion of a protein is sufficient in addition to your vegetables and/or fruit. With the cod I chose to do a warm tomato salad that contains fresh herbs. It’s not hot tomatoes – just slightly warm and it complemented the sauce for the fish and the acidity in the tomatoes as well as the lemon, was perfect to balance that out.
Rice goes well with fish so I made my basic rice recipe and for the vegetable, green beans. I’ve been on such a green bean kick lately and can’t seem to get enough of them. It just so happens that green beans are a featured summer vegetable here on Joyfoodly and personally I could not have been any happier to hear that. Many times in my blog I strongly suggest to my readers that whether it’s a small piece of land available to them or using containers on a balcony, that they utilize the space for summer gardening of vegetables. You can save so much money by planting your own vegetables and even more if you learn to can and how to freeze them.
Green beans – fresh green beans are just delicious and low in calories. Plus green beans are packed with Vitamins C and K and lots of nutrients your body needs. If I am not roasting a vegetable and using the stove top, here is what I do:
Using an appropriate sized sauce pot, fill with enough water to cover the green beans (or what ever vegetable you are having) which means you fill the pot about half to three quarters of the way with the water.
Let the water come up to a rapid boil and then add in salt.
Drop in your vegetable and cooked until crisp tender. Everyone’s version of crisp tender varies so I preferred my beans cooked at 5 minutes, but husband likes his gone a little further. In the case of varying likes you could have a strainer ready over another pot and using a spider or slotted spoon remove the beans at 5 minutes for yourself and cook a few minutes longer for other family members.
Let’s move on to the recipe:
Purchase two large cod loins and split them in half for four portions. I am using cherry tomatoes as that is what I have. However if you wish, purchase some other kind of tomato to use in the tomato salad. Heirloom if you love them and can afford them or regular larger tomatoes will work just as well.
- 2 large cod loins – cut in half for 4 portions
- 1 tbsp. olive oil
- 4 tbsp. butter
- 1 – 2 tbsp. (gluten-free) bread crumbs
- 1/2 cup white wine
- 2-3 sprigs fresh thyme
- 1 lemon – juiced
- 3 cloves garlic
- 1 pint cherry tomatoes – halved
- 1 1/2 tbsp. fresh parsley – rough chopped
- 1 good squeeze lemon juice
- salt and pepper to taste
This link will take you to my blog, Cooking On A Budget for the cooking instructions.
Chef Hollie Greene
Read more about Hollie
