Baked cod two ways (spicy miso & tandoori) with spinach potato puree is easy and luxurious
Inspired by the freshest baby spinach and needing to eat more protein
Back story (that you can probably skip):
About two months ago I decided to work with a personal trainer to meet my fitness goals. I wanted to lose some weight and gain some muscle. While I’ve tried many strategies before (some successful, some not) to lose weight, I had not focused any efforts on gaining muscle, which I am learning is quite beneficial to overall health. For the first month, I diligently focused on eating lots of vegetables (which I’ve always loved), eating clean minimally processed whole foods, cooking most of my meals, tracking calories and nutrients in LoseIt, going for a 30-60m walk 3-4 days per week and strength training personal training sessions 2 times a week. After ~1.5 months of this, I did not see any results for either of my fitness goals. I did not lose any meaningful weight and I did not observe any change in my muscle tone. While the latter is probably too early, the former should have been achievable - I anticipated at least a 4-6 lb fat loss in 6 weeks. I shared my disappointment with my trainer and she asked me many questions about what I eat, when I eat, what my cardio and strength training sessions look like (outside of her sessions with me). She considered my details and gave me two actionable things to try for the next month:
Start eating breakfast: I have not eaten breakfast in decades. I just don’t feel hungry in the morning so it’s usually a cup of tea with a splash of milk and I’m good to go until lunch. The trainer suggests I re-start eating in the morning to get my metabolism going, starting with a small meal (e.g. an egg and fruit) and then working my way up to a regular breakfast.
Increase my protein intake (from ~50g to ~100g+): Since 50% of my diet is North Indian style food, she conjectured that it might be a bit high in carbohydrates and a bit low in protein. After we discussed the things I regularly eat, and given I track my foods, she suggested that I increase my protein intake as it may not be currently sufficient to meet my goals.
On good faith, I have decided to incorporate the trainer’s suggestions in hopes that they will help me achieve my fitness goals. So, I am starting my journey to increase my protein intake in most of my meals. Today’s post is about one of those initial efforts, and the hilarity that accompanied it.
Baked cod with spinach (that you actually came to read about):
I eat vegetarian food most of the time, although sometimes I do enjoy dishes prepared with chicken. More recently, I have been trying to and actually appreciating eating fish. I forayed into salmon (smoked or cooked) and white fish like halibut and cod. That said, I never cook the fish myself as I generally do not enjoy cooking with meat. I typically buy precooked fish from the supermarket or order it at fancy restaurants to treat myself. Since my trainer suggested I need to eat more protein to achieve my fitness goals (read the backstory above for more info), I decided to be brave and cook meat at home. Yes, I could continue to buy it outside, but I do believe in cooking most of my food as it’s generally more healthy.
One day as I was grocery shopping at my local Trader Joe’s, I saw these beautiful Pacific cod boneless skinless fillets, a firm white fish that is mild in flavor. I admired them and read the packaging and weighed the price and contemplated whether I wanted to take them home to cook them. I chickened out (fished out?) and walked away, I lost some of my bravery from earlier in wanting to cook fish. I went to the frozen food aisle to continue my shopping, but my eye kept wandering back to the cod fillets. Completely distracted in the frozen food aisle, I went back to the seafood section and stared at the cod some more, lost in my thoughts about it. But I chickened/fished out once again and went to the next aisle to continue my shopping. Alas, I could not stop thinking about the cod, how I needed to eat more protein, how I needed to be brave in the kitchen, and how I was bursting with ideas on how I would prepare the cod. I stamped my foot in the aisle and with a sense of purpose walked back to the cod and placed those beautiful fillets in my red basket. Are you ready to clap for me yet?
While I’m sure many people undergo in-real-time dilemmas at the grocery store (they do, right?), they most likely do not do it in front of two employees stocking seafood. Once I got home, I imagined these employees watching me as a crazy lady in gym clothes walking back and forth from the cod, picking up the package, putting it back down and walking away, stomping back and placing the cod into her basket with a firm face full of conviction. My only hope is that they found it all amusing, rather than annoying.
Baked Cod, two ways:
On my drive home I went through many ideas for how to marinate and prep the cod for dinner, my creativity was through the roof. I could not decide between two of these ideas, so I decided to make both, as after all I had two fillets of fish. I washed the cod fillets (are you supposed to? I don’t know… this is my first time cooking cod… so I did), patted them dry with a paper towel, and let them rest while I prepared my two easy marinades.
Marinade 1 ~ Spicy Miso
white miso, soy sauce, Italian Calabrian chillies, lemon juice
Marinade 2 ~ Tandoori
homemade full fat yogurt, lemon juice, olive oil, spice powders (cumin, coriander, turmeric, red pepper, mango, dried fenugreek), salt
I coated the two fillets with each marinade and let them sit on the counter for ~30 mins while I worked on the vegetable pairing (see below).
I baked the marinated cod fillets at 400F for 17 mins, and then broiled them for 3 mins. I was so nervous about both undercooking or overcooking the fish since this was my first time. I decided to trust google and followed the instructions diligently. At the end, visually, they looked beautiful, colorful, flaky, and quite inviting.
Spinach Potato Puree:
In deciding what vegetable to pair with the fish, I didn’t have too much of a choice. I had this gorgeous fresh organic spinach that came in my weekly farm box and was begging to be eaten immediately. My first thought was to sauté the baby spinach with olive oil and garlic, however, the marinating cod was compelling me to be more creative. I did not have a concrete plan for the spinach but rather let the dish evolve as I started to cook it.
First, I decided to introduce more than just garlic as the aromatic. I sautéed garlic, onions, ginger, and tomato and then added the spinach to wilt it down.
Second, I found a boiled potato in the fridge that I initially thought I would slice up and eat as is with the fish, but on another thought, I decided to add it to the spinach.
Third, I found some feta in the fridge that I figured would probably complement the leafy spinach flavors. I also ended up adding some lemon juice to get more acid for balanced flavor.
Fourth, I decided to puree this whole mixture to get more of a velvety mouthfeel rather than a leafy mouthfeel. I was too lazy to take out the large blender so I ended up pureeing this in two smoothie-size blenders - it worked out.
Once pureed, I got the spinach mix back in the pan to adjust the salt, add black pepper, and to keep it simmering on very low heat until I was ready to plate.
Plating:
My creative juices were flowing through my veins and I realized I could not just scarf down the delicious looking cod and spinach without attempting to plate it aesthetically first. (You may or may not recall that my attempts at aesthetically presenting my food are abysmal, see here and here). Somehow my brain immediately went to the yin & yang or pisces style plating. I swooped the velvety spinach pure on a plate, added feta cheese as the eyes (I have no idea what I was thinking), and placed a piece of spicy miso cod on one swoop and a piece of tandoori cod on the other swoop. I don’t think my attempts at aesthetic presentation of my food improved in any meaningful way, but I do know that I could not wait to dig into this plate!
The spicy miso marinade was oh-so-scrumptious over the flaky cod with a perfect texture coming from the miso, a spicy kick from the Italian Calabrian chillies, all balanced by the white flesh of the fish. The tandoori cod screamed creamy and comforting from the yogurt and the heat from the spice powders. The spinach potato pure was earthy, hearty, tangy, smooth, luxurious all in one bite. I am so glad I added that boiled potato. While the spinach potato puree paired perfectly with the tandoori cod, I found its pairing with the spicy miso cod incompatible as the flavors did not blend too well together. I wonder if a nori-flavored vegetable would pair better with miso flavors. What do you think? What would you pair the spicy miso cod with?
I’m going to call this dinner a win for several reasons:
I met my protein goals for the day with 33g coming from 6.5 oz of cod I ate on this plate.
I cooked fish for the first time and it was not as scary as I thought it would be!
My creativity had the best day and that yielded visually appealing delicious results :)
I entertained (hopefully) the 2 Trader Joe employees with my in-store fish dilemma :p
Dish Debrief:
Is this my winner or disaster? leaning towards a win
How would I rate this dish out of 10? 7.5 out of 10
What would I change next time? pair the miso cod with another vegetable
Would I make this again? yes