Simple fish dishes: the ideal midweek meal

When it is midweek and your struggling for some food inspiration for the night’s meal I urge you to look no further than a simple fish dish. Usually an easy fish dinner takes the form of some frozen Birds Eye or Young’s (other brands are available) battered cod fillets and chips bunged in the oven and served with some boiled frozen peas on the side. I am most certainly not saying this kind of dinner is to be frowned upon as it was a satisfyingly simple favourite of mine at Uni and was in fact my dinner last night. However, I would say that it pays to be a little more creative with a fish dinner as it can turn out to be worth the extra 10 minutes, tops, in the kitchen. 

While flicking through some old scraps of recipes from the hordes of old food magazines my mum has collected over the years (yes, I admit it, we are recipe scrap bookers) we stumbled across a criminally simple recipe for a cod, cherry tomato and green olive tray roast from a 2016 issue of Olive. In the entire recipe (a.k.a. one paragraph) there are about 4 steps. This seemed the perfect solution for the classic dilemma of what to have for tea when you cannot be bothered cooking. 

This was generally a solid recipe with simple clear instructions, few steps and easily accessible ingredients. Fish wrapped in parma ham is a crowd favourite and relatively impressive for the very little preparation required. I would argue the stated cooking time maybe a tad too long at 15 minutes as the cod was slightly dry, however this is the sacrifice for getting crispier ham. Alternatively, if you do not mind slightly more washing up, you could crisp the ham on a separate tray and place on top of the fish when that has cooked with the vegetables ensuring a more satisfying crunch to the parma ham and softer, more succulent fish. 

The ingredients for the vegetable element of the dish were gloriously simple to prepare (segment the onion and chuck in the tray along with the tomatoes) and cooked beautifully in the time stated, not too mushy but soft and juicy (the rhyme was unintentional, I swear). I love flavour, who doesn’t? With this in mind I would recommend adding another onion to ensure the balance of vegetables is equal and if you don’t mind adding another ingredient to the basket then how about including a sprinkling of thyme or basil at the roasting stage? Due to the simplicity of the dish seasoning is king so remember to season generously at each stage, even the fish. 

They recommend in the recipe to pair this with buttered orzo and I have to say it works perfectly. What a revelation to butter the orzo that would usually transform, once drained, into a solid mass stuck together by all that starch. This may have been obvious to some but with the salty butter running through it was glossy and silky and helped season also.

As well as this stunner of a forgotten recipe there are many other fish dishes simple to prepare and thus perfect for the midweek meal. A great one is harissa salmon which entails placing the salmon and green vegetables of your choice (some favourites include broccoli and asparagus) in a foil packet drizzled with a mixture of harissa (now widely available in super markets), olive oil, lime juice and salt and pepper, cooked for 10-14 minutes and served with rice. Or, for a bit of adventure and creativity experiment with the en papillote method and include different ingredients or fish to make your own personalised package (stop me when I start to sound like a Moonpig advert). A classic pairing would be cod in a parcel with olive oil, lemon juice, salt, pepper and, if you happen to have some white wine in the fridge, or you’re just generally a bougie b****, then slosh some of that in as well. 

The world can be your oyster, or rather your papillote, on a drab Tuesday or Wednesday night. All it takes is a bit of creativity and arguably only a thimble-full more effort.