Making a nice recipe when you have such fresh ingredients is very easy. Living in West Wales on the coast is wonderful for all sorts of fresh produce and this reminds me a little of a fish and chip supper from back home in Cornwall, except less batter and less seagulls stealing your food!
We got the cod and samphire from Jonah’s Fish in Aberystwyth and the Swiss chard and herbs were grown by Dewi, who is 3 years old and very proud of his vegetable patch.
Don’t worry, I swapped him some cake for his wares.
Most of the components can be made in advance so this is a simple but really delicious tea with a little planning.
Serves 2
Ingredients
- maris piper potatoes, enough for 2 people
- sunflower oil
- sea salt and black pepper
- a few pieces of white bloomer
- 1 unwaxed lemon
- a big bunch of fresh herbs. I used sage, thyme and marjoram
- 2 cod fillets
- a drizzle of olive oil
- 1 garlic clove
- butter
- garden peas
- a big bunch of Swiss chard (it reduces down a lot like spinach)
- a big bunch of samphire
Method
Steps 1-6 can be done hours in advance or the day before.
- Peel, chop and boil the potatoes in salted water until you can comfortably poke them with a sharp knife, but not too soft that they fall apart.
- Drain and give the potatoes a really good shake so they are ‘roughed up’ and the edges look fluffy.
- Put the potatoes onto a chopping board and allow them to cool completely, so I usually do this a few hours before cooking tea. This seems to provide the best results.
- Make the breadcrumbs by whizzing the bread in a nutribullet or any other blender.
- Shake the breadcrumbs out. If you have loads, I freeze some for another time
- Blend the herbs and then add the breadcrumbs, the finely grated zest of half a lemon and salt and pepper.
- Heat your oven to 200c/180c fan/gas mark 6
- Put your potatoes in a ceramic baking tray or dish and coat in oil, salt and pepper.
- Put in the oven for 30 minutes. Turn halfway through.
- Add the cod to the oven by placing on an oiled baking tray, topped with the herb crumb a drizzle of olive oil. Turn the potatoes again for a final time.
- Cook the cod for 10 minutes until it is see-through and flakey. Keep the potatoes cooking so they’ll be in for a total of around 40 minutes.
- Whilst the cod and potatoes are finishing, fry a little garlic and butter in a pan and add the samphire Swiss chard and peas. This doesn’t need any salt as the samphire is naturally quite salty. I do enjoy squeezing a little lemon in right at the end. This stage takes very little time to cook, about 3 minutes.
- Remove everything from the oven
- Serve onto warmed plates with a squeeze of lemon over the fish and a bit of vinegar on the potatoes.
