Roasted cod with easy watercress sauce & roasted cherry tomatoes

For a no-fuss fish dish, try roasted cod with easy watercress
sauce and roasted cherry tomatoes

  • Cook:45 mins
  • Serves 6
  • Easy

Nutrition per serving

  • kcal 347
  • fat 20g
  • saturates 10g
  • carbs 3g
  • sugars 0g
  • fibre 1g
  • protein 34g
  • salt 0.44g

Ingredients

  • 6 Icelandic cod fillets (about 175g/6oz each), skin on
  • 25g butter, softened
  • 2 tbsp olive oil
  • 300g cherry tomatoes, a mix of red and yellow if you can get them
  • 2 shallots, finely chopped
  • 150ml dry white wine
  • half a 200g tub crème fraîche
  • bunch of watercress, tough stalks removed, roughly chopped
  • juice of half a lemon
  • 100ml whipping cream
  • parsley or chervil sprigs, to garnish

Method

  1. Smear the skin of the cod with the butter and season with sea salt. Heat 1 tbsp of the oil in a frying pan. When very hot add the cod, skin side down, and fry, without moving the fish, until the skin is crisp and golden. Invert on to a shallow ovenproof dish, ready to finish it off in the oven.

  2. Put the cherry tomatoes in a separate shallow ovenproof dish and drizzle with another 1 tbsp oil.

  3. To make the sauce, cook the shallots and wine in a small pan for about 2-3 minutes until the wine has almost gone. Tip into a food processor with the crème fraîche and watercress, season with salt and pepper and blitz. Add a squeeze of lemon juice to taste, return to the pan and set aside. Lightly whip the cream until it just holds its shape. (At this stage the cod, sauce and cream can be kept in the fridge, lightly covered with cling film, for up to 4 hours.)

  4. About 20 minutes before you are ready to cook, preheat the oven to fan 170C/conventional 190C/gas 5. Roast the cod and tomatoes for 12-15 minutes until just cooked. Meanwhile, gently reheat the sauce, remove from the heat and fold in the cream. Taste and add more seasoning and lemon juice if necessary. Set the cod on warm dinner plates with the cherry tomatoes and spoonfuls of watercress sauce. Garnish with sprigs of parsley or chervil and serve with buttered new potatoes.

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