eating light & healthy

Most of the time I take my cue for nightly suppers from what appears on sale either in a food store’s app or their flyer. Recently Whole Foods had on sale Sustainable, Wild Caught Atlantic Cod Fillet. After perusing my favorite recipe apps, I found an interesting one on the website www.epicurious.com  for Roast Fish with Cannellini Beans and Green Olives. The recipe is by Claire Saffitz, a freelance recipe developer and cook book author.
 
For this recipe you’ll need fresh oregano, canned cannellini beans, pitted Castelvetrano olives, kosher salt, whitefish fillet (cod, haddock or halibut), shallots, Fresno chili, lemons and extra-virgin olive oil. Overall, the recipe had largely favorable reviews.

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I was able to use the fresh oregano from my cold frame and I had Castelvetrano olives left from another recent recipe. I found a Fresno chili at Whole Foods when shopping for the cod. The recipe asked that the chili pepper be sliced into rings. Fearing for too much heat, I discarded both the ribs and seeds from the pepper; in hindsight, this was a mistake.
 
The prep for this recipe was very easy. The oregano, beans, olives and water create a bed for the fish to lay on. These ingredients are seasoned with just some salt. I think freshly ground pepper would have also been good. The fish is seasoned with salt and thinly sliced rings of shallots and Fresno chili are strewn on top along with thinly sliced lemons. The fish would have benefited from the infusion of fresh oregano cooked on top of it too.
 
After approximately 35 minutes, or slightly more, the fish was done. The beans were wonderfully flavored, but the fish was a little lackluster. I looked up the flavor profile of a Fresno pepper, and found that while looking similar to a jalapeno pepper, its heat is comparable to that of a mild serrano pepper, making it somewhat spicy. Ah ha! That was the missing key…perhaps. However, we did have leftovers and both my husband and I agreed, we liked it better a few days later.

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Roast Fish with Cannellini Beans and Green Olives
BY CLAIRE SAFFITZ
Bon Appétit Magazine
October 2018 issue
 
“Creamy cannellinis studded with olives and chile flip the script on baked beans (though you can use chickpeas or butter beans instead of cannellini). This is one of those throw-together dinner recipes that relies on staples like canned beans and lemons; all you have to do is pick up the fish. You could cook said fish in less time on higher heat, but slow-roasting provides the best insurance against overcooking.”
 
Ingredients
4 servings
4 sprigs oregano
2 (15.5-oz.) cans cannellini (white kidney) beans, rinsed
1/2 cup Castelvetrano olives, pitted, torn
Kosher salt
1 1/2 lb. whole skinless whitefish fillet (such as cod, haddock, or halibut)
2 small shallots, thinly sliced into rings
1 Fresno chile, very thinly sliced into rings
2 lemons, divided
5 Tbsp. extra-virgin olive oil
 
 Directions

1. Preheat oven to 300°F. Combine oregano, beans, olives, and 1/2 cup water in a shallow 3-qt. baking dish; season lightly with salt. Place fish on top and nestle into beans; season fish generously with salt. Scatter shallots and chile over fish and beans. Very thinly slice 1 lemon and wriggle out seeds. Arrange slices, slightly overlapping, over surface of fish. Drizzle everything with oil and roast until fish is opaque throughout and flesh in the center flakes when gently pressed, 25–35 minutes, depending on the type and thickness of the fish. Let rest, occasionally pressing beans down into the liquid so they don’t dry out, 5–10 minutes.

 

1. Cut remaining lemon into wedges and serve alongside fish and beans for squeezing over.

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