Baked Cod with Stuffed Peppers and Red Pesto Sauce

 

 

At least the kitchen windows, all steamed up by bubbling pots and pans made a good job of blocking out the grey February skies that only seem to be interrupted every so often by the odd flurry of snow or sleet. They also made the kitchen a favourite spot for me to be in, on what's my least favourite month. 

I was happy to be back there after a bout of horrid migraine headaches and sickness that stole my appetite and brought out the Florence Nightingale in A and H. As my appetite slowly returned, they kindly brought me peppermint tea and toast, then  homemade chicken broth and finally comforting Damportak, Persian rice with split broad beans. 

Whilst recovering and when my head wasn't aching too much you'd find me curled up in front of the TV, watching films like Corrina Corinna and  Pride and Prejudice.  That made me long for summer days and cotton dresses. Just look at all those bundles of cotton lawn, and pleats and tucks, and little button holes.  

I read too, All Passion Spent that I picked up and couldn't put down again. I knitted all those  52 combined inches of H's long, long socks and began a pair of simple short ones for one of my sisters, until I ran out of yarn. 

But the kitchen called me back at last, and I oven baked cod with stuffed peppers tomatoey pesto and Balsamic sauce and when H came in she smelt the garlic and rosemary as she walked through the door, and said...."mmm...it smells like you're better mum...

Oven Baked Cod (sustainably sourced) with Stuffed Peppers 
Ingredients, per person you will need:

• One fish steak or fillet. Cod, tilapia or Sea bass would be nice.
• One small red pepper
• Enough cherry tomatoes to fill the pepper plus a few extra.
• A couple of baby courgettes
•  Feta cheese
• A couple of sprigs of rosemary
• A few cloves of garlic
• Olive oil.
• New potatoes to serve and peas.

Red Pesto Sauce/Dressing

• Red pesto
• Olive oil
• Balsamic vinegar

Method:

1. Oil an oven proof dish and place in the cod.
2. Half and deseed the peppers and place those in too. 
3. Place three or four cherry tomatoes in each pepper and some of the feta cheese, crumbled into big chunks. Peel and crush a couple of cloves of garlic a put a little into each of the crushed peppers and a little on the fish.
4. Slice the baby courgettes and place with a few more tomatoes in the dish around the other ingredients.
5. Add a few sprigs of rosemary on top and drizzle with olive oil
6. Place in a moderate oven and bake for about thirty minutes until the fish is cooked through and the peppers are tender.

Pesto sauce

1. Put a couple of spoonfuls of pesto into a small saucepan
2. Add a little olive oil and balsamic vinegar and stir well.
3. Warm through and then pour into a serving jug.

Serve up with new potatoes and a green veg...mmm...

...anyway that was then and today it's March and when the clouds broke up a bit, it was to show a spot of blue sky. A and H are spluttering and coughing with some other lurgy poor things and it's my turn to do the Florence Nightingale bit...