Thursday, March 11, 2010

Can I play COD?

A March Madness side effect of not cooking, has been eating poorly.
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[DISCLAIMER: I do think there is no harm in eating junk, so long as it is in moderation.]
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I noticed yesterday my pants were a bit snugger. In all likelihood this has been caused by my increased intake of sports bar accompaniments for frosty tall ones (a byproduct of sooo much hockey going on), gas station burgers (yes, I know...but my station makes great ones!), snacking in place of meals, late night dinners, so on and so forth.
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Often it only takes one meal to make me feel better about these unwise (but necessary?) choices. Here is my attempt to make things right again.
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As you know, fish is still something I would never dare say I am great at. After the success of the low-fat chowder, I've got Cod on the brain.
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In that chowder, the Cod was simmered in broth until cooked through. I really did love the texture, flavor and appearance of the fish. I self-proclaimed it the best fish attempt I've had yet!
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With Cod on sale this week and waistbands taut, I figured we'd try for a non-fried fish dish.
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Basic go-to ingredients and seasonings were used to start things off:
Garlic, Salt, Pepper, Parsley Flake, Garlic Powder, Onion Powder and Cayenne
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A drizzle of Olive Oil, 1 can of Diced Tomatoes, and the juice of 1 Lemon.
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My goal was to recreate the simmering effect for this cod.
I covered the baking dish with foil and placed in a 450 degree oven.
Toward the end of cooking I uncovered, sprinkled on just a touch of grated Parmesan and switched the oven to broil.
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Since I was focusing on the fish, my sides where simple:
Fresh Spinach cooked up in Olive Oil, Garlic, Red Pepper Flake, Salt and Pepper.
Brown Rice (cooked in chicken stock) seasoned with Garlic Powder, Parsley Flakes, Salt and Pepper.
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The final plates.

I do think Cod is a great and especially perfect for fish cooking amateurs such as myself. It has a very mild flavor, low fat content and a dense, flaky white flesh.

The dinner was good and lite enough for us to enjoy before hockey later in the night.

One thing I did notice was there was not enough salt on the fish, which is very unlike me since I am often guilty of over salting. I guess I was either not paying close enough attention, or Cod just requires a bit more than usual??

Hubs seemed to enjoy it and cleaned his plate, so that's a good thing.

However when asked about the fish, he said his favorite was still the flounder (Flounder-ing Fish Fry), which I think is really due to the fact it was breaded/fried...that magic Hubs combo for blissful food!

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When I checked out COD online some unexpected results came up. Did you know that there is another meaning for COD out there?

Yup, even before the reliable Wikipedia site was a more common COD search result...Call of Duty. In case you are unaware, this is a video game! I had to scroll through sites for COD a video game before I even got to COD the fish?? Weird!

Don't get me wrong I enjoy an occasional go at Rock Band, Wii sports, loved my original nintendo, and even enjoy from time to time watching Hubs play his xbox...but it does seem strange to me that COD the video game is more popularly searched for than COD the fish.

4 comments:

  1. It looks like a healthy and delicious dinner - nicely done.

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  2. Looks great! Sean loves fish and I haven't had the courage to try to make it yet... except for a salmon recipe that uses a brown sugar glaze... not exactly health food!

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  3. Yes, very healthy and tasty indeed! Thank you all!! The task of learning how to make decent fish is getting there :O)

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