I don't know about you, but I can find Mondays exhausting. After a commute and Monday office vibes, I often lack the energy or creativity to cook at all, much less a complicated meal. I needed something quick tonight. I had leftover salad and bread in the fridge from the weekend, so all I needed to pull off tonight was the entree. Checked the freezer this morning, and I grabbed a pack of cod and threw it in the fridge to thaw while I was at work.
Honestly, I used to find cod extremely dull. We probably ate it once from 2011-2017, but then it started showing up on the sustainable fish list....you know, fish that are plentiful and caught by fisherman in a way that doesn't hurt the environment or the future generations of the fish, in this case, cod. Then, I saw a recipe online the piqued my interest.
I am not going to go into a lot of detail, because after all it is Monday and I am fading fast, but I am not the kind of person who can cook a recipe as it is written. I have to add my own spin. SO, here is my version of prosciutto and pesto cod, and I urge you to give it a try...or at least your own variation of it! We first had this recipe in February, and here we are eating cod again in April.
Prosciutto and Pesto Cod (serves 2)
Two 6 to 8 ounce pieces of cod, blotted with papertowel
Four slices of prosciutto
One cup of prepared pesto
12 kalamata olives, cut in half
12 cherry or grape tomatoes
Six cloves of garlic, peeled and cut in half the long way
2 T olive oil
Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
Spread 1/2 cup prepared pesto on 4 by 10 inch section of a foil-lined cookie sheet with sides. Lay two pieces of prosciutto side by side on each of the ends of your pesto, so you have a very wide "H." Put one piece of cod on each of the prosciutto pairs. Top each piece of cod with an additional 1/4 cup prepared pesto. Wrap the ends of the prosciutto up to meet on the top of your cod and secure with a toothpick. Drizzle 2 tablespoons of olive oil around your base pesto and surround the cod bundles with the tomatoes, garlic and olives. Bake for 8-12 minutes per 1 inch thickness of cod. My cod was 1.5 inches thick and I baked it for 16 minutes. Just test it with a fork, if it flakes, you are set!
Serve with salad and bread!
