Cod with Roasted Green Onions and Pistachio

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Pan-seared cod with roasted green onions, potatoes, and broccoletti, topped with chopped pistachios, is easy, healthy, and just a little fancy.

Before we get to the recipe, some pre-Thanksgiving trivia:

Did you guys know there are an estimated 25,000 wild turkeys in Massachusetts? While no one knows for sure if the Pilgrims actually ate turkey at the first Thanksgiving, turkeys were an important food source during colonial times. But due to development and over-hunting, there were no turkeys left in the state by the 1850’s. In the 1970’s, biologists re-introduced a flock of turkeys in the Berkshires, and it was a success. More here.

I didn’t see any turkeys when I lived in downtown Boston, but once we moved a little north of the city, I started seeing them everywhere. Where we live is suburban, not rural. I see them almost daily, and I counted 20 turkeys in our neighbor’s yard once. Our town doesn’t permit hunting them, so this guy’s got nothing to worry about.

Knowing many of you will be doing some heavy-duty cooking, and even more will be eating a big holiday meal, I wanted to share a recipe this week that’s easy and healthy. When you’ve eaten all your leftover turkey, make this cod with roasted potatoes and vegetables.

This dish was inspired by a restaurant meal. In June, Jonathan and I took a 10-day trip to Alaska. We ate a lot of seafood there, including halibut, salmon, and king crab. I think I ate halibut the most, it was so fresh and delicious.

We spent a few days in Seward. Here is a picture of the Seward small boat harbor, taken by Jonathan. See how beautiful it is, with the mountains reflected in the ocean? We also saw so many sea otters there.

Our first night in Seward, we ate at a restaurant with a view of the harbor called Chinooks. I thought the menu was pretty creative, and I really liked it. Jonathan ordered smoked scallops mac and cheese. I ordered halibut that came with charred green onions, pea puree, broccolini, and fingerling potatoes. They topped the whole dish with chopped pistachios.

I never really ate cooked green onions like that. They were kind of sweet, similar to regular white onions when you cook them a long time. I also liked the texture mix with flaky fish, tender vegetables, and crunchy pistachios. And it was pretty. I knew when I took the picture that I was going to make this at home.

If you live in the Pacific Northwest, definitely make my recipe with halibut. And I am jealous of your seafood. Where we live, supermarket halibut is $25 a pound and doesn’t really look that great, while cod is $10 a pound at most and always comes out good. That’s why cod is my fish of choice for recipes using a white fish.

For a more local cod recipe, check out my Cod with New England Clam Chowder Sauce.

I decided to roast the vegetables rather than grill them. It’s pretty easy just using one sheet pan for the vegetables and one skillet for the fish.

Here are the main ingredients. There are two cod fillets, some green onions, broccoletti (a relative of broccolini, you can use any broccoli-type vegetable), and baby white potatoes. Chopped pistachio and lemon complete the dish.

Here are the roasted vegetables. The onions get sweet at the bulb end and a little crunch at the top ends.

And cod cooked in butter.

As the holidays are coming up, I’ll be back next week with a recipe for a richer meal to feed the whole family. In the meantime, I hope you enjoy this light and elegant seafood dish.

Happy Thanksgiving!

4.67 from 3 votes

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Cod with Roasted Green Onions and Pistachio

Pan-seared cod with roasted green onions, potatoes, and broccoletti, topped with chopped pistachios, is easy, healthy, and just a little fancy.

Course Dinner, Main Dish

Total Time 50 minutes

Servings 2

Author Tara Leung

Ingredients

• 1 pound baby white potatoes, cut in half
• 3 tablespoons olive oil, divided
• salt and pepper
• 8 ounces broccoletti, broccolini, broccoli rabe, or broccoli
• 10 green onions, trimmed
• 2 (6-8 ounce) cod fillets
• 1 1/2 tablespoons butter
• 2 tablespoons chopped pistachios
• lemon wedges for serving

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Spray a large rimmed baking sheet with cooking spray.
2. Toss potatoes with 1 tablespoon olive oil and salt and pepper. Place on baking sheet and roast for 20 minutes.
3. Toss broccoletti and green onions with remaining 2 tablespoons olive oil and salt and pepper. When the potatoes have roasted for 20 minutes, remove pan from oven. Add the broccoletti and green onions to the same pan with the potatoes. Return to oven and roast 10 more minutes. Flip broccoletti and green onions over with tongs and roast another 5 – 10 minutes, until broccoletti stalks are crisp tender. (The total roasting time from when you started roasting the potatoes is 35 – 40 minutes.)
4. During the last 10 minutes of roasting time, cook the cod. Season cod with salt and pepper on both sides. Melt butter in a skillet over medium heat. Add cod and cook for 3 – 5 minutes, depending how thick the fillet is. Carefully flip over with a spatula and cook for another 3 – 5 minutes, until fish flakes easily or reaches internal temperature of 145 degrees.
5. To serve: Divide potatoes, green onions, and broccoletti between serving plates. Add 1 piece of cod to each plate. Drizzle any leftover melted butter from the pan over the cod fillets. Sprinkle chopped pistachio over each plate. Serve with lemon.

Bon Appétit!