Fresh Summer Dinner: Baked Cod with Basil, Tomato and Garlic on Pesto Pasta

Cod was incredibly on special this week at the Teet ($4.99/lb.!) so I stocked up. A day of tropical-style rainstorms had the world smelling green and my front yard smelling of basil, so it needed to be eaten. And it was, in two ways.

Roasted Cod and Tomatoes with Basil and White Wine

Ingredients

• 1/4 tsp. kosher salt
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 2 thick cod fillets, about 4 to 6 ounces each
• freshly ground black pepper
• 2 medium tomatoes, diced
  
• 1 tbs. fresh, chopped basil
• salt to taste
• 2 tsp. olive oil
• 1/4 cup dry white wine

Procedure

1. Preheat the oven to 400°F.
2. Place the tomatoes in a large baking dish (large enough to eventually accomodate the cod fillets in a single layer). Drizzle the tomatoes with 1/2 of the olive oil and sprinkle with kosher salt. Roast the tomatoes in the oven until they are very soft, about 15 to 20 minutes.
3. Remove the tomatoes from the oven and turn the oven down to 350°F. Transfer the tomatoes to a small bowl, add the garlic and basil, toss to combine and set aside.
4. Season the cod fillets with salt and pepper, drizzle them with the remaining olive oil and place them in the baking dish.
5. Pour the tomato mixture and wine over the fish. Cover the dish with foil and place it in the oven.
6. Cook until the fish is just cooked through, about 12 to 15 minutes, depending on the thickness of the fish.

Pesto was the family fave, Marcella Hazan's food processor pesto (I did a half-batch on whole wheat pasta).

Marcella's Pesto

Ingredients

2 c. packed basil leaves
1/2 c. olive oil
3 tbsp. pine nuts
2 garlic cloves, chopped fine before processing
salt to taste

after processing above:

1/2 c. grated parmigiano
2 tbsp. grated romano
3 tbsp. softened, room temp butter (add last and hand mix in)

when adding pasta:

use a couple tbsp. of the hot water to dilute and soften the pesto before putting pasta into bowl with pesto.

Verdict

Incredibly delicious. A winner of a recipe on the cod.

Wine

J.W. Morris California Gewürtztraminer 2007: Well, fine. Not terrible but definitely pretty sweet and none of the dry finish of an actually good Gewürtztraminer. But it's $4 and as a sweet wine on a hot day, totally fine.

Cserszegi Fuszeres Woodsman's White 2005

Another dry Hungarian wine, this a white from the Neszmely region, the Woodsman's white presents with a simple, perfume-y grape nose and doesn't get much more complex - but doesn't get bad, either. It goes down smooth, not too sweet and mostly dry with a bit of sulfite edge, it finishes as simply as it starts.

Espiral Vinho Verde

Another entry in the wonderfully long Trader Joe's $4 bottle of wine list, the Espiral Vinho Verde has been described elsewhere as "[s]pritzy and lemony with some killer acidity," and I wouldn't disagree. Like many of the $4 TJ wines, it is not a thoroughly complex experience, but is neither unsatisfying for it - a generically Champagne-y nose, with a bright young taste and a dry, fine finish. Adam M. says, "If you were at a large party and it were served by the case, you wouldn't feel bad about either drinking it or pouring it on your fellow partygoers."