Roasted Cod with Potatoes and Fennel Recipe

Roasted Cod with Potatoes and Fennel

By Meg Jones - wife, mother, professional, contributor

One of our daughters lives with three college friends, all vegetarians. Since she’s more of an opportunivore, they compromised and shifted to pescetarianism. Wikipedia defines that as “using seafood as the only source of meat in an otherwise vegetarian diet.”

Earlier this year, I spent a few weeks with them. We usually shared meals, so I joined the vegetarian-plus plan during my visit. When I got home, I found out RG had also cut back on red meat. That led us to tweak our menu planning and get more creative with veggie and fish dishes.

Last week, I searched my brain for new ideas and remembered an old dish: roasted fish on a bed of potatoes and fennel. I couldn’t recall the type of fish, just that it was fleshy. So, I headed to Andy, our fishmonger at the Farmers Market, for inspiration.

As usual, everything at Andy’s stand looked great. I was leaning toward halibut when a beautiful display of cod caught my eye. We hadn’t had cod in ages.

 

 

The Reason? 

Years ago, out of nowhere, our younger daughter announced she no longer liked cod. It seemed random, but since she’s an opportunivore, we went with it. Our kids have always been flexible eaters, so respecting a small preference like that felt fair. During 2020, when she was home with us, we just stopped buying cod.

Now, we’re empty nesters again — and cod is back! Andy picked out a gorgeous 12-ounce piece for us. It cost much less than the halibut and tasted amazing.

Next, I crossed the aisle to the produce vendor. I grabbed three large yellow potatoes and a big fennel bulb.

A Quick Note About Fennel

I’m not sure when I first discovered fennel. It never showed up in my childhood meals, and I don’t recall eating it in college — the time my culinary world expanded.

Fennel probably entered my radar when sun-dried tomatoes became trendy. My earliest memory of it was raw fennel in salads. I love licorice, so I liked it right away. My family? Not so much. The girls picked out every piece.

That’s when I discovered roasted fennel. Roasting makes it sweeter and mellows the licorice flavor. Suddenly, any dish with roasted fennel became a hit.

With the cod, potatoes, and fennel ready, I had everything for dinner. As I prepped, I remembered that last time, I cubed the potatoes and fennel. It felt great to revisit an old favorite with a fresh twist.

Thinly Sliced Potatoes

This time, I sliced them thin using a mandolin (sometimes spelled mandoline) for a very scientific reason: the mandolin was already out, and it was easier to use it again than to pack it away. (I am obsessive about packing mandolins when storing them so that no one accidentally slices off a finger when retrieving them or any other utensils near them.)

Who thought that using a mandolin was the lazy way out?! 

Before slicing, I washed the veggies, peeled the potatoes, cut the bottom, and topped off the fennel bulb, reserving the fennel fronds for garnish.  I used the thinnest setting I had for slicing; I think it was about ⅛” thick. 

I pulled out a 9ishx12ish sized casserole, coated the bottom with olive oil, then made three layers - potato, fennel, potato – adding a drizzle of olive oil and salt & pepper to each layer.  This went in the oven first, which I had preheated to 400°F since that’s the temperature I like for roasting fish.  (Sort of the same logic as used in selecting the mandolin.) 

My plan was to roast the veggies for about 15 minutes and then add the fish for another 10-15, but it took closer to 30 minutes before I could easily pierce the potato/fennel combo with a fork.  Roasting time varies depending on how thick the slices and layers are; for example, if I had made ½” cubes, they likely would have cooked faster. 

Roasted Cod

I took the cod out of the refrigerator when the casserole went in the oven so it could get to room temperature.  

After the above-mentioned 30 minutes, the casserole dish came out of the oven, the cod went skin side down on the veggie bed, more olive oil was drizzled and salt & pepper shaken, and the whole thing went back in the 400-degree oven for 15 minutes, as which point the cod was flaky and the potatoes and fennel were melded together and infused with the oil and drippings from the fish. 

The dish was plated the same way it was cooked:  cod atop a bed of potatoes and fennel.  The reserved fennel fronds were sprinkled on top of the fish and dinner was served.  

This is such a tasty meal, and you could change it up with any fish that lends itself to roasting, or by adding slices of onion, sprinkling fennel seeds on top of the fish, anything that inspires you.  That’s how we like to cook!

📖 Recipe