Lemon-herb baked cod with crushed new potatoes

Serves - 4

You’ll need

• 800g new potatoes
• 4 cod fillets
• 2 tbsp olive oil
• 1 garlic clove, finely grated or crushed
• Zest of 1 lemon
• Juice of 1 lemon
• Small handful flat-leaf parsley, finely chopped
• Small handful dill, finely chopped
• Small handful chives, finely chopped
• 1 tbsp capers, roughly chopped, optional
• 25g butter
• Sea salt
• Black pepper

Method

1. Get the potatoes going

Put the new potatoes into a large pan of well-salted cold water and bring to the boil. Cook for 15–20 minutes, or until tender all the way through. Drain well, then leave them in the colander for a minute or two so any excess water can disappear rather than hanging about.

2. Prep the cod

While the potatoes cook, heat the oven to 200°C fan. Sit the cod fillets in a lightly oiled baking dish and season with salt and black pepper. In a small bowl, mix 1 tbsp of the olive oil with the garlic, lemon zest, half the lemon juice and most of the chopped herbs.

3. Dress the fish properly

Spoon the lemon-herb mixture over the cod, making sure each fillet gets a fair share. Scatter over the capers if using, then dot with the butter. The idea here is to keep the fish moist and full of flavour, not leave it doing all the work on its own.

4. Bake the cod

Bake for 12–15 minutes, depending on the thickness of the fillets, until the fish flakes easily and looks just cooked through. Cod is very good when handled gently and much less impressive once overdone, so keep an eye on it.

5. Crush the potatoes

Tip the cooked potatoes back into the warm pan and crush them lightly with a fork or potato masher. You are not after mash here – just broken, craggy potatoes with plenty of texture left. Add the remaining olive oil, the rest of the lemon juice and most of the remaining herbs, then season well and mix gently.

6. Serve

Spoon the crushed new potatoes onto plates and sit the baked cod alongside or on top. Spoon over any buttery lemony juices from the dish, then finish with the last of the herbs and a final grind of black pepper. Serve straight away while everything still feels bright and lively.

A couple of helpful notes

- If your cod fillets are especially thick, they may need an extra couple of minutes in the oven, but do check rather than guess.
- A handful of peas or some wilted greens on the side fits very nicely if you want to round things out.
- Do not be shy with the pan juices at the end – that is where a good part of the flavour has been quietly gathering.