Chilli coriander cod

We should certainly eat more baked fish than we probably do and finding ways of giving it a variety of flavour twists is one of the missions of The Naughty Cook. Here, the chilli and coriander provide a perfect foil for the delicious and nutritious cod fillets in a quick and easy recipe that will have you family and friends wanting more.

Ingredients

• 4 skinless cod fillets
• 2 tablespoons of olive oil
• 2 teaspoons of sweet smoked paprika
• 1 teaspoon of mild chilli powder
• 1 teaspoon of oregano
• 1 teaspoon of smoked garlic granules
• 1 tablespoon of chopped coriander leaves
• 2 limes, halved

Method

Preheat the oven to 180°C / 356°F (160°C / 320°F fan).

Place the cod fillets onto a foil-lined shallow baking dish.

Combine the remaining ingredients (except the coriander and limes) in a bowl with a good couple of pinches of sea salt.

Rub the spices into the upper side of the cod fillets (I like to use latex gloves so that I can really rub it into the flesh).

Bake in the oven for 10-15 minutes (dependent upon the thickness of your fillets).

Sprinkle over the coriander leaves and serve on a bed of rice with a lime half.

Trivia

With its mild flavour and its dense, flaky white flesh, cod has always been a popular fish, not least with the British who traditionally have long had a love affair with cod and chips. But stocks are limited and rightly cod fishing is subject to quotas, both in the Atlantic and the Pacific. Since 2006, fishing for cod in the Atlantic has been limited to half the available stocks, the quota being 496,000 tons annually. Off the Gulf of Alaska and the Aleutian Islands in the Pacific it is limited to 260,000 tons. These controls are now showing good results with cod stocks starting to recover.