Fresh, easy and in fashion

One-dish, 10-ingredient baked cod, tasty as it is wholesome

Fresh, easy dinner dishes requiring no more than 10 ingredients are in fashion. A new cookbook from blogger Jodi Moreno of Brooklyn, N.Y., specializes in this type of cuisine. More With Less: Whole Food Cooking Made Irresistibly Simple (Roost/Penguin Random House, $47), is the name of her collection of more than 130 recipes.

Most can be made in 30 minutes or less, like this one-dish baked recipe she recommends for the family or a party. Some have no gluten, dairy products, soy or processed foods. Most are seasonal, use only modest amounts of meat and cheese, and plenty of fresh vegetables, grains, nuts and seeds.

She likes to flavour her food with condiments and vinegars, as followers of her blog, whatscookinggoodlooking.com, well know. Of Italian background, she learned to cook from her family and then went to cooking school before opening her Neighborhood Studio community kitchen. The book is beautifully designed. The photographs, on the dark side, are explanatory.

LENTIL TOMATO OLIVE BAKED COD

Serves: 6

1/2 cup (125 mL) black lentils

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1 pint (about 2 cups/500 mL) cherry tomatoes, halved

1/2 cup (125 mL) Kalamata olives, halved

3 green onions, thinly sliced 1 lemon, thinly sliced

1 1/2 cups (375 mL) vegetable broth or water

4 to 6 fillets, 6 oz (175 g) each, cod or other thick white fish, skin off

Sea salt

Freshly ground pepper Lemon-flavoured vinaigrette

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1. Preheat oven to 400 F (200 C). Lightly oil a baking dish, 9 x 9 inches (23 x 23 cm). Combine in the baking dish the lentils, tomatoes, olives, onions, lemons and pour vegetable broth over all, making sure lentils are submerged.

2. Bake uncovered in preheated oven for 30 minutes or until lentils are cooked al dente and tomatoes are tender. Remove dish from oven.

3. Pat fish dry with paper towels, season with salt and pepper, and place on vegetables in pan. Roast for 10 to 12 minutes until fish is cooked through, opaque, and flakes with a fork.

4. Serve at once, the fish lightly drizzled with vinaigrette.

ROOST/PENGUIN RANDOM HOUSE Lentil Tomato Olive Baked Cod is simple, tasty and takes less than 30 minutes to prepare. It’s an ideal, workday, family meal.