Creating evening meals from scratch which are healthy and delicious but also quick can sound like a challenge. But it’s actually a lot easier and quicker than you think and I made this cod and beans recipe from James Martin in less than 30 minutes. It’s packed full of healthy ingredients, most of which I already had in the house anyway.
I did vary the recipe a bit. I left out the chorizo because, firstly, I didn’t have any and, secondly, I didn’t want the extra meat.
To make up for that, I added some toasted walnuts at the end instead to keep that bit of crunch and texture, as well as a nice nutty, smoky flavour.
I didn’t have sherry vinegar so I added some white wine I had open instead. And I swapped shallots for an onion. I also didn’t bother with the crumb at the end, but to get that lovely lemony zest I added some grated lemon zest to the dish itself instead.
The beans came together so quickly – in fact, chopping the onion, leek and celery probably took just as long as the cooking. I ended up with a delicious meal in less than half an hour that was filling but not heavy and extremely good for me. Result.
For the beans:
Melt the butter in a large pan, add the garlic, shallot, herbs, celery, chorizo and leek and cook for a minute. Add all the remaining ingredients, bring to the boil then simmer for five minutes. Finish with fresh parsley and season.
For the crumb if you’re having it:
Chop the sourdough into cubes and fry in butter until crisp, blitz in a food processor, pour into a bowl and stir through the lemon zest and parsley.
For the fish:
Heat a large non stick pan, add the oil when hot, fry the cod skin side down, season, cook for two minutes, add butter, flip over and cook for another two minutes.
To serve, spoon the beans onto plates, top with fish, sprinkle over the crumb.
