A quick and easy midweek dinner, light and fresh Italian baked cod. Packed with tomatoes, peppers and olives, this oven cooked fish recipe is also Slimming World friendly.
Can I be honest with you dear blog readers? I am knackered. Dead on my feet tired. It’s week two of the summer holidays and by the end of the day, I’m already dragging myself around with a look of the walking wounded.
I had a plan you see, childcare two days a week to let me keep on top of the blog and my freelance work and then hurrah, five days a week of glorious summer adventures with my littles. But best laid plans and all that, childcare has gone out of the window and I’m squeezing in work during every evening and a few extra hours here and there.
I am plagued with the Mum guilt as I want them to have my full attention and not the dregs of me. I’ve let some things slide and I’m trying to learn to not be so bothered about the mess at home (oh THE MESS, arrgh!) But sometimes real life is just a juggle isn’t it? I tell myself it’s not bad for them to see me working, it’s a good life lesson, right? RIGHT?
The funny thing is, this juggling, that struck fear into me at the start of the summer, I’m actually really enjoying. I am eye wateringly tired working until midnight every night, but I get a job I love and a summer with my favourite mini people. I’m really very lucky.
But as I said, things have to give and one of them is the food, if you follow me on YouTube, you’ll know that my meal plans have gone slightly out of the window and I’ve gone into food survival mode. Cue freezer/cupboard food and this little gem.
This recipe is a great standby, when I’m not quite ready to resort to a takeaway, but I just can’t manage much food thinking or prep or stirring. I pull some cod out of the freezer, tomatoes out of the cupboard and I’m halfway there. No faffing.
I used fresh peppers this time, but you can even use a bag of frozen if you have them. I used my absolute favourite tinned tomatoes in this recipe, Cirio Tuscan chopped tomatoes, although any Cirio tinned tomatoes (not passata) would do. They really do make this very simple dish stand out, tinned tomatoes are one of the only things I always buy a premium label of as it makes such a different to even the most basic recipes.
This recipe is Slimming World friendly if you’re following that plan, as it’s packed with super speedy food. It has 1 syn per portion (for the olives). You could serve this with crusty bread, or if you’re following the Slimming World plan, new potatoes or extra green vegetables.
- 1 large Onion, sliced
- 1 Red pepper, sliced
- 1 Yellow pepper, sliced
- 1 tin of Cirio tomatoes
- 16 Black olives in brine (drained)
- 1 large Courgette, sliced
- 2 cloves Garlic, crushed
- A handful of Basil leaves
- A good glug of Extra Virgin Olive Oil (leave this out if you are following the Slimming World plan)
- 2 large Cod fillets
- Pre-heat the oven to 180C.
- Combine the sliced onion, peppers, tin of tomatoes, olives, sliced courgette, garlic, basil, olive oil (if using) salt and pepper in a shallow casserole dish.
- Sit the cod fillets on top and top with slices of lemon and more black pepper.
- Cook in the oven for 15 - 20 minutes until the cod is cooked through.
In the Italian Baked Cod recipe I’ve used:
What’s your go to easy meal to go to when time is short (or you’re a bit exhausted!)? Any other tips for surviving the school holidays as a working mum?!
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Disclosure: This recipe was commissioned by Cirio. As always, all opinions are truthful, I adore their tomatoes!
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