Mayonnaise is a glue for you to stick seasonings onto whatever you bake in the oven. A quick and convenient meal-prep friendly fish dinner.

Time: 3/5
Dinner in 45 minutes, and cleaned up in an hour.

Effort: 2/5
Oven does most of the work, then you eat all week.

When Shortcuts don’t Cut It

Forgive me for the word salad of a headline. This meal prep recipe came from a confluence of wanting to eat more fish (for health as well as ethical reasons), and wanting a week of light meals to atone for the sins of a gluttonous holiday season.

While researching ways to cook cod, the recipes I found all used some technique or another to create browning on the fish. I get that – the Maillard reaction creates delicious flavours. But a breadcrumb topping adds calories (and work), and browning the cod in a pan first creates dirty dishes (and work).

This recipe also came out of a desire to experiment with mayo. You see, the success of mayo fried chicken left an impression on me, and I wanted to do more with it. What if I could take advantage of all the the proteins and sugars, and brown the fish in the oven with a thin layer of mayo?

Turns out I was a bit too optimistic. Even going as high as it would go, my oven wasn’t hot enough to create the source of colour I was looking for. A skillet is just so much better at imparting heat to food via direct contact, than an oven is able to using hot air.

Maybe this technique would work better with a broiler, but sadly I do not have the equipment. Perhaps I should try going over it with a blowtorch, like I do with my Teriyaki Chicken Thighs to give them a smoky, grilled flavour without actually using a grill. Or I might need to bring out the big guns and char them in my cast iron skillet, like these Blackened Cod Chunks by Kile from Cheap dinner Ideas.

That isn’t to say the experiment was a complete failure. The mayo did a magnificent job of holding onto the Old Bay that I liberally sprinkled over the fish. Old Bay was an obvious choice with seafood, after I found out it goes so well with shrimp. As an added bonus, the fiery-red of the paprika in Old Bay supplemented the cod with some very welcome colour.

Since cod is already a deviation from my usual rotation of Asian ingredients, I decided to pair it with the Shiitake and Zucchini Sauté. It’s a nice way to get some tasty olive oil into this otherwise very low-fat meal. You’d be surprised how much more filling a meal is with just a teaspoon or two of oil!

Dramatis Personae

Served 6.

Cod – 1200g

This is probably the second or third time I’ve ever cooked cod, and I’m pleasantly surprised by how easy it is to prep. I get my fillets pre-portioned and frozen, so all I have to do is defrost them and pat them dry.

Mayonnaise- 1 tablespoon

Kewpie mayo is what I have, so it’s what I use. You might not even need that much, just enough to lightly coat the tops of the fish. I don’t even bother to use a brush, because a table knife works just as well to spread the mayo around and is much easier to clean.

Old Bay – 4 tablespoons

A wonderful ingredient that I brought back from my great American adventure, which I would use more often if I didn’t have a pathological need to have rice with every meal.

Of course, just because I used Old Bay doesn’t mean you have to. Use any seasoning blend or spice rub you think would taste good on fish.

Zucchini – 2

Always eat your veggies! Zucchini is one of the more meal-prep friendly vegetables, right up there with Napa cabbage and vanilla cabbage. Slice them or dice them, whatever shape you desire. I find it quickest to break them down into sections and clank them into half-moons.

Fresh shiitake mushrooms – about 3 cups

Fresh shiitake is different enough from dried shiitake that I feel like I should make the distinction. Less earthy and umami, but with a meatier and springier texture that I enjoy very much.

3 cups might look like a lot, but remember they shrink a lot. I like to cook them down in some water with a bit of salt first, before adding the oil to let them fry. This way it takes less oil, and you get great results all the same.

Olive oil – 3 tablespoons

So delicious. I don’t know why I do this more often. Mine wasn’t even extra virgin or anything fancy either. I got this bottle at a company raffle and I think I heard a sigh of relief from the people who didn’t want to bring a heavy glass bottle home. While they were  thinking ‘good riddance’, I was already having naughty thoughts about how I want to use it.

Garlic – a few cloves

Garlic tastes different, depending on how you cut it and when you add it. Recently I began mincing my garlic fine and saving it for the end, almost leaving it to steam gently in the residual heat of the pan and stay half-raw. It stays potent and spicy that way, and it’s a nice change from how I usually add big cloves at the beginning to infuse the cooking oil.

Salt and pepper – to taste

I like to go heavy with the black pepper and keep it at a coarse grind. For salt, I like to portion about half a teaspoon per meal, most of it going towards the protein while saving some for the vegetables.

And if you’re in for a very good time, substitute some of the salt for chicken powder or MSG. There’s nothing wrong with MSG.

Executive summary

1. Make rice. Preheat oven to 200C/400F, and line a baking sheet with foil and parchment paper.
2. Wash and cut vegetables. Mince garlic finely.
3. Lay pieces of cod out onto baking sheet. Spread a thin layer of mayo over the fish, and sprinkle the tops liberally with Old Bay.
4. Roast fish in the top rack for 12-15 minutes at 200C/400F.
5. While fish is roasting, add mushrooms to pan with a bit of water and salt. Cook until mushrooms are wilted, and water has evaporated off.
6. Add olive oil, zucchini, salt and pepper. Saute until desired doneness.
7. Taste and adjust seasoning for vegetables. Switch off the heat, toss in minced garlic and stir it in.
8. Assemble and serve.

Play by Play

Last things first. Rice cooker is on the floor, because I don’t have the counter space for that. Vegetables diced up and ready to go, while oven is preheating.

The oven starts to become unpleasantly warm just as I give the raw fish a squirt of Kewpie mayo and question my sanity. Spread mayo on fish with butter knife, then sprinkle Old Bay until fish looks appropriately angry-red.

I don’t have a broiler, but I hope that I can get a similar effect by placing the fish on the top rack. Will this work? I guess I will find out.

Fish is in the oven, which frees me up to start cooking the mushrooms down. A pinch of salt helps draw the moisture out of the ‘shrooms.

Zucchini, olive oil, salt and pepper. Here’s also where you’d add MSG. Stir around occasionally, until zucchini is done to your liking and the mushrooms have picked up some colour.

Save the garlic for last. The vegetables have a lot of water, and that water is very hot. The harshness of raw minced garlic will be attenuated by the residual heat, while still retaining some spiciness and bite.

One of the ways the oven is so great for meal prep is that whatever you’re roasting in it can stay inside with no appreciable loss of quality once it’s done. The fish cooked itself while we were busy with the vegetables, so now we can plate up.

Dinner is served! You can see me play around with the plating a bit, stacking the fish on top of the rice to create height, and leaving the foreground of the plate empty for some negative space.

The mayo didn’t brown like I hoped it would, but thanks to the Old Bay the fish has some very nice colour. And check out the glisten on the inside of the fillet: I’m happy that I nailed the doneness just right.

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