Pesto & parmesan crumbed cod

Before...

With a few restrictions lifted on my diet I decided to celebrate by making an old favourite that I used to make a lot in Melbourne.

I made my own pesto as I haven't found one in the UK that I like yet, and I really enjoyed buying all my fresh ingredients from the markets.

I put 1 garlic glove, 1.5 bunches of fresh basil and a hunk of parmesan in the chopper. I then added some olive oil, little bit at a time. As in most things I cook, I then added a hint of cinnamon for good measure (and to balance the garlic out).

I continued to add the oil drop by drop until it was the right consistency for me. If it were for a pasta sauce I would have wanted it to be more runny, but as it was to be a crust for fish, it needed to be quite firm still.

The smells that this pesto filled our house with was incredible by the way!!

I then added some breadcrumbs and extra grated parmesan cheese to the pesto, and simply caked it on top of my fresh cod. I then put the pesto crumbed fish into the oven and it cooked for about 15-20 minutes.

I threw my tomatos on a baking tray into the oven as well as these took the same amount of time.

Meanwhile I had my potatoes boiling on the stove until soft to push through with a knife. As I beated the potatos into mash, I added a knob of butter and 3/4 of a teaspoon of wholegrain mustard. I didn't want the flavour to be too overpowering, but wanted a bit of a bite to it.

I loved the burst of colour the tomatos gave to the plate, and the flavours all complimented each other so beautifully, we had to force ourselves to eat at a civilised pace! Good thing we had some nice white wine to help us out!

..... after.....