Spice-coated Cod & Vegetable Medley, Korean-style quinoa and more

Fresh wild-caught Icelandic cod -- coated in a homemade Super Spice Mixture -- fresh spinach, cherry tomatoes and pitted olives is ready to eat after about 15 minutes in a preheated 400-degree oven, below. 

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

Continuing thanks to The Fish Dock in Closter for supplying the key to preparing a healthy and delicious dinner in under 30 minutes.

On my first visit to the Icelandic fish store, I purchased a pound of ready-to-cook Fish & Vegetable Medley, popped the store-supplied pan into the oven and sat down to dinner in about 15 minutes.

Since then, I've been assembling my own medleys, using fresh, wild-caught Icelandic cod and haddock from Costco Wholesale in Teterboro.

Last week, my wife brought home more than 2 pounds of fresh, long-line caught, skinless-and-boneless cod fillets ($7.99 a pound).

I assembled a medley with fresh spinach, cherry tomatoes and black olives I had on hand, plus extra-virgin olive oil and grated cheese.

First, I cut up the cod into serving pieces, and coated them in a mixture from a large container I keep in the refrigerator that combines every spice I have in the house, including curry powder, no-salt seasoning, red-pepper flakes and garlic powder.

The spinach goes into a large foil-lined pan first, then a generous drizzle of olive oil and a little sea salt, then the tomatoes and olives, then the spice-coated cod, then the grated cheese.

The cod was thicker than in the past so I kept the pan in a preheated 400-degree oven for about 16 minutes to 18 minutes.

Korean-style shredded vegetables, available at H Mart, turn organic quinoa into a filling meatless meal. Quinoa, a great bread substitute, has fewer carbs than rice or pasta.

I purchased the Bibimbap Vegetables last Friday at H Mart, 25 Lafayette Ave. in Englewood, and added them to quinoa I had prepared in a rice cooker with organic black beans, organic diced tomatoes and peeled garlic cloves.

Bibimpap is true Korean comfort food -- steamed rice, shredded vegetables, ground beef (or you can ask for it without meat) and a raw or cooked egg prepared in a stone bowl, with a spicy red-pepper paste called gochujang on the side. You mix the ingredients with a spoon, add gochujang and dig in.

Delverde Tagliatelle with Spinach cooks up al dente in about 5 minutes. Here, I dressed the pasta in Trader Joe's Puttanesca Sauce, one of the few bottled sauces with anchovies; three cans of sardines, mashed with a fork; fresh spinach, red wine and extra-virgin olive oil. 

Organic Whole Wheat Shells from Whole Foods Market in Paramus ($1.49) dressed with Victoria Marinara and three cans of sardines, mashed with a fork.

Fresh whole wild-caught red snappers were $6.99 a pound last Sunday at the H Mart, 260 Bergen Turnpike in Little Ferry, below. Here, a whole fish stuffed with callaloo, a leafy green,  took about 30 minutes to cook when wrapped in foil.

After an absence of several weeks, free seafood samples returned to the Little Ferry H Mart. Two of the best are fish eggs over broiled New Zealand mussels, and broiled eel.