It’s Monday, and it’s been raining in Des Moines for the past three days straight.
I know we talked about comfort food last Friday with this Black Bean Quinoa Enchilada Verde Bake, but I need more comfort food in my life. So let’s just call this comfort food blog round two, shall we? Comfort food haters (do those exist?) you are not obligated to continue reading.
Despite the relentless rain this weekend, the Mr. and I managed to get all of our Christmas shopping done. The cherry on top of this achievement? None of the presents go too soaked or ruined on the way to the car! Now that our shopping is all wrapped up, we are counting down the days until we get to see our sweet families in Indiana. It’s been a year and three months since I’ve seen my sister and I can’t even begin to describe how excited I am.
But enough about me. What are your plans this Christmas? Who are you celebrating with? What are you excited about? If you’re excited about spending time with family and eating a lot of delicious food, I am right there with ya. I’m especially looking forward to chowing down a few of my mother-in-law’s twice-baked potatoes with shrimp. The recipe is Paula Deen’s but in my opinion, no one makes them as good as Heidi.
While we’re talking about seafood, let’s talk about today’s comfort-food-round-two recipe. This breaded cod and creamy polenta with sautéed spinach is the stuff dreams are made of. The texture! The crispy breadcrumbs! The cheesy polenta! It looks like something you might get in a restaurant, but believe me it’s simply enough for anyone to make at home.
When I took the first bite of this dish, I told myself to eat it slowly to enjoy and savor each bite. Five minutes later my plate was gone. Talk about total bummer! Lucky for me I have leftover polenta so you better believe I’ll be making this again for dinner tonight. Who’s with me?
- 2 cups water
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 cup yellow cornmeal
- 1/2 cup cheese (use dairy-free for vegan option)
- 1 tablespoon butter (optional)
- [br]
- [b]For the fish:[/b]
- 2 cod fillets
- Salt and pepper to taste
- 1 tablespoon butter, melted
- 1 teaspoon lemon juice
- 1 slice bread
- 1/8 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1/2 teaspoon nutritional yeast (optional)
- 1 teaspoon dried parsley
- 2 cups spinach
- [b]For the polenta: [/b] In a medium saucepan, bring water and salt to a boil. Pour cornmeal into boiling water and whisk until polenta is thickened. Turn heat to low, cover and cook polenta 30-40 minutes. Stir about every 5 minutes, making sure to scrape the entire pan. (Cook 30 minutes for softer porridge-like polenta or 40 minutes for thicker polenta.)
- While polenta is cooking, preheat oven to 425° F, grease a baking dish and set aside. Sprinkle cod with salt and pepper and place it in the baking dish. Mix together butter and lemon juice and drizzle over cod.
- Place slice of bread in a food processor and pulse until it resembles bread crumbs, about 5 times. In a small bowl, combine bread crumbs, garlic powder, nutritional yeast and parsley. Sprinkle the mixture over the cod and bake until bread crumbs are crisp and cod flakes easily with a fork, about 12 minutes.
- Saute spinach in a greased, nonstick skillet over medium-low heat until wilted, about 3 minutes.
- Stir cheese and butter into polenta. Divide polenta, fish and spinach between two plates and serve immediately (polenta will harden after it is done cooking!).
Love this dish Lauren! We eat fish all the time at our house, so this one needs to be in the rotation! Perfect over the polenta!
Thanks Mary Ann! I can’t get Alex to eat fish, but I eat it about twice a week! I just can’t get enough. 🙂
Oh my gawsh, Lauren, this is my kind of meal for dinner! I’m LOOOOVE any kind of fish and this Cod looks breaded and baked to perfection! Plus the creamy polenta and spinach?! Need.This.Now!! Yum Yum YUUUUMM! So excited for you and your Christmas plans!! I’m sure it will be more than awesome to see your sister after so many months! I don’t have any plans, so travel safe and have fun for me! 😉 Cheers, doll! <3
Thanks dear!! The polenta is seriously addicting. I had a little leftover and made polenta fries out of it … Have you ever made polenta fries? Amazing.
We adore cod in this family, and I love how you’ve served it on a bed of polenta — gorgeous! We like to ‘crust’ ours with Ritz crackers 🙂
Buttery crackers are excellent on top of fish! Great idea!
Lots of rainy weather here in CT too. This cod looks so comforting and delicious! I am always looking for new and interesting dinner inspiration.
Thanks Rachel! Cheers to making our own sunshine with a bright bowl of cheesy polenta. 🙂
I can’t believe how close it is to Christmas! So soon! It sounds like you are gearing up to have such a fun time with your fam. And I am loving this fish! I need more fish in my life, and this looks so crispy and delicious.
Seattle has been raining incessantly too (no surprise there!) and all I want is comfort food! This is just what I want 🙂 this looks like what I order at every seafood restaurant…I need to try making it myself!
Thanks so much — you are so sweet! You can TOTALLY make this at home Rachel. Piece of cake. 😉 I lived on Bainbridge Island for awhile and the rain was the hardest part about living there. The PNW is such a beautiful and captivating place but I have to have sunshine! Haha.
Wow, this looks incredible! The polenta looks so creamy and fancy. I tend to shy away from cod because I’m really great at botching it… but I’ll have to give this one a try, your recipe sounds perfect!
You won’t believe how easy this is to make Anetta!! Good luck and let me know how it goes!
This looks so tasty! Thanks for sharing on Marvelous in my Monday 🙂
Have a safe trip back to Indiana (btw, that’s where I live). and a wonderful visit with your family!!!
Happy to have your recipe linked up to Welcome Home Wednesdays!