Pasta with Cod in Tomato Sauce
Ingredients
2 servings
For the sauce
- Frozen cod fillet 200 g
- Shallots 2
- Canned chopped tomatoes 1 small can (a full cup or a little more)
- Olives with pits 10-12
- Olive oil 2 tbsp
- Salt, black pepper to taste
For cooking the pasta
- Pasta (rigatoni, paccheri, conchiglie) 200 g
- Water for cooking the pasta 2 l
- Salt for cooking the pasta 14 g (7 g per 1 l of water)
Optional
- Hot pepper, parsley, capers, cherry tomatoes optional
Step-by-step recipe
Cod sauce
At home, pasta with cod can be made from a whole fish, but using skinless, boneless frozen fillet is much more convenient. Cod has tender, flaky flesh, and it is hard to keep the pieces intact when cooking. This problem can be avoided by cutting the still-frozen fillet with a sharp knife. You only need to stir the sauce very gently and not rush. Any tomato base will do: canned chopped tomatoes, tomato juice or fresh tomatoes.
Fry the onion. Peel the shallots (red onion works very well too) and dice them. Heat the olive oil in a frying pan over medium heat, then fry the onion until golden.
Fry the cod with the onion. With a sharp knife, cut the still-frozen cod fillet into large cubes. Do not cut them too small, or you are less likely to end up with mush. Add the fish to the onion and fry for 2–3 minutes, stirring very gently.
Add the tomatoes. The fish will release a little liquid as it heats. Add the chopped tomatoes to the pan. One small can is enough, about a full cup or a little more. If the tomatoes in the can are whole, you do not have to blend them; just crush them in your hand. Season the sauce with salt and ground black pepper. If you like, add a pinch of hot pepper, as many people love this taste in tomato sauces.
Simmer the sauce covered over low heat for 10–12 minutes. Then add a handful of olives with pits and simmer for a few more minutes.
You can make the dish without olives if you like. But the taste of olives greatly improves both the dish and its look. Use black and green olives with pits, but avoid dyed olives, which are a deep, solid black.
Pasta
For pasta with cod I use large, short pasta, usually paccheri. Rigatoni, tortiglioni and large conchiglie shells work too. Large pieces of cod go well with equally large pasta.
Cook the pasta. While the sauce is simmering, put a pot with 2 l of water and 14 g of salt (7 g per 1 l of water) on the heat and cook the pasta until al dente.
Combine the pasta and the sauce. Drain the cooked pasta in a colander and transfer it to the sauce, then stir very gently so the pieces of fish keep their shape. Leave the pasta with cod covered over minimal heat for a few more minutes so the pasta absorbs the flavor of the sauce. If you like, at this stage you can add a little chopped parsley and capers to the sauce.
Serving
Serve the pasta immediately and hot: pasta with a fish sauce like this is not meant to be stored and reheated. Just before serving you can sprinkle it with finely chopped parsley. Quite often small cherry tomatoes are added to such pasta when serving, which is delicious and worth trying.
Calories and macros
635 kcal
Serving ≈ 520 g
- Protein32 g21% of kcal
- Fat19 g28% of kcal
- Carbs77 g51% of kcal
100 g123 kcalProtein 6.3 gFat 3.6 gCarbs 15 g
Calculated from the recipe ingredients, excluding salt and spices. Data: USDA and Matvaretabellen.