Sunday Feast: Cod, black olive & semi-dried tomato papillote with Pistachio & artichoke heart tabbouli

Sunday's are the best day of the week to spend all morning flicking through cookbooks and food magazines and all afternoon pottering about it in the kitchen preparing the feast for that night. 

Waking up on a particularly rainy Sunday the decision was made that today was not a day for leaving the house, the only exception being to visit the supermarket and the wine store.

The next big decision, what to cook! Craving comfort, freshness and something to make the forthcoming Monday morning less daunting, fish seemed to be the most logical (and mouth watering) decision. Cod is a very versitle and delicate flavoured fish that is light and flakey and picks up flavours easily, the perfect vessel for a Mediterranean spin on supper.  

Cod, black olive & semi-dried tomato papillote

Serves 4

1 cup cherry tomatoes, halved
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 tablespoon butter
2 tablespoons lemon juice
1 lemon, thinly sliced
1/4 cup black cured olives 
1 zuchinni, thinly sliced 
2 large pieces of cod
salt and pepper

Preheat the oven to 180*C, placed halved tomotos in a baking dish. Drizzle with olive oil, season with salt and pepper and cook for 20-30 mins or until semi-dried. Remove from the oven and set aside to cool. Keep the oven at 180*C (to cook the fish).

Season the fish with a generous amount of salt and pepper. Cut a 2 x generous size of baking paper. Place the fish, tomatoes, olives and zuchinni in the baking paper. Arrange the slices of lemon on top. 

In a small pan, place the butter and lemon juice. Cook until butter is melted. Pour over slices of fish and then wrap the baking paper to make a little parcel. 

Cook in a moderate oven for 30-45 minutes, or until fish is cooked and fragrant smelling.  

Back at Easter we made pistachio & green olive tabbouli. Since there are black olives with the fish, the olives were substituted for a small jar of artichoke hearts.

Pistachio & Artichoke Heart Tabbouli

100g coarse burghul 
1 small jar artichoke hearts, cut into quaters 
1 bunch parsley 
1/2 cup mint leaves, chopped 
1/3 cup shelled pistachios, roughly chopped 
1 lemon, zested and juiced 
3 tablespoons olive oil

Soak burghul in a bowl of water for 20 mins, drain and allow to cool.
Place remaining ingredients in a large bowl and top with cooled burghul. Drizzle lemon juice and oil over and toss until combined. Season with salt and pepper. 

This meal is best served with a nice bottle red red wine and 2 good friends to make it the perfect Sunday feast.