This simple fish dinner will brighten up any cold, rainy day! Cod (or any other fish) gets coated in a simple cumin/turmeric spiced oil and baked until flaky. It gets paired with creamy avocado, crunchy fennel, and bright, sweet and tangy citrus for the perfect marriage of salty, sweet, crunchy, and creamy. Bulk it up by serving with rice, crusty bread, or roasted potatoes.
Ingredient Highlight
Citrus! There’s a reason why we eat a lot more citrus in the winter months – citrus fruits are loaded with immune-boosting vitamin C. They’re also high in fiber and flavonoids (anti-oxidants).
P.S. Don’t remove the pith (that spongy white stuff underneath the skin)! It contains just as much vitamin C as the flesh and is also loaded with fiber.
Servings 4 People
Prep Time 10 minutes 
Cook Time 10 minutes Ingredients
- 1-1 ½ lbs white fish, cut into 4 fillets cod, halibut, rockfish
- 3 tbsp olive oil, divided*
- 1 ½ tsp kosher salt, divided
- 2 tsp ground cumin
- ½ tsp ground turmeric
- ½ tsp black pepper
- 1 fennel bulb, halved lengthwise, cored, thinly sliced about 2 heaping cups
- 1 tsp lime juice
- 1 large or 2 small avocados, pitted, chopped or sliced
- 3 navel or cara cara oranges, peeled, sliced into rounds
- *With simple salads like this one, whip out the high quality olive oil.
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 375F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Add fillets to the baking sheet. In a small bowl, mix together 1 tablespoon oil, cumin, 1 teaspoon salt, turmeric, and pepper. Drizzle the mixture over the fillets, then use your hands to rub it all over each fillet. Bake for 10 minutes, or until cooked through and flakes easily (this will vary a lot depending on which fish you use/how thick it is).
- In a medium bowl, add the fennel, 1 tablespoon oil, lime juice, and ¼ teaspoon salt and toss to coat. Transfer to a serving platter or large plate and top with the orange and avocado. Sprinkle the remaining ¼ teaspoon salt all over the avocado and citrus. Drizzle with remaining 1 tablespoon olive oil. Top with black pepper and fennel fronds (the hairy green tops of the fennel).
- Serve the fish with the salad. To bulk it up, add some crusty bread, roasted potatoes, or rice.
Items you can prep ahead (optional)
- Thinly slice 1 fennel bulb (about 2+ cups)
- Peel and slice 3 oranges
Substitutions:
- To make vegan/vegetarian, add cannellini beans to the salad or substitute the fish with slabs of tofu (rub with cumin oil and bake at 450F for 20-25 minutes).
- Try this recipe with salmon in place of white fish if you’d like.
- Substitute fennel with thinly sliced celery or cabbage.
Storage:
-
Store leftovers in an airtight container in the fridge:
- Baked fish: up to 3 days
- Salad: up to 5 days
Leftovers + Repurposing:
- Warm up leftover fish gently in the microwave. Serve with leftover salad. Squeeze fresh lime over everything and show with herbs, if you have them.
- Turn the salad into a salsa/topper by cutting everything up smaller and using to top bowls.
- Turn it into a bowl – top warm rice with the fish, salad (you can chop the salad up a bit to be more like a salsa), and black beans.
