White Fish and Potato Bake

Welcome back to the Cooking Club! Today I'll be trying out a different style of post, with a lot more photos but less of a solid recipe to follow. For tonight's meal, I decided to make baked white fish, topped with thinly sliced potatoes and melted cheese. It tastes amazing, and it's healthy too! I made this just to serve 1, but you could increase the ingredients depending on how many you're cooking for.

Thinly sliced potatoes with melted cheese and herbs... and there's fish under there somewhere too

What I used:

• 3 baby potatoes (unpeeled)
• 2 medium-sized fish fillets (frozen)
• Salt and mixed herbs to taste (you could use pepper instead of herbs)
• A little grated cheese (the amount you use just comes down to personal preference)

What I did:

First of all, I prepared everything I needed. I preheated the oven to 200 degrees, grated the cheese and put it back in the fridge until I needed it. 

I then sliced my potatoes with a sharp knife to make sure they were cut nice and thin (see the picture to the left). I left the skins on the potatoes, because once cooked, they go all crispy around the edge. (Plus, they contain a lot of nutrients, like iron and potassium, that you wouldn't get if you peeled them!)

Next, I drizzled about a tablespoon of oil into a glass roasting dish. I then placed my two frozen fish fillets into the dish. I decided not to cook them first because they might have gone a bit mushy after the full cooking time. Also, I didn't defrost them first. I left them frozen, so the excess water meant that they remained more moist after being cooked, instead of drying out. The fish fillets looked quite big when they were still frozen, but they did shrink quite a bit whilst being cooked, which made them a perfect size. 

I then spread the potato pieces all over the surface of the fish fillets, making sure every space was filled. I had more potatoes left over after covering the fish, so I slotted them into gaps and let them slip down the sides so that the fish was covered. 

After the potatoes were evenly spread, I sprinkled them with salt and herbs, and a little bit of the cheese. I then covered the dish loosely with tin foil.

When everything was how I wanted it, I put the dish in the oven for 20 minutes to bake.





After 20 minutes, I took the dish out of the oven to check it. To check if the fish was cooking, I stuck a fork into the top of it between the potatoes. By this time, it should feel soft, but still not quite cooked. I sprinkled on the rest of the cheese, covered it back up with the foil and put it in the oven for another 10 minutes.

After the 10 minutes was up, took the foil off the dish and put it back in the oven for a few extra minutes - 10 minutes max - for the cheese and potatoes to crisp up. Then it was ready to serve!!

The finished dish:

I used a large slotted spoon to transfer the fish and potato bake to my plate. I completed the dish by serving it (to myself!) with sweetcorn, which went really well with the fish, and added a little bit of sweetness. 

Overall, this turned out really well! I based this recipe on a YouTube video I saw when I was trying to get some cooking inspiration. The video was for an Italian dish using a similar base, but added ingredients like onions, tomatoes and rocket leaves. If you'd like a dish like this but with more vegetables, then you could go and watch that video for more inspiration!

Thank you for reading this post and visiting my blog. I hope I can come back with more inspiration for you very soon!