You must trust me despite my unappetizing photo to illustrate this. It is one of those wonderful dishes that tastes complex and looks elegant when, it fact, it took just a few minutes to prepare, and could be prepped in advance if need be. These recipes are always my favorite kind...
4 cod filets
2 cups instant polenta
1/8 tsp saffron
1/8 tsp powdered bay leaf
1/8 tsp crushed fennel seed
3 Tbsps tomato paste
1/2 cup boiling water
1 tsp olive oil
salt to taste
Preheat oven to 350.
Prepare 4 pieces of foil, each large enough to contain one portion of the cod with plenty of room to crimp and fold up the edges. Brush each piece of foil with 1/4 of the olive oil.
In a bowl, pour the boiling water over the tomato paste and mix well until the paste has dissolved. Add the instant polenta and a bit of salt (keep it undersalted as the fish and spices will add some salinity to the mix) and mix together well. This will make a thick slurry but, worry not, additional moisture will be added by the fish as it cooks. Place 1/4 of this mixture in the center of each of the pieces of foil. Spread it out so that each portion of the polenta is about the size of a piece of cod.
Season the cod pieces on both sides with salt and 1/4 each of the 3 spices. (It doesn't have to be quite that accurate. Just sprinkle and go).
Place a portion of cod on top of the polenta on each piece of foil. Fold the foil up and crimp the edges tightly to make a sealed, leak through package. Place your foil packets on a baking tray and place in the oven, Bake for 10 to 14 minutes, depending on the thickness of your fish. Start checking it for doneness at 10 minutes. You will know that it is done when the fish flakes easily when you stick a fork in it. That being said, cod is one of the more forgiving fish and one of the few where a minute or so too long won't much matter.
The saffron will melt into the fish and all of the spiced fish juices will mix into the polenta. The end result will be delicious and also quite pretty - the pearlescent white cod is a perfect foil (see what I did there!) for the tomato pink polenta and the fish juices dyed shocking orange from the saffron. A little chopped tarragon or Italian parsley could be added at this point if you felt the need.
I "decanted" the fish and polenta out of the foil packages onto dinner plates and served this dish with roasted Brussels sprouts splashed with fish sauce. I love them and the first of the season have just appeared at the store but any vibrant green vegetable will make your plate look really pretty in combination with the colors of the fish dish. Let me know what you think.