Lemon Basil Cod with Sugar Snap Pea, Orange, Fennel Salad and Brown Rice Pilaf

The origins of this meal come from a simple first trip to the local Farmer's Market and let me tell you, we will be back. It's every Sunday from June to October at Fort Mason which is just a few blocks from the apartment - so wonderful to just hop on over there to browse whatever goodies the farmers have in season!

This time there seemed to be a strong emphasis on peaches and plum and tomatoes. Oddly enough...we didn't use any of those for our meal :)

Our inspiration was at the seafood stand where the individual portions of fresh fish were so nicely bagged in ziploc bags...and I thought something about the simplicity of a ziploc bag meant that these fish must be fresh! Our selection? Lingcod - I had never heard of it but it was just a mild white fish with a distinct flavor that was recommended to us. We were also told a good way to cook it would be to put it in foil with some flavorings and toss it on the grill.

Here was our interpretation of that tip:

2 lingcod filets
salt
pepper
EVOO
garlic clove, minced
basil leaves, torn
1/2 lemon, thinly sliced
fennel fronds

Place the above ingredients (with the fish on the bottom) on tinfoil and fold up to create a packet.

Ideally you would grill the fish at this point but with our lack of a real grill, we baked the fish at 375 for about 25 minutes - until cooked through.

Serve over rice so it catches the delicious juices that are caught in the tinfoil packet - do not throw them out!!

Derek made a brown rice pilaf with carrot, garlic and onion. He added the carrot in after 20 minutes of cooking so it didn't get too mushy. The rice was really fabulous!

I was inspired by the huge, fresh sugar snap peas at the farmers market so I decided to make a simple salad out of the three other items that we bought that day: fennel, oranges, sugar snap peas. I segmented the orange and reserved the membrane for the juice to make a citrus vinaigrette with the orange juice, lime juice, EVOO, and a splash of apple cider vinaiger. The fennel should have been a little thinner but our knifes really need to be sharpened and/or we need a mandoline. It was a very refreshing salad and I'm just thinking about those sugar snap peas now...wanting more!! So crisp, and sweet, and...green...so good :)