Cooking under the weather

Here’s a quick dish that I almost didn’t post because it’s pretty trivial, really. But there has been a clamor for more posts. Really, there has been . . . seriously . . . OK, fine, one person asked me. So here’s a quick one to tide us all over until I have the time and energy to post something more substantive.

I’ve had a bad cold this week. Ironically, I was planning a post on homemade soup, but due to the rhinovirus, I’m going to have to post it later, as I didn’t really have the energy or the time to complete that one. The cooking was straightforward enough—making soup is far easier and far less time-consuming than we have been led to believe. But writing the post and taking the photos is more involved than it looks (and more involved than I imagined when I started this), and I didn't feel up to dealing with it.

Here’s the thing: when I’m sick, I don't cook much. When I have a cold, I go to a Chinese restaurant, buy a large vat of hot and sour soup, and take it home. But eventually, the vat runs dry, and I get tired of soup. So I try to come up with something that I can cook with minimal effort. It’s not so different from being exhausted after a long day, or something of that kind. My point is that I hope this little riff on fish will be useful to the healthy as well as the infirm, since it comes together ridiculously quickly.

It’s fish wrapped in prosciutto. That’s it. There is no “original” recipe here, although I’ve seen similar things from Nigella Lawson, Jamie Oliver, Jacques Pèpin, Sheila Lukins, Joanne Weir, and others. It’s a quick entrée that was popular in restaurants for a while in the 90’s but then faded away, as these things tend to do. But it’s quite good, particularly given how little effort it requires.

First, get some fish portions. The only stipulation here is that you want a fairly thick piece of fish that is relatively firm and will hold together as it cooks (although if a few bits flake off here and there, no harm done). I’m using cod in this instance, but you could use halibut, salmon, snapper, tilapia, mahi mahi, or whatever looks good at the store. You'd want to avoid thin, delicate ones like fillets of trout or sole or flounder or catfish. These, although delicious, would probably fall apart when cooked in this manner. But maybe not. And if you have a cold and are only cooking for yourself, who the hell cares? 

Lay your fish on a cutting board. You will also need a few slices of prosciutto. If you have an Italian deli nearby, and want to use imported prosciutto di parma, pray do so. As you can see in the photo above, however, the packets you buy at the supermarket are perfectly fine for our modest purposes today. 



Lay a couple of slices on the board. Set the fish on top of them. Season the fish with pepper (if you like), but don't salt it, as the prosciutto will provide all the salt you need.

Wrap the prosciutto around the fish. We’re almost there.

Heat a little olive oil in an oven-safe sauté pan. Gently put the ham-wrapped fish in the pan and brown it on one side. Turn the fish over gently—try to keep it in one piece, but if it breaks, don’t get upset—and put the pan into a 400F/200C oven. Bake it for about 5-10 minutes, depending on how thick your fish is. The Canadians—clever folk—have come up with a formula for this. 

Throw a salad together while the fish is in the oven. Remove the fish from the oven, set it next to the salad, and tuck in. Easy peasy, as the Brits say. 

Plain? Well, yes, it's plain. That's the point. Yes, you could put sage leaves or other herbs under the prosciutto (a piscine take on the Italian dish saltimbocca). Yes, you could add red pepper flakes. Yes, minced garlic, too, if you like. Or . . . look, I don't do variations when I'm sick, OK? Fish, ham, done. You want to experiment, knock yourself out. I'm going to bed.