This curried cod with crushed peas and sweet potato wedges makes for a satisfying late-summer dinner that works well as temperatures start to drop in the evenings. The dish brings together green vegetables, warming spices, and hearty sweet potato in a single tray bake that takes about 40 minutes from start to finish.
What Goes Into the Dish
The recipe calls for cod fillets coated in Madras curry paste, served alongside roasted sweet potato wedges and a coarse mash made from peas, broad beans, and cannellini beans. You’ll need one medium sweet potato per person, roughly 100 grams each of frozen peas and frozen baby broad beans, and about 400 grams of canned cannellini beans. The spice comes from a tablespoon of Madras curry paste, spread directly onto the fish before roasting.
Olive oil, salt, and pepper finish out the ingredient list. No special equipment is required, though a food processor or mini chopper makes blending the beans and peas easier if you want a rougher texture rather than a smooth dip.
How to Prepare It
Preheat your oven to 200°C (gas mark 6). Cut the sweet potatoes into wedges and toss them with a tablespoon of olive oil on a large baking tray. Roast these alone for 20 minutes first, which gives them a head start on cooking.
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While the potatoes roast, spread the Madras paste evenly over both cod fillets. Place each fillet on a small square of baking parchment, then add them to the baking tray with the wedges. Turn the wedges over and return the tray to the oven for another 10 minutes, until the cod flakes easily and the potatoes have developed some color.
For the crushed pea mixture, cook the frozen peas and broad beans in boiling water for about 3 minutes. Drain them and let them cool slightly before transferring to a food processor along with the drained cannellini beans. Blitz everything together until you get a coarse, rustic paste. Season with salt and pepper to taste.
Spoon the crushed pea mixture onto plates, lay the cod fillets on top, and arrange the sweet potato wedges alongside. The dish works equally well for a quiet weeknight dinner or when serving guests outdoors during the final weeks of summer.
Balancing Seasons on the Plate
Late summer presents a particular challenge in the kitchen. The produce available still carries the brightness of the season, but the cooler evenings push people toward more substantial, warming meals. Recipes that bridge this gap tend to perform well this time of year, combining lighter elements like fresh vegetables with richer preparation methods and spicing that adds warmth without overwhelming the palate.
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This particular combination succeeds because it doesn’t commit fully to either summer or autumn eating. The green pea and bean mash keeps things light and vegetal, while the curry paste and roasted sweet potato provide the kind of comfort food satisfaction that becomes more appealing once September arrives. It’s the sort of dish that feels appropriate on a table in late August just as easily as it would in early October.
The timing works well for busy households too. Forty minutes total, with only about 10 minutes of active prep, makes this accessible for weeknight cooking without requiring significant planning ahead. The ingredients store reasonably well, and the method scales without much difficulty if you need to feed more people.
If you’re looking to expand your late-season repertoire, similar approaches work with other white fish and different spice combinations. The core structure—roasted starch, spiced protein, and a vegetable-based accompaniment—provides a template that adapts to whatever you have on hand.