Best Bites

The Finest Quick Pineapple Fish

By Joan Leotta

For a fish recipe that is simple to prepare, delicious, and that looks so pretty you can serve it to company, try Quick Pineapple Fish. It’s so good that both times I made it, I forgot to take a picture!

Imagine three pieces of white fish—cod, halibut, or haddock are good choices—crowned with rings of pineapple, coming out of the oven, perfuming your kitchen with the aroma of lemon and ginger. Garnish each piece with a pinch of fresh Italian parsley when you serve.

Anti-in ammatory Ingredients

The origin of this recipe is my daughter’s newest cookbook, The Anti-Inflammatory Diet and Action Plans, by Dorothy Calimiris and Sandra Bruner. This dynamic duo’s recipe called for coconut oil and other ingredients that I didn’t have, so I adapted it to ingredients that would offer similar reactions with the fish and that were more compatible with my Mediterranean tastes but with a slight Hawaiian flair (the pineapple).

I swapped out the swordfish in favor of less expensive, more readily -available halibut or cod. Both are excellent. I used fresh ginger, an item which seems pricey until you take the small piece you’ve broken off to the register and find it costs well under a dollar.

Do go out and get a small can of pineapple rings in their own juice, a fresh lemon, that fresh ginger, and fresh flat Italian parsley. I hope you like it as much as we do—and any leftovers will keep well in the fridge in an airtight container for a tasty lunch the following day.

Quick Pineapple Fish

Serves 2 or 3 2 Tbsp. olive oil 1 lb. cod, halibut, or haddock llet—no skin, cut into three pieces

I 8-oz. can pineapple rings in their own juice 1 small piece of fresh ginger, grated ¼ cup fresh lemon juice

Salt and pepper to taste 3 Tbsp. minced parsley leaves Preheat the oven to 400˚. Put the oil on the bottom of a baking dish with sides. Rinse and pat dry the sh, cut it into three pieces, and place in the pan. Pour the lemon juice over the sh. Grate ginger over the sh, trying to get some on each part of each llet. Add salt and pepper to taste. Put the pineapple rings on the top of each llet, 1 to 1 ½ on each. Pour 2 or 3 Tbsp. of the juice from the can into the baking dish. Bake for 15 to 20 minutes, until the sh is white and akey. Sprinkle parsley on top and serve.