Catherine Fulvio from Ballyknocken House & Cookery School has just launched a selection of Italian-themed recipes in collaboration with video production company I Love Cooking. Irish Country Living is getting the first look!

This week, Catherine shares her recipe for roasted cod with red pepper and fennel sauce, while you can also watch a short video of Catherine making the dish on our social media platforms like Facebook and Twitter.

For further information, visit www.ballyknocken.com and www.ilovecooking.ie

Roasted Cod with Red

Pepper and Fennel Sauce

Serves four

A surprising number of dishes are based on fish in Italy and although cod is not a Mediterranean fish, it is commonly found on the menu in Italy.

This is a wonderful yet simple, healthy recipe for roast cod. With the red pepper and fennel, it will be bursting with rustic Italian flavours. And the good news is fish stocks for cod are back up so you can enjoy guilt-free!

Buon appetito, Catherine.

For the red pepper sauce:

2 red peppers, roughly chopped

2 garlic cloves, finely chopped

½ red chilli, deseeded and roughly chopped

1 tsp chopped rosemary

½ fennel bulb, finely chopped

300ml vegetable stock

For the roasted cod:

4 x 100g cod fillets, 3cm thick

1 lemon, juice only

1 tbsp chopped dill

Olive oil

Salt and freshly ground black pepper

Wilted spinach, to serve

Lemon wedges, to serve

Small sprigs of rosemary, to garnish

1 Preheat the oven 200°C/fan 180°C/gas mark seven.

2 To roast the peppers, place them in the oven for 25 to 30 minutes until charred, remove and place in a bowl and cover with plastic wrap. Leave for 15 minutes and the skin will easily peel off. De-seed and roughly chop and set aside.

3 To make the sauce, heat the oil in a saucepan, add the garlic and sauté for 30 seconds before adding the chilli and rosemary. Add the chopped fennel and sauté for about four to five minutes, stirring from time to time. Add the roasted red peppers and stock and leave to simmer for a further five minutes, stirring from time to time, and season with salt and freshly ground black pepper. Blend ¾ of the sauce until smooth and return it into the remaining sauce. Set aside.

4 To roast the cod, reduce the oven temperature to 190°C/fan 170°C/gas mark five. Drizzle a little olive oil into a roasting pan, place the cod fillets into the pan. Drizzle with a little olive oil. Sprinkle over the lemon juice and dill and roast for 12 to 15 minutes until the fish is cooked. Test this by inserting a knife into the fish and it should flake away.

5 To serve, spoon the wilted spinach on a serving platter, place the cod on top. Spoon over some sauce. Arrange the lemon wedges on the side and a sprig of rosemary on top. CL