Discover the Joy of Cooking: A Simple Sheet Pan Lemon Butter Cod Recipe

Margaret 00:00:04 What happens when you take a love of food, a passion for culture, and a deep knowledge of cannabis and you toss them all into one bowl, you get Bite Me, the podcast that explores the intersection of food, culture, science and cannabis and helps cooks make great edibles at home. While we're at it, I am your host, Margaret, a certified Ganjier TCI Certified Cannabis Educator, and I believe your kitchen is the best dispensary you'll ever have. Together, we'll explore the stories, the science, and the sheer joy of making safe, effective, and unforgettable edibles at home. So pre-heat your oven and get ready for a great episode. Let's dive in. Welcome back my friends! I am so excited to be here tonight. Tonight I say that because I am recording in the evening and I don't typically record in the evenings. I really like to record during the day whenever I have the opportunity, but I just came off a high table sesh. Oh, my heart is full. It was a fantastic conversation and I was really grateful for all the people that showed up.

Margaret 00:00:58 And now I am here, grateful for you for listening and sharing your time with me right now. If you're joining us for the first time, welcome. I welcome you to the Bite Me family. And if you've been a long time listener, thank you for being here and thank you for your support because it really means a lot. I would not be here without you now. Today we are talking about something delicious. Sheet pan, lemon butter cod with roasted potatoes and garlicky greens. Margaret, how did you come up with this. Well let me tell you I didn't know. The credit belongs to Chef Adam Vandam of York chef. Previous podcast guest lauded member of the Bite Me Cannabis Club. Long time listener of Bite Me, the show about edibles and fabulous human being. And so we're going to get into that in just a minute before we do, I just want to talk a little bit about the tolerance break that I'm doing right now, because if you're listening, as this episode comes out, this will be three weeks, just about just over three weeks since I started this tolerance break.

Margaret 00:02:02 And now that the light, I can see the light at the end of the tunnel, it feels really good. I'm really glad.

Margaret 00:02:08 That I did this.

Margaret 00:02:09 And even more so, I am glad that I created the Fresh Start Tones Break challenge in the Bite Me Cannabis Club, because the people who have been participating, whether they are doing the actual tolerance, break themselves or whether they're cheering others on, have really showed up for each other. And that has been so beautiful to see. And it's it's really made it much easier for me to get through it. I mean, I could have done this on my own, but that would be boring, wouldn't it? I am thinking a little bit about what I'll be consuming when I first get back into cannabis consumption. Of course, I'll be experimenting with edibles. I'll be starting low and going slow to see where my tolerance is because I don't have. I didn't have a high tolerance really before. It was like a maybe a medium tolerance, a low to medium tolerance.

Margaret 00:02:56 And I'm sure that with this month long reset that it will be lower than normal, which is in my mind, great. I think a good reset every so often is a good idea, especially if you've been consuming cannabis frequently for a long time. A nice little reset is a good idea, and I'm wanting to explore more CBD and CBD in my life as well. I already use CBD with a lot of my cannabis, my cannabis flower. I like to mix in CBD flower with it as well, and I'd like to of course do CBD edibles too, but I want to incorporate more of the that those cannabinoids into my life a little more intentionally. See how I respond to that. It's all a bit of a it's all experimentation and consuming mindfully. I'm really glad I did it. Now, if you were interested in doing a tolerance break, but you weren't able to commit to January for whatever reason, we all have a shit going on in our lives. I totally understand that it wasn't the right time.

Margaret 00:03:54 I did create the Fresh Start Complete 30 Day Tolerance Break program guide over on Amazon. I think that's what I called it. I should have made the subtitle probably a little bit shorter, and that is the entire program guide that gives you everything you need to do a successful tolerance break for however long you want to do it. Maybe you don't want to do it for a whole month. Sometimes I think for some people, shorter breaks more frequently might work better for them. It's a choose your own adventure, as always, but has the entire program guide and the 31 days of check ins and a habit tracker as well. And you can pick that up for a few bucks, I think. I think $12 over at Amazon, and then you can do a tolerance break at any time when it serves you best, and you're always welcome to join us at the Miami Cannabis Club to share your experiences, because it is a super supportive group of people who will definitely uplift you while you are going through it or doing the, doing a tolerance break.

Margaret 00:04:54 So that was my big PSA of the day, because I am feeling good, and also because the sheet pan letterman record is fabulous. If Full Disclosure actually did record this entire episode earlier today, and then I was just like, I don't like it. So I'm doing it again. And I'm kind of glad that I did because again, I feel very uplifted from having that sesh with some wonderful people. Let's get into today's dish. Chef Adam shared this with me because he has been contributing recipes from the upcoming cookbook that he's been working on for the tolerance break in that challenge space. And he's been doing one a week. And I said, hey, Adam, would you mind if I did one of the recipes for an episode? And he's like, well, I would be thrilled, of course, because Adam is wonderful. And he even recorded a video, which I'll be posting the Bite Me Cannabis Club as well of him making the dish. So if you're interested, you can check that out over there.

Margaret 00:06:00 But what he says about this dish. This sheet pan dinner is a simple grounding and built for real life. A lighter option that still feels satisfying and complete for the tea break if you're doing a tea break. Everything here is cooked and enjoyed completely on infused, allowing the flavors to stand on their own when you're ready to reintroduce cannabis. The infusion happens after cooking, keeping the meal flexible and personal. Same meal, same balance. Different choice. Adam knows me so well. I love having options. And again, how many times am I going to say choose your own adventure? But this is what makes. This is partly why I love this dish and the way he has done the infusion, because I can make this. Obviously I didn't infuse it this time because I am doing the tolerance break, but I could make this dish infuse it for myself and still serve it to my 94 year old father, and he wouldn't have to have any cannabinoids. Now, I might also infuse it with CBD, so that he might be able to get some of those cannabinoids in his system, but it's not necessary.

Margaret 00:07:04 So I did make this dish. I do agree, I do sometimes find that when I'm making fish, I am still not in a kind of a lazy cook to when you have to cook all the time to sustain yourself. It can get boring. And that's why I love recipes like this. And I am somebody who does, you know, try and get some fish in my diet, but sometimes it gets kind of boring. You throw a, you know, a fillet of fish on a pan and you squeeze some lemon on it and you stick it in the oven and it comes out and you're like, ho hum. But this is not like that. And what I really do like about this, this dish is that it all fits on one pan. Maybe if you don't have a pan big enough, you can always do it on two pans, but it is designed to fit on one, which is fantastic. And because you have the greens and the potatoes, it really you do leave the table feeling very.

Margaret 00:07:45 Satisfied.

Margaret 00:07:46 And there's just the elements that are added to it. Very simple, that really elevate it. I'm not talking about the cannabis either. Now, of course you're going to need some ingredients for this. And it is sheet pan whitefish. Now it said lemon butter cod in the title. But you can also use haddock, pollock, hake, halibut, sole, tilapia, snapper, barramundi which I don't think I've ever heard of any firm white fish available to you. Now when I made it, I am trying to think. I think I used sole because when I went to the grocery store, it was on sale and there was a good price on the soul. So that's what I ended up going with. And I love having the option for multiple. I love having the option of more than one protein that I can do with this, because at the end of the day, we all have to go to the grocery store and we all have that sticker shock sometimes, and we need to buy what fits in our budget.

Margaret 00:08:42 Now Adam has a chef's note here. Cod is a reliable favorite, but this method works beautifully with nearly any firm white fish. Focus on freshness and thickness and adjust cooking time slightly if your filets are thinner or thicker than average. That was no issue on my end. What I made it. And so basically what you start to do, what you do with this recipe is you first prepare your potatoes so it calls for some baby potatoes and you just chop those in half. I think I didn't have baby potatoes, I used slightly, they were still small potatoes. I had to quarter them. But so you're going to chop your potatoes and you are going to put them in the oven on the pan, and they are drizzled on olive oil and salt and pepper, and you roast them for 15 to 20 minutes to get started so that they have enough time to start to brown and be ready. When you put the fish in the greens on the pan, and that's when you're adding, you're going to shove the potatoes to the side a little bit, push them to the side, add your fish filets and your vegetables.

Margaret 00:09:44 And in this particular instance he has you choosing again. I love a choose your own adventure. Choose broccoli florets or green beans or asparagus. You're going to put your greens and the fish on the pan, and you're going to drizzle that with a nice little bit of olive oil, a sprinkle of garlic and lemon zest and pepper. You're going to cook the fish until it flakes easily with a fork. Your vegetables are tender and your potatoes are crisp. It's that easy. What I really like about this dish is it's mostly hands off, like, yeah, you got to chop some potatoes and maybe you got to cut up your broccoli florets a little bit. But honestly, it's a pretty hands off dish. A lot of the time is spent in the oven. So you can listen to a podcast maybe like this one. Now the real magic happens is when you make the lemon butter. This is where you can infuse when you're ready if you decide to infuse this dish. Nothing previously mentioned was infused. Of course, you always have options.

Margaret 00:10:39 You're an adult, but the lemon butter, you just melt some butter in a saucepan, you stern some lemon juice and herbs if you're using them and you keep it warm. And when you go to serve, you plate your fish, your potatoes, your greens, and then you serve the lemon butter on the side so you can allow each guest to finish their plate as they choose. And so if you know, of course, that it's infused, you can inform them how much THC or CBD is in your butter and they can dose themselves accordingly. Or maybe they also just want more or less butter. This dish, as Adam says, is meant to feel calm and nourishing, not heavy or overthought. And again, I concur. I enjoyed it thoroughly when I made it. I'm sure it'll become part of my regular rotation, because I really do love to cook fish, and I love roasted vegetables in the wintertime. And this was just again, all in one. One Pan made it fantastic. Just to give you a little idea of what else he's been up to, because like I said, he's been sharing recipes in the in the Cannabis Club.

Margaret 00:11:38 Bear in mind that the challenge space is an open space. It's open to anybody. You don't have to be a member of the private community in order to take part, so you're always welcome to join us over there. He also shared weeknight bulgogi lettuce wraps, Nova Scotian inspired dinner bowls, and weeknight taco night with simple rice, fresh toppings, and house salsa. This also just goes to show that a lot of the times when you are thinking of infused foods, it doesn't have to mean sweets. I know typically when a lot of folks think of infused foods, they think brownies or cookies or cake or muffins and those are all wonderful. And believe me, I have made and eaten a lot of those types of edibles. But sometimes you would like something that's savory. Or maybe you're trying to eat healthier, and that includes reducing your sugar intake. And so a big plate of infused brownies isn't necessarily going to serve you right now. You can think outside the brownie box.

Margaret 00:12:35 That's all I'm trying to say.

Margaret 00:12:36 And I love what Chef Adam is doing. I really appreciate you sharing this recipe with me and with the listeners of Bite Me. Adam, if you're listening to this. What else have I been making lately? Because I also haven't been making as many edibles as of late. Another dish I made recently, actually, was a Haitian chicken stew, which was also fabulous. I made that for the show a while ago, and I was thinking about it, and I think I'll be making putting that in the regular rotation as well, because it is so good. Now, unfortunately, my local grocery store didn't have the Scotch bonnet or the habanero peppers in stock, and I had to use jalapeno peppers and it was good, but they weren't. It wasn't nearly as spicy as it was the first time I made it, but the flavor nonetheless was fantastic. And honestly, sometimes it's the simplest things that make a dish. That dish really focused on citrus fruits, whereas the sheet pan cod was garlic and lemon.

Margaret 00:13:29 Simple ingredients like that really do brighten up a dish and make your food more interesting. And it doesn't mean you have to go out and spend a lot on fancy ingredients or or anything like that. I'm not a professional chef. I'm just like you just trying to feed myself and maybe get a little lifted at the same time. And this is one way to do it. I would love to hear if you try this out and what you think of it, you can always send me pictures. You can email me, you can reach out to me. I love hearing from listeners. If you know somebody that might enjoy this episode as much as you have, please share them. Get out your phone right now and text a friend, because word of mouth really is the best way to grow the show. Because frankly, I'm never probably I'm likely never going to have big ads on this show or anything like that because it just doesn't really align with what I want for Bite Me. Yeah. Share the show.

Margaret 00:14:20 Spread the word far and wide. Shout it from the mountaintops. I'll be right there with you. I'd appreciate it. Anyway. I feel like I'm rambling a little bit. I am high without being high and it is a fabulous feeling. So with that my friends, I have to love you and leave you. I'm your host, Margaret. Stay curious and stay high.