Cod

If you’re going to turn on the oven in August, it better be for a good reason: This sauce, made from broiled tomatoes and peppers, is tangy, smoky, juicy, and definitely worth it.

Slow-roasting provides the best insurance for moist, super-flaky fish without the need for much tending—which means you can direct most of your attention elsewhere this Valentine’s Day.

Sinigang is adobo’s close contender for the title of National Dish of the Philippines. Like many Filipino dishes, this soup is bold in taste: sour, salty, slightly sweet, spicy, and umami.

You don’t need pasta to enjoy clam sauce. Here it mingles with fresh corn to top delicate pan-seared cod fillets.

This tomato curry is enriched with coconut cream and brightened with fresh basil and lime juice.

If you get a fillet that includes the thin, tapered tail end of the cod, fold it underneath so the fillet will cook evenly.

The small bits of cauliflower gives the chowder broth a nice clean thickness.

Turned out onto a platter and featured as one of many foods at a holiday buffet, this dish is always a big success. Even those who swear they would never eat gefilte fish come back for seconds, provided you serve horseradish sauce with it.

A zesty-flavored mayonnaise spread is the secret to this super-tender flavorful fish, and holds the almond crust in place.

To make sure these crisp, mayonnaise-free fishcakes stay together in the skillet, chill well before cooking.

Here, fillets of delicate white fish gently poach in thyme-infused milk. The addition of lightly mashed potatoes and leeks makes it the perfect one-pot meal.

I like this one because it's a one-pan dish—you will need a pan with a lid. You can use a can of tomatoes instead of making the purée if you wish, but puréeing the tomatoes produces a better result. You don't need to be precise with the quantities for this dish at all—a handful of cherry tomatoes, add some onion, etc. The important thing is to have the lid to keep in steam and heat so you get a very nice lightly cooked fish. You don't want to overcook it. I've used hake but you can use any white fish like cod, sea bass, halibut or even salmon. It's simple but tasty, and the kind of thing you could easily rustle up for yourself or friends. You can use any green veg but it works well with fennel—sautéed in a pan or slow-baked, or added to the pan and cooked with the fish and tomatoes. This is a great one for a novice cook.