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My husband has been asking me to make fish in tomato sauce for some time. He wanted it to taste like the canned sardines in tomato sauce that he had growing up in Ukraine. Of course this Cod Fish in Tomato Sauce recipe is far better since it doesn’t come from a can! He agreed. The fish is flaky and juicy and the sauce is legit. It can be served warm or cold.
The sauce is lightly tangy and sweet – we modified the sauce portion of this recipe from The New Ukrainian Cookbook. Oh p.s. have you tried capers? If you haven’t, don’t be afraid of them. For a loooong time I thought capers were scary – I’m not sure why, but it kept me from discovering them. They taste like salty mustard flavored pickles and they are a great addition to this dish. You can buy a small jar for $1-something.
pps. I purchased the cod at Costco. If you don’t have access to cod, I think this recipe would work well with other white fish.
Ingredients for the Tomato Sauce:
4 Tbsp unsalted butter
1 large sweet onion, finely chopped
1 garlic clove, minced
6 oz can tomato paste
2 cups vegetable stock
Seasonings: 1 bay leaf, 6 black peppercorns, 6 allspice berries, 4 cloves
Juice of 1 small lemon (2 Tbsp)
1 Tbsp capers
1 Tbsp honey
Ingredients For the Fish:
2 lbs cod fillets, cut into 3-inch pieces (drain well, and pat dry with paper towels)
2/3 cup all-purpose flour
1 tsp salt (I used sea salt)
1/2 tsp ground black pepper
1/4 cup light olive oil or avocado oil, to sautee fish
Fresh parsley for garnish, optional
What you will need:
a cheesecloth, or tea infuser, or spice ball for holding spices.
How to Make Ukrainian Fish in Tomato Sauce:
1. In a large heavy-bottomed pan, melt 4 Tbsp butter and add finely diced onion. Cook over medium heat about 5 min or until onions are soft. Add 1 minced garlic clove, 6 oz tomato paste and continue cooking 5 min, stirring frequently, until tomato sauce starts to brown. Add 2 cups veggie stock and seasonings contained in a spice ball. Bring to a gentle boil then cover, reduce heat to low and simmer 20 min
2. Meanwhile pat fish dry with several paper towels. In a shallow bowl, stir together 2/3 cup flour, 1 tsp salt, and 1/2 tsp pepper. Heat a large non-stick pan over medium heat and add 1/4 cup oil. Once oil is hot, quickly dredge both sides of fish in seasoned flour and place into the hot oil, working in batches if needed (don’t crowd the pan). Saute 3 min per side or until golden, and cooked through, adding more oil as needed.
3. Once sauce is done, remove and discard seasoning pouch. Add 2 Tbsp lemon juice, 1 Tbsp capers and 1 Tbsp honey and stir/cook another 2 minutes. Add fish and heat until warmed through, turning fish a couple times to coat. Sprinkle with fresh parsley and serve warm or cold. It keeps well for 2-3 days in the fridge.
Cod Fish in Tomato Sauce
Ingredients
For the Tomato Sauce:
- 4 Tbsp unsalted butter
- 1 large sweet onion, finely chopped
- 1 garlic clove, minced
- 6 oz can tomato paste
- 2 cups vegetable stock
- Seasonings: 1 bay leaf, 6 black peppercorns, 6 allspice berries, 4 cloves
- Juice of 1 small lemon, 2 Tbsp
- 1 Tbsp capers
- 1 Tbsp honey
For the Fish:
- 2 lbs cod fillets, cut into 3-inch pieces (drain well, and pat dry with paper towels)
- 2/3 cup all-purpose flour
- 1 tsp salt, I used sea salt
- 1/2 tsp ground black pepper
- 1/4 cup light olive oil or avocado oil, to sautee fish
- Fresh parsley for garnish, optional
What you will need:
- a cheesecloth, or tea infuser, or spice ball for holding spices.
Instructions
- In a large heavy-bottomed pan, melt 4 Tbsp butter and add finely diced onion. Cook over medium heat about 5 min or until onions are soft. Add 1 minced garlic clove, 6 oz tomato paste and continue cooking 5 min, stirring frequently, until tomato sauce starts to brown. Add 2 cups veggie stock and seasonings contained in a spice ball. Bring to a gentle boil then cover, reduce heat to low and simmer 20 min.
- Meanwhile pat fish dry with several paper towels. In a shallow bowl, stir together 2/3 cup flour, 1 tsp salt, and 1/2 tsp pepper. Heat a large non-stick pan over medium heat and add 1/4 cup oil. Once oil is hot, quickly dredge both sides of fish in seasoned flour and place into the hot oil, working in batches if needed (don't crowd the pan). Saute 3 min per side or until golden, and cooked through, adding more oil as needed.
- Once sauce is done, remove and discard seasoning pouch. Add 2 Tbsp lemon juice, 1 Tbsp capers and 1 Tbsp honey and stir/cook another 2 minutes. Add fish and heat until warmed through, turning fish a couple times to coat. Sprinkle with fresh parsley and serve warm or cold. It keeps well for 2-3 days in the fridge.
What were some of your favorite foods growing up? Let me know in a comment below. 🙂
Thank you, Natasha! Your recipe recalled me how to cook fried fish with tomato sauce like my granny did. Today I made it for the dinner – I used your recipe as a base. I cooked tilapia instead of cod and without cappers (I haven’t ever tried them before – the same story like yours 🙂 Also I used sugar instead of honey and no lemon juce. It was very delicious! My family enjoyed it very much!
I remember that my granny cooked also fish in the oven (maye something similar to what described Iryna B.). She put small fish (I don’t know its name in English), diced onion, carrot and parsnip, some oil, salt, pepper and, possibly, water into the pot, covered it with a lid and placed into the oven for 6 hours. I think, that the oven was preheated to hot and then the heat was reduced to low. The bones really became very soft like in fish preserves. It was very delicious!
That does sound interesting and good, but I don’t have a recipe like that. I’m glad you enjoyed this recipe though. Thanks for sharing that with me 🙂
I made this for dinner today. It was delicious! My husband loved it:)
Thank you for sharing such a nice review Natasha 😀.
Hi, can i use tomato sauce instead of paste?
To substitute, you need 2-3 times more tomato sauce than paste. I would add 12 oz tomato sauce if substituting and maybe slightly less chicken broth.
Are capers essential for this recipe? I do not have any on hand right now.
The recipe will still work without them but they do add a contrasting flavor.
Hello, Natasha! Can I make this recipe with flounder? Thanks for the recipe!
Hi Alla, I haven’t tried it with flounder, but I think that should work fine 🙂
Hey Natasha. Im about to make this recipe but I only have ground allspice .. is that OK? ? And how much should I use ??
Olya, I would add just a pinch of allspice. I hope you’ll love it :).
Thank you for another childhood favorite! Mom always cooked it in “kazanok”, with many layers of fish. They were simmered on the stove for quite a wile so some of the fish bones get soft.
Will try it someday. Gotta go Costco “fishing” first.
PS. I went to Amazon to look at this book and some recipes looks pretty strange, some have weird names. Well, I guess it’s hard to write a book and be totally correct. Are lots of recipes in this book are from Western Ukraine?
I’d like to have a good Ukrainian cookbook in English for my husband and daughter. Which one would you recommend? (I love your way of cooking!)
Wow, so you ate the bones too? I guess that makes sense if sardine bones are edible too. Please to the table has alot of recipes. Ofcourse I haven’t tried all of them (not even close), but the once I’ve tried seem to work well with minor tweaks. When I publish my own cookbook one day, I’ll tell you all about it 😉
Thank you for this recipe! I made it and it was delicious. I am from East India and surprisingly enough, I have eaten my fair share of canned sardines in tomato sauce and this recipe was a delicious close. I will definitely be trying it again and am now thinking of purchasing the book as well.
Thank you for sharing your recipes. I have made several of them including the potato with bacon, the piroski and the buckwheat cutlets. All of them have been very well received.
I’m so happy to hear that you’re enjoying my recipes!! 🙂 Thank you so much for sharing your wonderful review 🙂
I can’t wait to try your recipe! I made something like this for Ukrainian Christmas (Rizdvo) a few years ago, but lost the recipe. This looks incredible!
Oh what precious memories this recipe evokes. My mama always set a wonderful zakuski table and had a similar fish in tomato sauce as part of the fare. Thank you for this recipe. I will definitely try.
I’m so happy this brings back memories for you 🙂
Natasha! Thanks for the amazing recipe! We love this fish!!! I’m glad I made it cuz I liked fish back in Ukraine in those cans:)
Awesome!! I hope it brings back memories for you 🙂
Even before I read what this recipe was inspired by I immediately thought about canned sardines in tomato sauce from my childhood in Russia! Hahaha! My mom didn’t really let us eat canned stuff but my granny always kept a few cans just in case. 😉 Love this recipe, Natasha!!
Thank you Julia! That’s awesome that it made you think of that. It looks like I’ve successfully recreated even the look! 😉
Your husband is realy lucky that you make what he wants. How about writing about combining with wine. Ofcourse at the right temperature to explore new tasting sensations?
I haven’t tried his dish with wine. Which one would you recommend?
Oooh Yum! This looks a lot like a Bulgarian dish we call “ihniya” or “Manja” lol
Can’t wait to try this version of it! Thank You!!!
You’re welcome Yelena :). I hope it will bring you good memories.
This picture is just SO mouth-watering!! 🙂 Makes me hungry every time I look at it. Already bookmarked it and going on the menu for next week. I know we’ll love it – all your recipes have been a success at my house :)) Thanks.
Julia, thank you for your sweet comment and feel free to share the results of your cooking :).
i think the piece about what to do with the pouch is missing…i can’t seem to understand what to do with that
Susanna, instructions for the spices are in step one. Just place all the spices in it, listed in the ingredients section. Hope this helps :).
My Ukrainian grandmother would have totally approved of this recipe if she were still with us! This is something she would have made, looks scrumptious. I’m trying to duplicate this type of cooking, it would have made her so proud.
That’s wonderful that it makes you think of your grandma. I think my grandma would’ve loved this too. 🙂
This looks so delicious! Reminds me of a popular Ukrainian/Russian fish dish that is baked with tomato sauce. And that idea of keeping the spices in a sac is so smart, it’s always hard to “fish” those spices out of dishes.
I agree. I got the tip out of the cookbook that I mentioned above. It does make it so much easier to remove and discard those.
I love a classic fish in a tomato broth like this. Looks so yummy and I love how simple it is!
Definitely! It looks like a long list of ingredients but the recipe itself is pretty simple.
Thank you for sharing this recipe with us. We always buy cod at Costco and I was looking for different recipes with it. Definitely will make this one.
I really haven’t found a better source for called them Costco. Others seem really loaded with water. I like that the Costco cod comes in really nice and thick pieces.
It’s very similar to how I make it except I don’t add capers, also use tomato sauce and don’t use the broth. And our favorite is with salmon. Also it’s on my menu for today. I will give your recipe a try hope my husband likes it better.
I hope you love it! I haven’t tried it with salmon but it’s great to know that the tomato sauce and salmon combination works well. Thanks Inna!