Pan-Seared Cod with Creamed Broccoli and Seaweed
Simple wild cod, seared in olive oil, served over buttery steamed broccoli with a scattering of toasted seaweed. A clean, mineral-dense plate that comes together in 25 minutes.
Yield: 4 servings
Active: 20 min · Total: 25 min
A note from the kitchen
Cod is mild, flaky, lean, and quick to cook. It doesn't need much: good olive oil, sea salt, and pepper. But it also takes beautifully to gentle aromatic additions, which is why this recipe gives you two paths — a pure, minimalist version and an optional ginger-and-coconut-aminos variation.
The broccoli is simple: steamed until just tender, then tossed with grass-fed butter and a little garlic. And the seaweed — toasted and crumbled over the top — delivers bioavailable iodine, trace minerals, and a umami depth that ties the fish and the vegetable together. Cod, broccoli, and seaweed: a clean, mineral-rich plate.
Ingredients
For the cod:
4 wild cod fillets (about 6 oz each), patted dry
2 tbsp high-quality extra-virgin olive oil
½ tsp sea salt (Baja Gold or equivalent)
Freshly cracked black pepper
1 lemon, cut into wedges (for serving)
Optional — for the ginger and coconut aminos variation:
3 tbsp coconut aminos
1 tbsp finely grated fresh ginger
2 small cloves garlic, very finely minced
For the creamed broccoli:
1 large head broccoli (about 1.5 lb), cut into florets, stems peeled and sliced
3 tbsp grass-fed butter
1 clove garlic, finely minced (optional)
Sea salt and freshly cracked black pepper
For the seaweed:
2 sheets nori (untoasted or pre-toasted), sliced into strips
1 cup of dulse
1 tbsp coconut oil or extra virgin olive oil (for toasting the dulse)
Toasted sesame seeds, for garnish
Method
Prep the cod. Pat the cod fillets completely dry with paper towels — dry fish is essential for a clean sear. Season both sides with sea salt and black pepper. If using the ginger variation, whisk together the coconut aminos, grated ginger, and minced garlic in a small bowl and set aside.
Steam the broccoli. Set a steamer basket over an inch of simmering water. Add the broccoli florets and sliced stems. Steam 4–5 minutes until just tender and still vibrant green — don't overcook. Remove from heat.
Cook the broccoli. In a wide skillet or saucepan, melt the butter over medium-low heat. Add the optional minced garlic and cook 30–60 seconds until fragrant (don't brown). Add the steamed broccoli, season with sea salt and pepper, and toss gently to coat in the butter. For a softer, more “creamed” texture, mash about a third of the broccoli with a fork or the back of a spoon as you toss — it breaks down into a loose, buttery base while the rest stays in florets. Alternatively, for a silky, smooth creamed broccoli, transfer the warm (but not hot) broccoli florets to a blender with 1-2 tbsp butter, and blend until smooth— the room temperature or even cold butter will melt once in contact with the warm broccoli and blend nice and smoothly. Keep warm in a bowl.
Prep the seaweed. If using untoasted nori sheets, briefly hold each sheet over a low flame or warm dry skillet for 5–10 seconds per side until fragrant and slightly crisp (toasted nori sheets can skip this step). Snip or crumble into small strips. For the dulse, heat 1 tbsp coconut oil or olive oil in a small dry skillet over medium-low heat. Add the dulse strips and toast 1–2 minutes, stirring frequently, until crisp and slightly darker. Don't walk away — dulse goes from perfectly crisp to burnt quickly. Transfer to a paper-towel-lined plate.
Sear the cod. Heat the olive oil in a heavy skillet over medium-high heat until shimmering. Lay the cod fillets in the pan, presentation-side down. Sear 3–4 minutes without moving, until deeply golden. Flip gently and cook another 2–3 minutes until the fish is opaque and flakes easily. If using the ginger variation, spoon the coconut aminos mixture over the fillets in the final minute of cooking and let it glaze.
Plate. Spoon the creamed broccoli onto each plate. Lay a cod fillet on top. Scatter the toasted seaweed flakes over the fish and broccoli. Add optional sesame seeds. Serve immediately with lemon wedges.
Additional Parts of the Dish
To round this into a fuller plate or dinner, any of these work beautifully:
Starches and grounding sides
Mashed cauliflower or celeriac purée — a soft, neutral base that catches the butter
Roasted fingerling or baby potatoes with rosemary and sea salt
Roasted winter squash cubes (kabocha or delicata) for autumn
Bright accents
A drizzle of fresh salsa verde (parsley, garlic, capers, lemon, olive oil) over the cod
Quick-pickled red onion or shaved fennel for acidity
A spoon of aioli or lemon-garlic butter alongside
Probiotic boost
A dollop of fresh sauerkraut or kimchi
More vegetables
Blistered shishito peppers
A simple bitter greens salad (arugula or watercress) with lemon and olive oil
Sautéed shiitake or other wild mushrooms with thyme
Cauliflower florets, roasted until golden
Roasted carrots
Pickled radish
To finish
A 6-minute jammy egg, halved, set alongside — the runny yolk works as a natural sauce
A scattering of toasted hazelnuts, pine nuts, or sesame seeds for crunch
Shaved aged Manchego or Pecorino over the broccoli
Sliced avocado
Sourcing
Wild cod. Look for wild-caught Atlantic or Pacific cod (or substitute wild haddock, pollock, or hake). Should smell of clean ocean — never fishy or ammonia-like. Flesh should be firm, translucent-white, and springy. From a busy fishmonger, not a slow supermarket counter. Reliable mail-order sources: Vital Choice, Sea to Table, Wild Alaskan Company. Frozen-at-sea wild cod (thawed) is often fresher than 'fresh' cod that's been on ice for days.
Seaweed. Untoasted nori sheets, dried dulse strips, or wakame from a natural-food store. Eden Foods (organic, Japanese-sourced) and Maine Coast Sea Vegetables (sustainably harvested Atlantic) are reliable brands. Dulse from the North Atlantic (Maine, Canada, Ireland) is excellent.
Coconut aminos. Coconut Secret raw coconut aminos. Soy-free, lower-sodium alternative to soy sauce. Single-ingredient — no added cane sugar or preservatives.
Grass-fed butter. From cows on pasture year-round when possible. Vital Farms, Organic Valley Pasture Butter, Beurre d'Isigny, or local artisan brands. Deep yellow color is the visual indicator of grass-fed dairy.
High-quality extra-virgin olive oil. Single-estate (one farm, one variety, one harvest), harvest-dated within the last 12 months, in a dark glass bottle. Should smell fresh, green, slightly peppery — never musty or rancid.
Sea salt. Baja Gold mineral sea salt for cooking, fleur de sel for finishing.
Storage
Cooked cod: Best the day made. Leftover cod keeps refrigerated up to 2 days; flake into a salad or reheat very gently to avoid drying out.
Creamed broccoli: Refrigerated up to 3 days. Reheat gently in a skillet with a small splash of bone broth or extra butter.
Toasted dulse and nori: Best the day made — both lose crispness within a few hours. Make fresh each time you cook the dish.
Why This Dish
This is a simple plate doing meaningful nourishment work — clean wild protein, mineral-rich vegetables, fat-soluble vitamin delivery, and a concentrated dose of marine minerals.
Wild cod — clean protein and ocean minerals. Wild cod delivers about 20 grams of complete protein per 3.5-oz serving, plus selenium (over 80% of the recommended daily intake), B12, phosphorus, and iodine. Like all small-to-medium white fish, cod sits near the middle of the marine food chain — much lower in mercury, PCBs, and microplastic contamination than larger predatory fish.
Broccoli — sulforaphane and vitamin K. Broccoli contains sulforaphane precursors, indole-3-carbinol, vitamin C, vitamin K, and fiber. The sulfur compounds in cruciferous vegetables have documented detoxification-supporting and anti-inflammatory effects. Steaming briefly preserves most of the heat-sensitive compounds.
Grass-fed butter — fat-soluble vitamin delivery. Real butter from grass-fed cows delivers vitamins A, D, K2, beta-carotene, and conjugated linoleic acid. The butter is essential not just for flavor but for actually delivering the fat-soluble vitamins (A from the broccoli and butter itself, K2 from grass-fed dairy) into the body for absorption.
Seaweed — concentrated iodine and trace minerals. Nori and dulse deliver iodine (essential for thyroid function), calcium, magnesium, iron, B12, and the polysaccharide fucoidan (with documented anti-inflammatory and immune-supporting properties). Dulse adds protein (about 25% by dry weight) and a distinctly umami-savory flavor.
Why this kind of plate. A clean wild fish, simply prepared vegetables, real butter, and a sprinkle of sea minerals — this is the kind of meal that ancestral coastal cultures have eaten for centuries. Fast, satisfying, mineral-dense, and aligned with how the body genuinely uses food. 25 minutes for a complete dinner.
— Anna aka Food Marshall