Cod Baked in Foil - Bittman

This is from Bittman's book, The Best Recipes in the World", in which he says that in Rome, it would typically be made with bass or turbot. However, he also said it can be made with any fillet you like and chose to write up the recipe with cod. There are also variations in the notes for using some vegetables with it too, along with making it in a covered baking dish.

• Ready In: 35 mins
• Serves: 4

Ingredients

• 1 1⁄2-2  lbs  thick cod fish fillets, cut into 4 pieces
• 1⁄4 cup extra virgin olive oil
•  salt, to taste
•  pepper, to taste
• 1  teaspoon  minced garlic
• 1⁄4 cup  chopped fresh parsley (or basil)
•  lemon

Directions

1. Put a baking dish in the oven and preheat it to 400 degrees.
2. Take 8 sheets of foil, each about 18 inches long. Placed one piece on top of the other, making 4 packages.
3. Generously rub the fish with some of the olive oil. Season with salt and pepper; put it on a piece of foil. Sprinkle with garlic and parsley (or basil). Fold the foil onto itself, crimping the edges as tightly as possible. Repeat. You can chill the packages until ready to cook, but no longer than 6 hours.
4. Put the pkgs in the baking dish. Bake for about 15 minutes (or about 8 minutes from the time it starts sizzling). Let sit for couple of minutes before carefully slitting open the package.
5. Spoon out fish and serve with lemon.
6. VARIATION 1: Add any or all of the following to each package: 1 seeded and diced plum tomato, a few black olives, some capers, some very thinly sliced onion.
7. VARIATION 2: If you don't want to mess with the foil, put it all in a covered baking dish (like Corningware). Bake at 350 to 400 degrees until cooked through. (The point of a thin knife inserted into the thickest part meets little resistance.) It would be 10-15 minutes.