pan-cooked cod with a ginger and turmeric rub, finished with green onion, apple cider vinegar, and a touch of honey

Some nights the day has already taken what it was going to take, and dinner is the last thing standing between you and rest. This one does not ask much back. One pan, a rub of ginger and turmeric pressed into the fish while the oil warms, and you are eating before you have had time to dread cooking. Having something this fast to reach for, on the nights AIP already asks enough of you, is its own kind of relief.

Underneath the ginger and turmeric, the fish itself is doing plainer work. A regular plate of cod is a steady, unglamorous way to keep iodine coming into your body, and the thyroid needs iodine on hand to build its hormones in the first place. The turmeric in the rub holds curcumin, the compound behind most of what turmeric gets studied for, in helping calm down an immune system that keeps sounding an alarm it does not need to.

Finish it under the vinegar and honey while the pan is still warm, scatter what is left of the green onion across the fillets, and spend the extra half-minute plating it with a little care. A quick dinner does not have to look rushed to still be worth sitting down for.

Ingredients

• 2 Tbsp plus 1 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil, divided
• 1 tsp ground ginger
• 1/2 tsp unrefined sea salt
• black pepper omitted for AIP elimination (see Notes)
• 1/8 tsp ground turmeric
• 2 cod fillets, 4 to 6 oz each
• 1/4 cup chopped green onion, plus more for garnish
• 1 Tbsp apple cider vinegar
• a few drops of honey

Method

Pat the cod fillets dry. Stir together the ground ginger, sea salt, and turmeric, then rub the mix evenly over both sides of each fillet. Drizzle the fillets with about 2 Tbsp of the olive oil so the rub sticks.

Heat the remaining 1 Tbsp olive oil in a skillet over medium to medium-high heat. Lay the fillets in and cook a few minutes per side, turning once, until the cod is opaque all the way through and flakes easily with a fork. Cooking time depends on thickness.

In the last minute, scatter the chopped green onion into the pan around the fish so it softens in the oil. Take the pan off the heat. Spoon the apple cider vinegar and the few drops of honey over the fillets and let them glaze.

Plate the cod, top with extra green onion, and serve warm.

Air fryer variation

Rub and oil the fillets as above. Air fry at about 380F for roughly 8 to 10 minutes, until the cod is opaque and flakes easily. Warm the green onion separately or toss it on in the last couple of minutes, then finish with the vinegar and honey off heat. Air fryer time is untested and is an estimate.

Notes

Black pepper is omitted because it is a seed spice and is not allowed in the elimination phase. The source lists it with the same instruction to omit. Ground ginger and turmeric are both fine for elimination. Reintroduce pepper later if it tests well for you.

Servings and cook time are estimates, not stated in the source, and depend on the thickness of the fillets.

*Adapted from wendisaipkitchen.com*