Recently, Mike and I had a friend stop over to enjoy a martini at the “Albrecht Bar” for happy hour after a long day of work.  We received the call late in the afternoon so I already had supper for that evening cooking in the crock pot.  Mike’s parents were scheduled to be in town and were planning on supper at our house, followed by watching the Cyclones basketball game, and then retiring for the night in our guest bedroom.

Since we already had a lot going on, Mike took the easy way out and poured some pretzels in a bowl for a few munchies and then got to shaking up the martinis.  He makes some of the best dirty martinis around.  By the time our friend, Tom, arrived the house was already enveloped in the mouth-watering aroma that was emerging from the crock pot.  Slow cooking away for Mike’s parents and us to enjoy that evening was one of my easiest crock pot recipes – Creamy Pork Loin & Vegetables Infused with Onion.

As we sipped on our martinis and took in the smells of all those wonderful flavors slow cooking together we, of course, turned to the subject of food and cooking.  Tom began sharing  some of his favorite ways to slow cook meat.  Not too long ago he received a Dutch Oven for a gift and was raving about how much better the flavors are from a Dutch Oven than a crock pot.  I don’t have one, and he definitely started to convince me I need to think about investing in one.

Tom comes from a Greek background and is particularly fond of Greek-inspired cooking.  He shared a recipe with us called Greek Fish Plaki.  As he was describing the process and the flavors that blended together in this dish, I knew I had to try it!  Needless to say, it was on the table three nights later.

The term Plaki was new to me.  This is a Greek method of cooking fish with vegetables.  A firm, white fish works best.  I used cod for our meal and it was a huge success.  I’m not sure what was better, the aroma that filled my house for close to two hours of cooking or the taste I was able to enjoy as a reward for all my hard work 🙂  Although this recipe takes quite a bit of time, it really is not that hard.  It’s just a lot of slow cooking.  Sounds like the perfect meal to cook while enjoying a glass of wine 🙂

Here is what you’ll need on your grocery list:

**This recipe makes enough to serve 4 people.  You’ll notice in my pictures that I only cooked for two on this particular night, but I’ve written the recipe for four**

1 Onion, chopped

1  1/2 cups Carrots, chopped

1  1/2 cups Celery, chopped

1 tbsp Olive Oil

1 (15 oz) can Diced Tomatoes

1  1/2 cups Tomato Sauce

1/2 tsp Dillweed

4 cups Frozen Spinach

Greek Seasoning

4 (5 oz) Cod Filets

Chop onion, carrots, and celery.

Heat olive oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat.  Add carrots, onion, and celery and saute for 3-5 minutes.

Reduce heat to low and add diced tomatoes, tomato sauce, dillweed, and  spinach.  Stir to combine, cover, and cook on low for 35-45 minutes.

While vegetables are slow cooking on the stove top, Preheat oven to 300 degrees.  Line a 9×13 baking dish with aluminum foil and spray with cooking spray.

Place cod in baking dish and season each filet with Greek seasoning to taste.

After vegetables have cooked for 35-45 minutes, pour vegetables over filets.

Cook for 30 minutes.  Serve and enjoy!

This was a delicious meal that we will be cooking again soon.  It takes a little more time than my typical weeknight suppers but is well worth it!  This would make a great weekend meal when you have time to really enjoy cooking a delicious meal with a nice glass of wine 🙂