Pan-Roasted Cod with Tomatoes Recipe, Spotlight on Fish Stock, Mangoes and Diabetes Risk, and Going Green on the Mediterranean Diet
There’s a crispness in the air that can only mean one thing: Autumn is upon us. To herald the season, I’m sharing one of the new recipes in my expanded e-cookbook, Savor the Season: Autumn 2025. The cod dish fits squarely in the healthful Mediterranean diet, which emphasizes eating whole foods—foods in their natural state. A new study found that even fruits high in sugar have diabetes-fighting benefits when eaten whole. And according to an international group of researchers, you can take the brain health benefits of the Mediterranean diet up a notch by adding two green components—one of them might be in your kitchen already.
Pan-Roasted Cod with Tomatoes
Pan-roasted Cod with Tomatoes
Cod tenderloin is a thick cut of fish that takes a few more minutes to cook than a thin fillet but stays wonderfully moist. The fresh tomatoes make a tasty pan sauce that’s delicious with any mild fish as well as shellfish.
Ingredients
- 4 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil, divided use
- 4 garlic cloves, coarsely chopped
- 1 small yellow onion, coarsely chopped
- 1 small bell pepper, coarsely chopped
- 1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes, more to taste
- 1 pound cod tenderloin or fillets
- 2 cups cherry tomatoes
- 1/2 cup fish stock or white wine
- 6 large basil or flat-leaf parsley leaves, roughly chopped
Directions
Step 1
Heat a large wok or sauté pan over medium heat. When hot, add 3 tablespoons olive oil, the garlic, onion, and bell pepper and cook until the vegetables are tender, about 5 minutes. Add the red pepper flakes and cook for 1 more minute. Push the vegetables to the sides, pour the last tablespoon of olive oil in the center of the pan, and add the cod. Cook undisturbed for 5 minutes.
Step 2
Place the cherry tomatoes in a ring around the cod and continue cooking until they burst, about 5 minutes, and then mash them with a large fork or potato masher to release their juices. Add the stock or wine and herbs to the pan and reduce the heat to a low simmer. Cover and cook for about 5 to 8 more minutes until the fish is cooked through. Use a fish spatula to transfer the cod to a platter. Turn the heat up under the pan and bring the pan sauce to a low boil; cook for another 5 minutes to reduce it. To serve, divide the cod among 4 dinner plates and spoon on the tomatoes and sauce.
Yields 4 servings

Healthy Ingredient Spotlight
Fish Stock
You might have beef and chicken stock in your pantry, but you might not have considered adding fish or seafood stock yet. Here’s why you should: It adds so much depth to fish sauces, and without the overly salty taste of clam juice. Many packaged brands are now available, and you can also make your own—the process is not all that different from making beef or chicken stock. Ask the fishmonger at your local store if you can get bones from fish they’ve just filleted; there’s usually no charge. You can also make it from leftover shrimp or lobster shells (lobster legs included).
Here’s how: Heat a stockpot. When hot, add 2 tablespoons of olive oil and some aromatics, like a chopped onion or leek, a celery rib, a large carrot, 2 bay leaves, and a sprig of thyme. Sauté for a few minutes, add the fish bones or shells, and sauté for 2 more minutes. Add enough water to cover by 3 inches and bring to a low boil; cook for 30 to 60 minutes and then strain through cheesecloth. If you’re not using the stock right away, refrigerate or freeze it.

Quick Kitchen Nugget
The Spatula You Didn’t Know You Needed

If you’ve ever struggled to lift a fish fillet from a pan, the fish spatula is the utensil you’ve been looking for. Longer than a typical spatula with slots that keep cooking liquids in the pan, it lets you transfer fillets without their breaking. It’s also handy anytime you need to flip a fillet. You might even find yourself reaching for it when you’re transferring or flipping other foods. Like other spatulas, you can get a classic metal one or one made of heat-resistant silicone for use with nonstick pans.

For Your Best Health
A Fruit That Lowers Diabetes Risk

For the nearly 100 million American adults with prediabetes, a sweet and juicy tropical fruit that can reduce the risk of diabetes sounds too good to be true. Tropical fruits contain anywhere between 10 and 50 grams of sugar, and mangoes are on the high end of the spectrum, making them seem a poor snack choice. But a study from Raedeh Basiri, PhD, RD, clinical nutrition researcher and assistant professor in the George Mason University Department of Nutrition and Food Studies, found that mangoes, despite having more grams of (natural) sugar than many low-sugar snacks (with added sugars), may be a great choice. This study is the first long-term clinical trial to demonstrate both metabolic and body composition benefits of mangoes in prediabetes.
Dr. Basiri and her team split study participants into two groups: One group received a fresh mango daily, and the other group ate a low-sugar granola bar each day. Over six months, researchers measured participants’ blood glucose levels, bodily responses to insulin, and body fat. At the end of the study, eating the high-sugar (32 grams) mango proved more beneficial than the low-sugar (11 grams) granola bar. The group that consumed the daily mango showed improved blood glucose control, enhanced insulin sensitivity, and reduced body fat.
Dr. Basiri suggests that people at high risk of diabetes focus not only on the sugar content of foods but also on how sugars are delivered. “It is not just the sugar content that matters, but the overall food context that matters,” said Dr. Basiri. That means getting the whole food. The sugars naturally found in mangoes and other fruits are complemented by fiber and other vitamins and nutrients that offer health benefits. Food with added sugar, such as breakfast cereals and even low-sugar snack options, may not have the same nutritional value and can even increase diabetes risk. “The goal is to encourage people to include whole fruits, like mango, as part of healthy eating behaviors and practical dietary strategies for diabetes prevention,” she said.
The study, “Daily Mango Intake Improves Glycemic and Body Composition Outcomes in Adults with Prediabetes: A Randomized Controlled Study,” was published in the journal Foods.

Fitness Flash
Going Green on the Mediterranean Diet
Researchers at Ben-Gurion University, the Harvard T. H. Chan School of Public Health, and the University of Leipzig have shown that a “green Mediterranean” diet, one that includes green tea and mankai, an aquatic plant, can help slow brain aging. They hypothesize that their findings could be because the anti-inflammatory molecules in green tea and mankai help protect against cognitive decline.
Neurological conditions, including mild cognitive impairment and Alzheimer’s disease, have been associated with a higher brain age gap—that’s when the brain appears older than it should be based on chronological age. To evaluate the impact of diet on brain age, researchers analyzed data from around 300 participants in the DIRECT PLUS trial, one of the longest-running studies on the link between brain and diet. Over the course of 18 months, the participants consumed one of three diets: a standard healthy diet; a traditional calorie-restricted Mediterranean diet, which is low in simple carbohydrates and rich in vegetables and replaces red meat with poultry and fish; and the green Mediterranean diet, which adds green tea and mankai.
When the researchers measured protein levels in the participants’ blood, they found that higher levels of certain proteins were associated with accelerated brain aging. Further, they found that those protein levels decreased in participants who followed the green Mediterranean diet.
“Studying the circulating proteins in blood allows us to observe, in a real-life setting, how the brain’s aging processes are influenced by lifestyle and dietary changes,” said Anat Meir, PhD, postdoctoral research fellow at the Harvard Chan School, who co-led the study. “This approach gives us a dynamic window into brain health, helping to reveal biological changes long before symptoms may appear. By mapping these protein signatures, we gain powerful new insights into how interventions, such as diet, may help preserve cognitive function as we age.”
The study, “Serum Galectin-9 and Decorin in relation to brain aging and the green-Mediterranean diet: A secondary analysis of the DIRECT PLUS randomized trial,” was published in the journal Clinical Nutrition.
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