01 March 2015


It's time for this month's Secret Recipe Club! The Secret Recipe Club is a group of food bloggers who secretly make one of someone else's dishes and post them all on the same day at the same time.  It's really fun, choosing a recipe to make, making the recipe, then reading about everyone else's recipes.  It's a great way to "meet" other bloggers and check out some great blogs that you never knew about before. 


This month I was assigned to Not Enough Cinnamon, written by Marie.  Marie was born and raised in Paris, but now lives in Sydney, Australia.  Cool!  She has some really fabulous recipes on her blog.  I found two ground beef recipes that I can't wait to try, her Zucchini, Lemon, and Rosemary Beef Skillet and her Asian Beef Noodles.  Speaking of Asian, I was also intrigued by her Thai Chicken Patties with Sweet Chili Sauce.  Yum.  As good as her beef dishes looked, I have been trying to slightly alter my family's eating by increasing the number of seafood dinners we have each week.  In the past I have always done one seafood recipe a week, either white fish (usually cod), salmon, canned tuna, or ahi tuna steaks.  I have decided to try doing two seafood dishes a week.  That, combined with our one meatless meal each week, means we have really cut down on our meat consumption.  It also means that I am always on the lookout for new and interesting seafood recipes.  I was delighted to find that Marie had a lovely looking white fish recipe that I had never tried before: Pesto Panko Crusted Fish.  White fish fillets slathered with fresh basil pesto and topped with crispy toasted panko.  Sounded right up my alley!

Pesto Crusted Cod

Ingredients:
1 large fresh basil bunch
1 garlic clove, peeled and minced
1 tbsp parmesan cheese, grated
¼ cup + ½ tbsp olive oil, divided
¼ tsp salt
¾ cup Panko breadcrumbs
4 cod fillets
Salt

Directions:
Preheat oven to 425°.  Line a baking sheet with foil, coat lightly with cooking spray, and set aside.

Place the basil, garlic, parmesan, and ¼ cup olive oil in a food processor.  Pulse until smooth.  Set aside.

Place the panko and the remaining ½ tbsp olive oil in a small skillet.  Heat over medium-low heat, stirring constantly, until breadcrumbs begin to turn golden.  Remove from heat and let cool while you prepare the fish.

Pat cod fillets dry and season with salt on both sides.  Place the fillets on the prepared baking sheet and spread the pesto evenly over each of the fillets.  Top with the toasted breadcrumbs and press down lightly.  

Place baking sheet in preheated oven and bake 15 minutes, or until fish flakes easily with a fork.

Makes 4 servings.

I used my tried-and-true method for toasting the panko.  I'm sure Marie's way is just as good, but I kind of went on auto-pilot the day I made this and realized halfway through toasting them that she did them in the oven.  Oops!  Either way is good!

I served this fish with some one-pot creamy garlic noodles and green beans.  It was a lovely meal.  The pesto wasn't as flavorful as it could have been, due to the fact that I made this in February, when it was below zero with a foot of snow on the ground, and had to buy my basil from the grocery store.  It was ok, but I think it would be absolutely amazing with fresh garden basil in the summertime.  I seriously can't wait to try it again this summer.

Thanks so much for a great recipe, Marie!



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5 comments:

  1. Hi you have a lovely blog - I have really enjoyed pottering around it sneakily this month! I made your Lemon & Basil Muffins but could have chosen so many more to make as well - I'll definitely be back. #secretrecipeclub Helen x

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  2. Oh my heck! This looks delicious!
    http://makingmemorieswithyourkids.com

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  3. What a beautiful looking fish recipe! I am always looking for more recipes to make with fish....so many thanks for sharing! Great SRC pick :-)

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  4. Looks like a gorgeous meal - there is not much out there I prefer than a lovely cooked piece of fish. Nice choice.

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  5. Marie @ NotEnoughCinnamon.comMarch 8, 2015 at 12:06 AM

    Hi Lesa! Thank you so much for your kind words! I'm really happy you chose this recipe, it's one of my favorite fish recipe :) And pesto runs in my veins haha. Toasting the panko breadcrumbs in the skillet is a good idea, I will give it a try next time. Thanks again!!

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