Crumbed Fish With Parsley and Lemon

Reader's Digest CanadaReader's Digest Canada

Gremolata is an Italian mixture of parsley, lemon rind and garlic. This recipe uses the gremolata with breadcrumbs to make a tasty topping for fish, which is baked with tomatoes and zucchini and served with saffron mashed potatoes.

Number of servings : 4

Prep time: 25 minutes

Cooking time: 20 minutes

Type of meal : | Main Courses | Main Courses

Special diet :

Ingredients

2 lemons
â…” cup (175 mL) fresh whole-wheat breadcrumbs
¼ cup (65 mL) chopped parsley
2 garlic cloves, crushed
Pepper to taste
4 chunky pieces of skinless white fish fillet, about 130 g each
2 teaspoons (10 mL) whole-grain mustard
3 Italian tomatoes, quartered
1 large zucchini, thinly sliced diagonally
1 tablespoon (15 mL) extra virgin olive oil
Saffron mashed potatoes
1 kg potatoes, peeled and cut into chunks
1 teaspoon (5 mL) saffron threads
¼ cup (65 mL) low-fat milk

 

Directions

  1. Preheat the oven to 400ºF (200ºC). Finely grate the rind and squeeze the juice from 1 of the lemons. Mix the rind with the breadcrumbs, parsley and garlic, and season with pepper.
  2. Place the fish fillets in a lightly oiled, large ovenproof dish. Spread the mustard evenly over the top of the fish, then sprinkle over the lemon juice. Arrange the tomatoes and zucchini around the fish. Cut the remaining lemon into 4 wedges and put these into the dish, too.
  3. Spoon the breadcrumb mixture over the fish and press down lightly. Drizzle with the olive oil. Bake the fish for 25 minutes or until it flakes easily and the topping is crisp.
  4. Meanwhile, to make the saffron mashed potatoes, place the potatoes in a saucepan, cover with boiling water and add the saffron. Cook the potatoes for 15–20 minutes or until tender. Drain the potatoes and mash with the milk. Season with pepper. Serve the fish with the saffron mashed potatoes, tomatoes and zucchini.

Variations 

  • For a special occasion, bake the fish fillets in individual ovenproof dishes. Slice the tomatoes, and replace the zucchini with one red or yellow pepper, seeded and chopped. Place a piece of fish in each dish and arrange the sliced tomatoes on top. Scatter over the pepper and then the breadcrumb mixture, and bake for 20 minutes. Garnish with wedges of lemon.
  • If you want to make an oaty topping, you can replace a third of the breadcrumbs with rolled oats. You can also replace the lemon rind with orange rind and add some snipped fresh chives to the breadcrumb topping.

Healthy Hint
Tomatoes are full of healthy compounds, like vitamin C and carotenoids, which act as antioxidants and may protect against heart disease and cancer. When you cook tomatoes, the antioxidant lycopene becomes more readily available to the body; a small amount of oil, as in this recipe, is thought to help its absorption by the body.

Nutritional information: