This is a gluten-free, breaded and baked cod recipe that will have everyone, including little ones, eating fish.
As a child I didn’t like fish, particularly fried fish (pesce fritto). On the other hand, I liked other fried food my mother made: breaded meat (cotoletta) or chicken breast, battered cauliflower florets, potato croquettes (crocchette di patate) and of course supplì (rice croquette). Later in life I learned to like fish. 
In general, I don’t deep-fry in my kitchen, but I like the crisp crust (crosticina) foods acquire when breaded and fried. Baking breaded foods approximates the result well. A recipe I came across for chicken nuggets that uses chia seeds and ground flaxseed for the breading prompted me to first try a variation using chicken and then to apply the same approach to fish. The result was much appreciated at the table.
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- Yield: 3 -4 servings 1x
Ingredients
- 1 pound / 450 g skinless Pacific cod fillet (or similar fish)
- 1 large egg (possibly from pastured poultry)
- 1 teaspoon water
- 4 tablespoons / 30 g ground flaxseed
- 4 tablespoons / 20 g hemp hearts (raw shelled hemp seeds)
- 20 g freshly grated Parmigiano-Reggiano
- 1/2 teaspoon fine sea salt (divided in half)
Instructions
- Heat oven to 400 F / 205 C. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
- In a bowl, whisk egg with the water and 1/4 teaspoon of the salt.
- In another bowl, mix the breading ingredients: ground flaxseed, hemp hearts, cheese and 1/4 teaspoon salt.
- Cut the fish into bite-sized pieces, add them to the bowl with the egg and stir well to coat.
- Roll the pieces of fish in the breading then lay onto the lined baking sheet to form a single layer.
- Bake 10 minutes, then turn over the fish. Bake another 10 minutes or until the cod flakes easily with a fork and the breading is crisp.
- Serve immediately.
- Category: Seafood
