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I have a confession to make. I don’t enjoy cooking fish. My confidence in the kitchen is at its lowest when I am cooking fish. Now, this does not include shellfish. We eat A LOT of shellfish, so I have become very comfortable handling it. However, hand me a piece of fish, and I will immediately have visions of how I am going to ruin it.

I have a few basic fish recipes that I can execute well, but besides that I am always worried that it is going to fall apart or that I am going to under cook it and that usually leads to over cooking. A few months ago I even bought myself a copy of Fish Without a Doubt: The Cook’s Essential Companion by Rick Moonen, Roy Finamore. I have only made one or two things from it, that were not all that great, so it sits on my book shelf under utilized.

Lately, I have been making more fish in an effort to eat healthier, so I am working on my fish issues. When I saw this recipe for baked cod on Serious Eats I was actually excited to make it! It is baked which is my preferred method to make fish, and includes some great Sicilian flavor combinations. The recipe is by Gina DiPalma who is the pastry chef at Mario Batali’s (and Joseph Bastianich’s) Babbo.

Follow up:

This fish turned out to be wonderful. I got a great piece of cod from Whole Foods, and it was cooked perfectly. Yay! The crunchy breadcrumb topping was a wonderful textural contrast to the soft flaky fish. There was just a hint of brininess from the anchovy paste and a nice freshness care of the fresh basil, parsley, and mint. It was a light, summery, relaxing dish. Just what I would expect to find in Sicily. I pretty much followed the recipe exactly, which was a cinch to prepare and can be found here. The only changes I made were that I left out the olives and added some asparagus into the pan while it was baking.

I served this was a light and bright tasting spinach salad that I found at Foods Love Writing. Neither Nick or I are big salad eaters, so I surprised myself by wanting to try this salad. It is so simple - spinach, apples, and pecans with a quick honey vinaigrette. It was delicious, and we both went back for seconds!

This will absolutely become a repeat in my kitchen. I highly recommend you make it for yourself soon.