No breadcrumbs, no problem!

If you’ve been following my adventures in cooking you’ll know that I never really enjoyed cooking, that is until my accident when I started subscribing to food delivery services like Blue Apron, Hello Fresh and Home Chef. These services opened me up to different taste and spices I wouldn’t normally try because I knew nothing about them.

Being bedridden, I started watching Cooks Country, Ellie Krieger’s Real Good Food on PBS. They made food preparation simple, easy, understandable and they taught me why you add certain spices and how to do certain things in the kitchen. It gave me the confidence to try new things and experiment with herbs, spices and recipes once I was able to move about.

That said, my cooking skills have improved 1 million percent. Before I could make maybe 3 okay dishes which I rotated.

Fast forward to 3 years later, I know my way around the kitchen and sometimes don’t plan the dishes properly only realize I don’t have an ingredient when I start cooking. Rather than stopping and running to the grocery, I improvise. It’s a hit or miss sometimes but mostly hit.

Here’s a recipe that was a hit when I discovered that I needed Panko crumbs. I broke it down to… what exactly is Panko crumbs anyway and why was it so great? Well, for starters the coat is crispy, it has good flavor. So, how can I mimic that with what I had in my pantry?

Stuffing!

I love stuffing because it is so flavorful and it absorbs a lot of liquid. Since I won’t be using any liquids per se it should remain crispy. Right? Plus it is already seasoned so, that’s a great way to start.

I used this brand I bought from Costco. It is multi-grain, it has a lot of nooks and crannies. The actual stuffing pieces are large squares so I was able to chop it to the size I wanted without it being pulverized in the food processor. This gave a really nice texture.

Putting it together

With my desired amount in the food processor, I added grated Parmesan cheese again from Costco. I don’t know what the real deal, hand grated Parmesan cheese would do to the recipe so if you try it with real Parm let me know.

I added a little extra virgin olive oil with rosemary to the processor and buzzed away until I got to the Panko consistency (See below).

Since I was using it to coat fish to bake in the oven I didn’t want it too fine or too big but I still wanted the crunch.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Prepping the Fish

I used Tilapia and Salmon. To me Tilapia is the most flavorless, boring tasting fish on the planet, Salmon on the other hand, don’t need a lot of help to taste good.

I seasoned both fish like I normally would. Then mixed yellow mustard and ghee (clarified butter) or you can use melted butter or brown butter for more flavor, brushed it on the fish on both sides then coated the fish with the breadcrumbs. Sprinkle with parsley and crushed chili powder.

The end results!

I put them in the oven for about 12 minutes. I am not recommending this to anyone but I turn off the oven a few degrees shy of the recommended cooking temp and leave the fish to finish cook from the oven heat until it gets to the recommended temp.

When I do this I get perfectly cooked fish, if I cook it up to the recommended temp and remove it from the oven, it gets dry because the fish is still cooking on the inside.

So, the taste test… for the first time tilapia became my friend, it tasted just as good as the salmon. 

Let me know if you tried this recipe or if you have any variations.

Happy Eatin’.