Baked Cod with Pangrattato | Italian Bliss from Nona |

Pangrattato is a wonderfully simple Italian way of using up stale bread. It is basically pan grilled breadcrumbs, herbs and garlic. So much of what we love about Italian food comes from the poor countryside from year past.  Italian cuisine often comes form simple humble ingredients and elevating them out of necessity.  In some parts of Italy Pangrattato it is know as poor mans parmesan and adds flavour and texture to so many dishes.  Especially a delicate fish like cod.

Pangrattato and Cod

So biblical, bread and fish.  But beyond its storied history adding a few simple ingredients and using a decidedly modern food processor the experience can be heavenly In this dish.  By adding  walnuts to the mix a earthy flavour combination brings the simple Pangrotto to a new level.  Crispy baked bread and walnut works so well with the fresh sweet taste of the cod.  By layering in fresh garden thyme a fine chop of stale bread becomes something incredibly elevated.

We spend so much of our time in Le Marche on the Adriatic side of Italy where the tomato is synonymous with cuisine.  By adding some baked vine tomatoes as a side dish with a drizzle of olive oil a wonderful rustic meal is served!

Love food from the Ocean? Try our other fish dishes:

Baked Fish, Tomato and Olives | Bon Appetito |

Grilled Mackerel with Sumac | Quick Midweek Treat |

Fish and Butter Bean Stew | Spanish Fiesta |

Wine Matching

We served a Christian Patat Pecorino 2016 with our Baked Cod with Pangrattato. It’s wonderful. You may not have heard of the Pecorino grape before. Thats because, the Italians tend to hog it all to themselves.

Take advantage of our Naked Wines offer and get a healthy £75 off your first order – 

Print Recipe

Baked Cod with Pangrattato

(2 votes, average: 4.00 out of 5)

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By Marc Spendlove-Kruger – Serves: 4

Prep Time: 10 Minutes – Cooking Time: 20 minutes

Ingredients

• 600gms boneless skinned Cod - cut into four portions
• 1 Tbs Olive Oil
• 4 slices of day-old bread (Sourdough works well)
• 1 Tbs Fresh thyme leaves
• 1 Tbs of Olive Oil
• 1 Tbs butter
• 1 garlic clove crushed
• A good hand full of Walnuts
• 1 Tbs flat leaf parsley
• Bunch of vine tomatoes

Instructions

1

Heat the oven to 180c

2

On a baking tray place the cod fillets and drizzle with olive oil

3

Season the fish and pop into the oven for 20 minutes

4

After 10 minutes pop in the tomatoes on a separate baking tray after drizzling them with a little olive oil

5

In the meantime place the bread, walnuts and herbs into a processor and and process into crumbs

6

Heat the Olive Oil and butter in a frying pan until it sizzles

7

Add the the crumb mixture and fry untill the mixture is browned and crisp

8

Add the garlic to the mixture and combine well

9

Cook for another 2 minutes to combine the flavour.

10

Generously dredge the crumb mixture over the fish and serve immediately with the roasted tomatoes on the side.

11

Take your cod

Notes

Season the fish and let it rest for about 20 minutes - the salt starts to "cook" the fish and will make it tender and flaky when you serve. Pangrattato can also be made with any of the "hard" herbs. Ive used Thyme but it also works amazingly with Rosemary, Origanum or Sage depending on what your are cooking.