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Easy cod baked with cheddar cheese and crispy breadcrumb topping recipe

Baked cod with cheese and a crisp breadcrumb topping

Baked cod with cheese and a crisp breadcrumb topping

This recipe is so simple and delicious. The melted cheddar cheese and crisp topping keep the fish moist and the combination is true comfort food.

Fish can be a bit tricky to cook. If you grill/broil or fry it the window for the fish to be perfectly cooked is very small. However, if you bake your fish that tiny window often extends to a vast 30 minutes. Two or three minutes will not ruin your supper either way. If oven baked fish takes 30 mins it means that you can have oven baked chips too!

The problem with developing our own recipes is that often we cook a dish that is really tasty we post it and move on. Within a few weeks we have forgotten all about the recipe so are sometimes surprised when someone says that they are cooking a particular recipe regularly. This was the case for our cod with a cheddar crust recipe.
“Why?” We muttered three years after developing the recipe and posting it. We coukdn’t even remember what it tasted like.

Last night I decided to give our baked cod with cheddar cheese recipe another go. As we had loads of homemade dried breadcrumbs and no parsley, I plumped for making a new twist – a crisp dried homemade breadcrumb topping.

This was so easy and delicious. We buy up fish from the Tesco Condemned Food Counter and freeze it. It will unfreeze very quickly – 2 hours in a basin of cold water and then you are ready to cook. The vacuum packed fish is particularly good for freezing/defrosting. I put the dish together in five minutes. 30 minutes later Danny was sampling his first bite. He put his fork down, goggled eyed.
“Why don’t we eat this every week? It’s fantastic!”

Try either version. If you like fish you won’t be disappointed.

Easy cod baked with cheddar cheese and crispy breadcrumb topping recipe
Recipe Type: Main
Author: Fiona Nevile
Prep time: 5 mins
Cook time: 30 mins
Total time: 35 mins
Serves: 2
Ingredients
  • 340g of cod or haddock (unsmoked)
  • 125g of grated cheddar
  • 1 large egg
  • 2-3 tablespoonfuls of milk
  • Freshly ground white pepper
  • A couple of handfuls of homemade dried breadcrumbs
Instructions
  1. Preheat oven – temp 220c (200c fan)
  2. Lightly grease an oven proof dish.
  3. Line the dish with the fish.
  4. Add the milk and sprinkle a good dash of ground white pepper.
  5. Beat the egg and mix in the grated cheddar pour this over the fish.
  6. bake in the centre of a preheated oven for thirty minutes.

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16 Comments

  1. brightsprite

    Oh Fiona, was it really more than 10 years ago that we had our CSH get-together. Where does the time go?
    We are still having this wonderful fish dish – and I like it with the breadcrumbs too. Easy-peasy and so good!
    Brightspark x

    • Fiona Nevile

      Great to hear from you, Brightspark! Yes time whizzes by at an alarming rate 😉 I must admit that I’d forgotten about this recipe and have resolved to cook it again x

  2. garry holmes

    where do the breadcrumbs come into recipe?

  3. Robert Dunkley

    I had this dish at a local restaurant recently and it was to die for. They did use the panko for a lighter crispier finish. Likewise, I could detect just a hint of dill weed, which helped to brighten the taste. I could eat this every week.

  4. Wouldn’t panko be better than bread crumbs – if you want a less mushy & more crispy dish? I’ve made this a few times now and we love it. I’m just thinking…next time, I’ll try panko. Oh, and do you cover it with foil before baking, leave it uncovered or ? The first time, I covered it. Another time, I left it uncovered. The third time, I covered it for a while during baking then uncovered it and set the broiler to finish. That worked well. Thank you!

  5. leeroy fowler

    Mmmmmmmm… I am so having this for dinner 🙂

  6. Absolutely delicious. I made this last week and am having again today. It’s so easy and very, very yummy. Thanks for sharing this.

    By the way my lemon gin is ready for drinking in about two weeks. I’ve been driving around with it for nearly three years! It had better be good as I’ve found it so hard not to drink it sooner! I’m so excited!

  7. Will try this recipe today with fresh Atlantic cod,am using “Old” cheddar cheese

  8. veronica

    Yum, I wish I was sitting at your table eating this 🙂 I like fish pie, but it’s such a faff to do. This sounds so quick and easy.

    • brightsprite

      Veronica, it is so easy, you’ll wonder why you hadn’t thought of it before. Not only is it delicious, it is a really good standby if you’re home a bit late, and want something fairly quick. Val x

  9. brightsprite

    We do have this regularly, Fiona, one of our faves ….. without the breadcrumbs! However, I might just try that one, too 🙂
    Thanks again, Fiona. x

    • Fiona Nevile

      Hi Brightspark

      I think that I just thought ‘fish pie’ when I saw fish – which is silly as this was a doddle to make. I’m going to try some other variations too. The great thing about the breadcrumbs is that they pad the fish out a bit if you’ve only got two smallish pieces.

      It was so good to meet you at the CSH party 🙂

      • brightsprite

        Good to meet you & Danny, Fiona. In fact everyone who shared the day with us. A very relaxing and enjoyable day! Val, x

  10. Sounds very tasty, just what my boyfriend and I would like.
    Can I just check, do you sprinkle the breadcrumbs over the sauce at the beginning or do you add them half way through?

    • Fiona Nevile

      Hi Stacey

      You sprinkle the breadcrumbs over the top of the fish and the cheese mixture before you put it into the oven to bake. Do hope that you like the recipe when you try it!

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