15 Jul za’atar fish

Personally, I haven’t quite mastered the art of frying fish – I’ve yet to figure out how to achieve the crispy skin and flaky flesh effect. So, at the moment I tend to gravitate towards the more foolproof method of baking fish in the oven. I forget about the skin all together and instead coat my fillets with flavoured breadcrumbs. The result is a little less maintenance and easier to pull off if you’re feeding a crowd.

These two speedy suppers work quite beautifully together. Once again, I find myself looking to the Middle East for taste inspiration, hence the use of the spice blend za’atar in my fishy breadcrumbs.

Fish with Za’atar Breadcrumbs

Serves 4

Prep Time: 10 minutes

Cooking Time: 12 – 15 minutes

Ingredients

6 tablespoons breadcrumbs

1 tablespoon of za’atar

1 garlic clove

Salt

Pepper

2 tablespoon of olive oil

4 x fillet of cod or hake

16 cherry tomatoes

Green salad, to serve

Lemon wedges, to serve

Method

1. Pre-heat the oven to 200c / 180 c / Gas Mark 6.

2. Mix the breadcrumbs and za’atar together in a large bowl. Finely grate the garlic clove and add to the breadcrumbs. Add a pinch of salt and pepper, and the olive oil, and mix well.

3. Line a baking tray with baking paper. Put the fish fillets on the baking paper and sprinkle the breadcrumb mixture evenly over each fillet.

4. Slice the cherry tomatoes in half and scatter around the fish in your baking tray. Bake the whole lot in the oven for 12 to 15 minutes until the fish becomes opaque and flakes easily.

5. Divide the fish and cherry tomatoes between four plates. Serve with a slice of lemon and a green salad (or my pomegranate and orange salad, below) on the side.

This recipe first appeared in The Irish Independent on Thursday July 2nd