This slightly surprising way of eating cod was well adapted to Halloumi, although Anna assures me the cod was better. Still, it was a very pleasant dinner for not a huge amount of effort.

"Italian" Cod with breadcrumbs, with tasty potato cakes.
As you can see from the picture, the basic idea is to bake some cod with a breadcrumb topping that goes all crisp, and stops the fish from charring. Onto this is placed a “dressing”, which is basically herbs and lemon – as usual I went overboard with the parsley 🙂

Halloumi baked with breadcrumbs and mixed yumminess.
The halloumi replacement works very well, although the flavours don’t compliment the subtle flavourings in the drizzle and breadcrumbs in the way cod probably does. It also sticks if you forget to grease the pan (which is why all the breadcrumbs fell off mine, and then were piled up on top…) What makes it Italian is up for discussion – perhaps the herbs? I’m pretty sure that the Halloumi is not served “Italian style” at any rate!
We had these with a favourite way of cooking potatoes – “leek and potato cakes with Gruyère”.
The Cod/Halloumi recipe (about 3 servings…)
To make the breadcrumbs: Melt a knob of butter and then mix well with a crumbled slice of bread, the rind and juice of half a lemon, 15g chopped walnuts, a sprig of rosemary and a tbsp chopped parsley.
To bake the cod/halloumi: grease and line a baking tray with tinfoil; cut 75g of halloumi into strips and lay our, or 150g cod fillet (per person). Sprinkle the breadcrumbs over and bake at 200 degrees celcius for 20-25 minutes.
To make the dressing: chop 1 tbsp parsley, 1 crushed garlic clove, the remaining lemon juice and rind, 1 sprig rosemary and mix in 2 tbsp oil; sprinkle over the cooked food when serving.
The potato cake recipe:
Boil 250g peeled potatoes, add milk or butter as needed and mash. Meanwhile, Fry 1 well chopped leek with 2 garlic cloves in butter. Mix the potato and leek mixtures together when both are cooked, and remove from the heat.
Mix well with 1 beaten egg, 50g grated Gruyère cheese, 60g creme fraiche, 1 1/2 tbsp parsley and salt and pepper to taste.
Place the mixture on a greased tin and bake for 20-25 minutes at 200 degrees celcius until well browned (whether as cakes, or in muffin/yorkshire pudding tins).
From experience, it does seem that cheddar isn’t as good for this, although it doesn’t matter hugely. Gruyère seems to make for a more solid cake.
The vegetables:
Remember to eat some greens! Saute in melted butter if you are feeling naughty*.
Who made it: We both did different things as a combined effort.
Recipe: Leek and potato cakes with Gruyère: “The complete vegetarian Cookbook” by Sarah Brown, page 177. Italian cod: “The daily cook book” by Love Food, February 20th.
* The vegetables, obviously. What were you thinking of?