Orange Crusted Snapper

This was the dinner that I made on Good Friday. It was quite nice. Neither of my kids touched a bite of anything, but what can you do? I refuse to eat chicken nuggets every night, so I figure eventually their hunger might get the best of them and they'll eat a vegetable! I served the snapper with mashed plaintains and steamed green beans. For dessert we had leftover cherry and pear clafouti. The snapper recipe calls for soft breadcrumbs. To make this easy, every time I have some stale bread (or crusts that no one wants to eat) I throw them in the food processor and then dump the crumbs into a ziploc bag that I always keep in the freezer. Because of this, my breadcrumbs are usually mostly whole wheat. The only advice I can give for this recipe, is make more than one snapper fillet per person - in the end we were secretly happy the kids wouldn't eat theirs.....

Orange Crusted Snapper

4 fresh snapper fillets
2 tsp butter, melted
salt and pepper
3/4 cup soft breadcrumbs
2 tbsp chopped cilantro
1 tsp finely shredded orange peel
1 tbsp orange juice
2 tbsp butter, melted
1 clove garlic, minced
1/4 tsp dried oregano
salt and pepper to taste

1. Get the fish ready. Pat the fillets with a papertowel and season on both sides with salt and pepper. Brush lightly with the 2 tsp of butter and place on a broiler rack that has been lightly coated with cooking spray.

2. Make the crust. Mix breadcrumbs, cilantro, orange zest, oragano, and garlic. Stir in orange juice and 2 tbsp melted butter. Season to taste.

3. Place fish under the broiler. Broil for about 3 minutes, then remove and turn over. Divide breadcrumb mixture evenly between the four fillets (press it down a bit, if its falling off). Broil for about 3 more minutes on second side, until fish is flaky and topping is browned. (Three minutes per side was perfect for my fillets, which were about 3/4 inch thick, if your fillets and thinner or thicker, you may have to adjust the cooking time).