This easy, gluten-free dinner packs in vegetables, whole grains and lean protein. And what’s more fun than finger food AND no clean up on a Tuesday?

Some of the most “kid-friendly” foods are so fun (and crazy delicious) when they are adult-ified! I think I won Nate over when I had him for dinner at my apartment back when we lived in DC, and I made tomato soup and fancified grilled cheeses. I used huge, thick pieces of sourdough bread and gouda cheese and avocado and yup, that was definitely when I won him over. Too bad nowadays he gets to be the taste tester for all of my healthy recipes. I bet he wishes that my food blog was more dedicated to, you know, grilled cheeses. So I always think he’s happy when I whip up a dish without any sort of “just so you know…it’s vegan” warnings and it’s something that I knowhe will enjoy. Like these fish tenders!

I had once made a similar recipe back when Nate and his cousin had caught some flounder and we did “flounder two ways”. I thought it would be fun to transform that into a healthier, weeknight meal that still retained all of the fun. And better yet, let’s make it all get baked in the same dish so more time for TV watching in the evening and less time for clean-up! This is a super simple “breading” that is just cornmeal and spices. It becomes very crispy and I loved the texture of it. I’ve found that there’s no need to include any flour. However, given that cod is a mild fish and the breading is only lightly spiced, I highly recommend providing some dipping sauces to go with the meal. I served these with ketchup, salsa, and BBQ sauce for lots of different flavors to dip into.

The key to breading any fish/chicken is the DOUBLE BREAD. It sounds counterintuitive. First, you bread the protein in the cornmeal. Then, you dip it in the egg. Thirdly, you recoat with cornmeal. I know you’d think the first thing to do would be to coat with the egg, but trust me, this gets a niiiice thick breading that all stays together really well. Sure, it gets a little messy and sure, at this point you may have knocked fish juice all over your laptop so I am writing this to you from a brand new laptop, but once you have everything all laid out on your baking sheet, you’re good to go to pop it into the oven, only needing to flip once. While everything is baking nicely in the oven, you can clean up any mess, set the table, panic about your wet computer, and then sit down to a healthy and fresh meal. Yum!

One-Pan Baked Fish Tenders and Vegetables

 

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This easy, gluten-free dinner packs in vegetables, whole grains and protein. And what's more fun than finger food on a Tuesday?

Author: Dani California Cooks

Serves: 2 servings

Ingredients

• 1 cup cornmeal
• 2 tsp paprika
• Dash of red pepper flakes
• 1 egg
• 2 filets of cod, sliced into "fingers"
• Sliced vegetables of choice (I used squash)
• 2 tbsp fresh chopped basil
• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 2 lemons, cut into wedges
• Salsa, ketchup or BBQ sauce to dip!

Instructions

1. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F
2. In a shallow bowl, mix the cornmeal and spices
3. In another bowl, whisk the egg
4. Press one fish "tender" into the cornmeal, making sure to get all sides
5. Then dip into the egg
6. Press the fish tender back into the cormeal for its second coating
7. Place on a prepared baking sheet, and repeat until fish is done
8. Slice your vegetables and toss in the olive oil
9. Place on the baking sheet next to the fish and sprinkle with basil
10. Bake for about 20-25 minutes, flipping once through
11. Serve with lemon wedges and your dipping sauce of choice!

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If you like this, you’ll love: One-Pot Cioppino with Shrimp and Cod