Roasted Citrus Crumbed Cod with Cheddar Sage Mashed Potatoes

Yesterday was a smashing success in the One-New-Recipe-A-Day-From-July-1st-Until-School-Starts Challenge! I made four new things in order to get ahead of the calendar, because I will be taking trips to Chicago and South Padre Island soon. I'm in charge of food for twelve people on the SPI trip, so I can try maybe one or two new recipes then. But I think we'll be mostly relying on some really easy foods.

So, here's a really, really delicious recipe for baked fish and mashed potatoes that has lots of flavor and is healthy and easy. I thought it would be pretty good, but in the end it exceeded my expectations. As I usually do, I made less than the recipe called for (six servings), because I don't want to eat anything for six meals in a row, except maybe chips and salsa. So I treated the measurements pretty loosely, and ended up heavy on the zest, salt, and cheese. And it was perfect that way. This recipe is adapted from Redbook online.

Potatoes:
1 1/2 pounds Yukon Gold potatoes, cut into chunks
1/2 cup milk (I added a little whipping cream too, just because I had some)
1 tsp. dried crumbled sage
1/2 cup shredded Cheddar cheese

Cod:
1 1/2 cups panko Japanese breadcrumbs (don't use another kind)
1/4 cup unsalted butter, melted
2 tsp. grated orange zest*
2 tsp. grated lemon zest (save the lemon to squeeze over the finished fish)*
2 tsp. grated lime zest*
6 (6-0z.) skinless cod fillets (1 1/2 inches thick, pin bones removed if necessary)
1 tsp. kosher salt
1/2 tsp. freshly ground black pepper

1. Heat oven to 450. Place a wire rack (like one used for cooling cookies) on top of a cookie sheet.

2. Put the potatoes in a pot of cool water and bring to a boil. Continue boiling for 12-15 minutes, until they are tender.

3. Meanwhile, combine the panko, zest, salt, and pepper in a shallow dish for breading. Coat each piece of fish in the breadcrumb mixture, and place the fish on the wire rack on the baking sheet. Roast the fish at 450 for 8-10 minutes, until breadcrumbs are browned and the cod is barely opaque at its thickest part.

4. Drain the potatoes, then return to the pot. Add the milk and sage, and mash them until smooth and creamy. Stir in the cheese until melted. Add salt and pepper to taste.

Serve the fish on a bed of mashed potatoes. I still had some zucchini and pico left, so I ate these with stuffed zucchini boats again, although I tried them in the oven this time, without the cumin. The oven worked well for it, and they were delicious with the fish and potatoes!

* I had previously used a hand zester, which works but is slow going, but recently I got a Microplane zester. They're $10 or so, are a lot faster and easier, and can be used for garlic, spices, citrus zest, or whatever else needs to be very finely grated.