Yum!

On Wednesday, I mentioned I made cod for dinner and topped it with “Panko”. I was asked to elaborate on what Panko is. Panko is known as Japanese Bread Crumbs or Japanese Style Bread Crumbs. Here in Southern New England, we can buy it in bulk or pre-packaged at Whole Foods Stores or pre-packaged at Trader Joe's Stores. It is also available on-line from a number of Asian food purveyors worldwide.

The run of the mill "store bought" bread crumbs tend to be the consistency of corn meal. Panko crumbs are larger, coarser and look like crisp bits of bread. But they are not big cubes like croutons. You can use Panko in almost any preparation that you would use regular bread crumbs. My favorite way to use them is as a final topping for vegetable or seafood casseroles. For example, the other night I took two individual au gratin dishes and laid in the cod filets. In a small sauce pan, I put some crushed garlic along with a small amount of butter and olive oil. I added a bit of sherry, some white wine and a pinch of salt. When it had reduced some, I spooned it over the cod. Next I grated on some Asiago cheese. Then I shook on some Panko bread crumbs. I used a refillable pump mister and spritzed some olive oil over the crumbs. I put the dishes into our counter top convection oven, at about 400 degrees. The crumbs get toasty, crispy and golden brown, while the cod cooks up flakey and still moist.
Yum indeed!

P.S. Thanks for the question, Roo!