Chilean Sea Bass With Sauteed Cherry Tomatoes And Hatch Chile Peppers

This dish has so many things I embrace wholeheartedly:  fish caught using sustainable methods, locally grown cherry tomatoes, and seasonal Hatch chile peppers.  This is Chilean Sea Bass from trusted local supplier TJ's Fresh Seafood Market, which sources its seafood responsibly; cherry tomatoes from one of the local, organic farmers at the Coppell Farmers Market; and roasted seasonal Hatch chile peppers from Central Market.

This isn't really a recipe, more of a suggestion.  The fish, three portions approximately 6 oz. each, was sprinkled on all sides with Penzey's Ruth Ann's Muskego Ave Chicken and Fish Seasoning, a blend of salt, black pepper, garlic, lemon peel, and onion.  Any subtle seasoning like that would work well.  The fish is so nice it doesn't need to be overpowered by spices.  I  rinsed a bunch of cherry tomatoes.  I removed the blackened skin, stems, and seeds from a couple of mild Hatch chile peppers and diced them.

I heated a large nonstick skillet over medium-low heat for a long time to make sure that it was evenly heated, coated it with good olive oil (in this case a basil-infused Texas olive oil), then added the Chilean Sea Bass filets.  (Interestingly enough, Chilean Sea Bass is neither bass nor Chilean.  Check out this Wikipedia article if you're interested in knowing more:  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Patagonian_toothfish.)

The filets were really thick, maybe 2", so I cooked them skin-side-down for almost 10 minutes, then flipped them and cooked about 5 more minutes.  It's a relatively fatty fish, so it's pretty forgiving if you "overcook" it.  I removed the cooked filets from the skillet, put them on a plate, and tented it with aluminum foil.

I put the pretty yellow cherry tomatoes and diced Hatch chiles in the skillet and cooked them, giving everything a good stir now and again, until most of the tomatoes burst, then poured in the juices that had accumulated on the plate the fish was resting on and stirred that in.  Then I just plated and served.

This is a quick, easy, healthy, and responsible dinner that anyone can make in no time.  There's little prep and few ingredients.  High quality, sustainable fish isn't cheap; however, its flavor is so good you only need a small portion.  Plus when you eat well you're making an investment in your future health and the health of our planet.

Ceviche De Mi Suegra (My Mother-in-Law's Ceviche)

This yummy, easy ceviche is my mother-in-law Cuqui's recipe.  It's light and fresh, and it smells and tastes like a day at the beach.

1 lb. filets of Basa or other firm, mild-flavored fish
enough lime juice to cover fish, juice of about 8 limes
2-4 finely diced jalapeno peppers, to taste
1 small red onion, finely diced
1 bunch of cilantro, roughly chopped

Since ceviche is not technically cooked, but chemically cooked by the lime juice, be sure to select the freshest fish possible.  Cut the fish into bite-sized pieces.  In a shallow dish place the fish, cover with lime juice, and sprinkle with the jalapeno, onion, and cilantro.

Refrigerate the ceviche and let it marinate for at least 1 hour before serving. 

Fish Tacos

We prepared some very tasty fish tacos recently, which turned out to be un-tacos, I guess, because we didn't end up wrapping them in the tortillas, but they were darn good nonetheless.  We fried up some tilapia fillets coated with a smoky, spicy batter, served them with fresh, crispy veggies, and drizzled on a citrusy dressing.

I read in a Cooks Illustrated magazine article that there's something that gives catfish and tilapia a "dirt" flavor.  They said to soak catfish or tilapia in buttemilk to eliminate the problem.  It seemed to work really well in this recipe.

Fish Tacos

Fish
3 tilapia fillets
enough buttermilk to soak the fillets (about 2 cups)
Peanut oil or vegetable oil for frying

Dredge
1/2 cup flour

Batter
1 cup flour
2 eggs
1 can or bottle of beer
2 tablespoons salt
1-2 tablespoons chipotle chile powder (depending on how much heat you like)
1 tablespoon freshly ground black pepper
1 tablespoon garlic powder

Sauce
Zest and juice of 2 limes
Juice of 1 pomelo *
Juice of 1 ripe tomato
2-3 tablespoons pomegranate vinegar *
salt to taste
freshly ground pepper to taste
Tabasco sauce to taste

Veggie Fillings
Shredded Cabbage
Thin Sliced Radishes
Thin Sliced Green Onions
Chopped Cilantro
Any other veggies you'd like with your fish tacos

Rinse your tilapia fillets and place in a shallow dish.  Pour buttermilk over tilapia.  Refrigerate and turn the fish over with tongs every few hours to be sure it's evenly soaked in buttermilk.

Get your batter station ready.  Put the 1/2 cup of flour in one shallow bowl.  Prepare the batter in another bowl by wisking the egg, adding the flour, spices, and beer, and wisking to combine.

Heat oil in a saucepan.  I like to use a small saucepan so as not to use much oil and therefore I cut the filets into smaller portions.  You can tell that the oil is hot enough when a sprinkle of flour "sizzles" in the oil.

Remove the fillets from the buttermilk.  Cut your fish filets if necessary so they'll fit into the  pan in which they'll be fried.  Dredge each piece of tiplapia in the plain flour.  Dip into the batter, then lift out of the batter and let the excess drain away a bit.  Then gently lower into the cooking oil.  Cook for a couple of minutes, until nicely golden brown, turning one or twice during the cooking.  A spatter guard is a really good idea to help prevent "fried kitchen" when you're frying the fish!

* Frugality is the name of the game.  Frugality doesn't necessarily mean cooking cheap, but it does mean cooking smart, using everything and not wasting anything.  We love to cook and we enjoy searching for great ingredients.  We're also blessed to live in Carrollton, Texas, which is in the middle of the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex, and which is becoming a mecca for ethnic food markets.  For us it's easy and frugal to have ingredients on hand that some cooks might consider exotic.  If you don't have easy access to international markets or you don't cook frequently, substitute juice from an orange or grapefruit for the pomelo juice and substitute red wine vinegar for the pomegranate vinegar.  It's just a waste to spend big bucks and extra effort procuring specialty ingredients unless you'll really use them.

Oven "Fried" Salmon With Meyer Lemon Reduction, Buttermilk Creamed Potatoes, and Asparagus With Meyer Lemon and Texas Red Grapefruit Hollandaise

This was our dinner Friday night.  It's a bit more ambitious than my usual quick and easy cooking, but well worth the effort.

For the fish:
I intended to use trout for this dish, but evidently I had some miscommunication with the fishmonger and ended up with salmon.  Oh, well, it's all good!

Leave the skin on the fish.  Portion your fish into even serving-size pieces.  Rinse and pat dry.  Set up a breading station.  First bowl, flour with plenty of salt and freshly ground pepper.  Second bowl, one egg beaten with a splash of water.  Third bowl, panko crumbs mixed with freshly chopped dill and parsley (citrus zest would be good in this too).

Hold fish with skin side up, dip in flour, covering all sides except the skin.  Then dip in the egg mixture, covering all sides except the skin, and allow the excess to drip off.  Dip in the panko mixture, covering all sides except the skin, pressing lightly to coat the fish well.  Place the fish skin side down in a cast iron skillet coated with olive oil.  Give the panko-coated fish a light spritz of olive oil with a Misto sprayer or Pam olive oil spray.  Bake at 400 until fish is flaky.  Time will vary greatly depending on type and size of fish.

For the Meyer lemon reduction:
3 tablespoons unsalted butter
1/4 cup shallots, fine dice
1/4 cup fresh squeezed Meyer lemon juice
1 cup chardonnay
1 cube Knorr chicken bouillon

Melt butter in skillet over medium heat, add shallots and saute until soft.  Add lemon juice, chardonnay, and bouillon cube.  Increase temperature to medium-high.  Stir until bouillon dissolves.  Cook at a low boil, stirring frequently, until sauce is reduced to a thick consistency.

For the creamed potatoes:
Scrub Yukon Gold potatoes and cut into thick slices.  Put potatoes in large saucepan and cover with water by 1 or 2 inches.  Add a tablespoon of salt.  Bring to a boil, then reduce heat and cook at a low boil until potatoes are soft all the way through.  Drain, cool slighly, and remove skins.

Over low heat mash potatoes with potato masher and add butter, buttermilk, mayonnaise, and freshly ground black pepper to taste.  A little buttermilk ranch dressing mix or green goddess dressing mix is a perfect seasoning for these potatoes.  I love the ones from Penzey's.

Use an immersion stick blender to process the potatoes until smooth and creamy.  For a pretty presentation, spoon into a heavy duty plastic bag, snip off a corner, and pipe onto plate.  Garnish with chopped fresh parsley and dill.

For the asparagus:
Rinse asparagus, trim the ends.  In a skillet simmer 2 inches of water with a healthy sprinkle of salt and a big squeeze of lemon juice.  Add asparagus in a single layer and simmer until crisp-tender.  Remove asparagus and shock in cold water to maintain the bright green color.

For the Hollandaise:
1 tablespoon freshly squeezed Meyer lemon juice
4 egg yolks
1/2 cup unsalted butter, melted
pinch salt
pinch cayenne

Vigorously whisk lemon juice and egg yolks together in stainless steel bowl until thickened and doubled in volume.  Place bowl over saucepan of barely simmering water.  The water shouldn't touch the bottom of the bowl.  Don't let the eggs get too hot or they'll scramble.  Continue to whisk egg/lemon mixture rapidly while slowly drizzling in the melted butter.  Whisk until sauce is thickened and doubled in volume.  Remove from heat, whisk in salt and cayenne.

I whisked in a big squeeze of Texas ruby red grapefruit juice to the finished mixture.  Next time I plan to make the Hollandaise with all grapefruit juice instead of Meyer lemon juice.  There's a Gordon Ramsay recipe for Hollandaise made with grapefruit juice and olive oil that sounds interesting to try.