Sometimes you just get a hankering to flex your cooking muscles. Know what I mean? When you really love food and all things culinary, every so often the itch gets into your cookin hand and you have to scratch it by trying something new. This happens to me most frequently when I've watched too much Food Network ie Chopped or Man Fire Food. Marathon binges following Andrew Zimmern around the world or globetrotting along with Anthony Bourdain (God rest his soul) often have the same effect.
So, I decided to try to elevate some "old folks" food. And let me tell you, I think I nailed it.
Third or fourth option.
I gotta be honest, nobody picks baked fish first. They just don't. In our community, the only times you really see folks eating baked fish is after they've been told by a medical professional that they need to lay off of the fried foods. It's a sad, sad thing to witness the "turn down." Now I don't mean the kind of "turnt down" that the young folks are used to! Save em Jesus! Just kidding. Not really. What I mean is watching someone who clearly wants a plate of sweet, crunchy fried fish have to option for the baked version because their weight and therefore their sugar or pressure is up too high. And, this version of the old baked fish dish would not help them at all, unless they're going keto (which I recommend) because it's loaded with butter.
This entire dish starts with cod fillets. I chose cod because it's meaty and has a good flavor of its own. Tilapia is also a good choice for this dish, but remember that Tilapia is much milder than cod and takes on the flavor of the seasonings and sauces it's prepared in. Make sure your fish as is dry as possible before you start cooking.
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| Dry fish is liberally seasoned with old bay and a good smoked Spanish paprika. I buy my spices at Lucky's Market and I've found that the superior quality has made my food taste much better. Don't let your sister Kelli question the amount of seasoning either. What does she know? She's never even cooked the dish! Little sisters! Season the fish and set aside. |
Usually bland as bland can be, I decided to scampi this dish as a way to really bump it up and add loads of flavor (and calories) For novices I say scampi is not very hard to do. Now, there are a number of versions but the simplest and I think tastiest require only three or four ingredients. Actually now that I've counted them, it's six ingredients, but it's still quite simple.
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| Classic scampi ingredients are Italian parsley (qtr cup chopped) 3 large cloves of garlic, chopped. I use Pinot Grigio mostly because I like the flavor, Yellow Tail is one of my favorites. So 3/4 cup of white wine, fresh lemon juice, 3/4 stick of butter and 1/8 cup of good olive oil rounds out the ingredients. |
Hotness
Now comes the cooking and I cannot stress enough that you need to work with an adequately hot pan and oven. Pre-heat your oven to 450 degrees and go ahead and combine your oil and butter into a good pan...iron if you have one.
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| Once your butter and oil is sufficiently hot, in go the fillets. Saute them quickly on each side only flipping them once. Don't be afraid to crowd the pan a little if necessary since the bulk of the cooking happens in the oven. |
Once the fish is flipped and cooking on the hither to uncooked side, add the parsley, garlic, wine and a good squeeze of the lemon into the hot pan and transfer it into the oven for 7-8 minutes or longer depending on the thickness of your fillets. What you come away with is simply, glorious.
I actually did this preparation twice and it worked well both times with thinner and thicker fillets. And that SAUCE. Spoon it over the fish with some good basmati rice and that's divine eating right there.
So, in my closing to this food sermon (hope I wasn't too long winded...shout out to Pastor King) some of the best food that I've cooked has been when I take an old staple and give it some "UMPF" with good technique and classic flavors. I just hope my old folks at the MCL would approve!
Enjoy,
Kev
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