Pinchy would have wanted it this way

Someone is having fun with the Photoshop app on her phone!

I've always wanted to go to the Lobster Festival in Rockland, Maine. I already have my and my husband's outfits planned. I will obviously wear my blue lobster t-shirt, and probably a stretchy skirt with plenty of space for belly expansion due to buttery crustacean consumption. He will wear his lobster polo shirt, lobster belt, lobster pants, and lobster flip-flops. And, obviously, his lobster hat. I think the only question that remains regarding his outfit will be which pair of lobster boxers to wear. Have I mentioned before that he likes lobster? He wrote a 35 page paper on the lobster industry, and even has an e-mail address mentioning lobsters. So DAMN STRAIGHT I learned to make a tasty lobster roll.

Lobster rolls
Makes about 10 rolls*

7 cooked and cooled lobsters
3/4 cup finely chopped celery - including the leaves! (this is the secret to a good roll)
3 tablespoons mayonnaise
3 tablespoons olive oil
juice of 1 1/2 lemons
salt and pepper, to taste
10 top-split hot dog rolls (lightly toasted if you prefer them that way)

Pick the meat from lobsters and roughly chop it. Stir in the rest of the ingredients until just combined. For best results, cover and refrigerate for a few hours before stuffing into hot dog rolls.

*This is very easy to cut down. If you just want to make this for two people, use one lobster, about 2 tablespoons of celery, and just a tiny squirt of all the remaining ingredients.

Rampage: Part Trout

As mentioned in a previous post, its ramp season! Well, it's almost done now. I've been meaning to post this for a couple of days, but you know, all that other life-living kept getting in the way. I happened to buy these trouts (purposely adding the "s" because I want to) at a Whole Foods in Virginia, where I questioned the clerk as to why there was tax on my purchase. "It's just trouts!" I protested to the confused clerk, thinking my purchase was mislabeled as take-out food or something. So, boo to Virginia for taxing groceries. (Side note: yes, even super-liberal Democrats will occasionally complain about taxes.) Apparently, my trusty Shelburne Farms cookbook agrees with me. It suggested that, in the ideal situation, one would catch the trouts in a gently babbling brook, then forage for the ramps on the side of the stream. And, when you get home, Aunt Bea will have made a pie! Golly!

Trouts with ramps, served with herbed aioli, adapted from Cooking with Shelburne Farms
Serves 2

2 whole trouts, cleaned and butterflied
8 ramps (or scallions, if you can't find ramps), hairy root bits trimmed off
salt and pepper
2 sprigs each of 2-3 herbs (I used garlic chives, regular chives, and oregano)
salt and pepper

Herbed aioli (because I refuse to call it mayonnaise)
1 egg yolk (farm fresh, please)
3/4 teaspoon mustard
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon lemon juice
1 teaspoon white wine vinegar
1 minced teaspoon of each of the herbs you used above
1/4 cup olive oil



Put your cast-iron skillet in the oven and set it to broil. Let it get hot in there while you get the fish ready.

Rinse and pat dry the trouts. Open each fish like a book, and season the inside with salt and pepper. Divide the herb sprigs and all but two of the ramps among the fish. (Save the two ramps with the longest greens.) Close up the fish, then tie each one closed with a ramp. The photo above is of the raw trouts, so you can see the little ramp knot. Don't they look like they just ate a bunch of ramps? Ha!

Carefully take the superhot skillet out of the oven and put the trouts in. Broil them for 7-9 minutes, or until the fish is cooked through.

Meanwhile, make the aioli. In a mini-chopper (or blender), zip up the egg yolk, mustard, salt, lemon juice, vinegar and herbs. Add the olive oil, and zip again until nicely emulsified. (It can probably take more oil than that, but I liked it like this.)

When the fish is done, serve it whole on the plate. The exposed ramps might be a little charred, but that's ok - I won't make you eat that part. To eat, scrape off the skin (it is really easy), and serve with the aioli.

Why I love onesies

My former colleague Joan once commented that I wore a lot of dresses in the summer. I told her dresses are the working woman's onesie. I love one-dish meals for the same reason I like to wear dresses. Everything already is matched up for you. Just as you don't have to coordinate a top to your pants, a one-dish meal already includes the vegetable to go with your protein. Sure, you still have to accessorize (shoes, wine or beer), but you had to do that anyway. A dress takes up less space in a suitcase, and a one-dish meal takes up less pots on the stove. Less pots on the stove, less pots my husband has to clean after dinner. Everyone wins!

Halibut, spinach and orzo onesie, adapted from Bon Appetit, October 2005
Serves 2

3 tablespoons olive oil, divided
2 tablespoons lemon juice
salt and pepper
2 4-6 ounce halibut fillets
3/4 cup orzo (or any other teeny pasta)
2 garlic clove, minced
1 pint cherry tomatoes
8 ounce bag of baby spinach

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees. Whisk together two tablespoons of the olive oil and the lemon juice. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Put the halibut fillets on a small baking sheet and drizzle with about half of the dressing. Bake for 12-15 minutes, or until opaque in the center.

Meanwhile, cook the orzo in boiling water until tender. Saute the garlic in the remaining tablespoon of olive oil about one minute. Add the cherry tomatoes and cook over medium high heat until they start to burst, about 5-7 minutes. Toss the spinach in and allow it to wilt. When the orzo is done, add it to the pan too. Season with more salt and pepper. To serve, divide the orzo/spinach/tomato mixture amongst plates, top with a piece of halibut, and drizzle with the remaining lemon dressing.

Roundup: Life cycle edition

So I'm going to try to start doing a little roundup of food news every Wednesday. Because according to the two (dead tree) newspapers I subscribe to, Hump Day is apparently Food Day, as that's when both the Washington Post and the New York Times publish their food sections. (The NYT calls it "Dining;" so much more couth than WaPo's "Food.")

• Related to yesterday's environmentally-friendly fish diatribe: Trader Joe's will begin selling only sustainable fish in its stores starting in 2012. A big Wa-Hoo! to them. (Pun intended. Wahoo, by the way, is classified as a "good alternative" fish.)
• I've been a bit obsessed with octopi ever since I went to the Newport, KY, aquarium (across the river from Cincinnati) during Phish's fall tour, and saw the sign pictured at left. But, now I have a new quest: to see (but not eat) a novem-pus!
• Food-fests around the country! I haven't been to a food fest in ages. If you go to one, please tell me so I get insanely jealous.
• Check out this chart of per capita food consumption of packaged vs. fresh foods. Really, USA? Russia eats more fresh food than we do? And, damn, Mexicans eat a lot of baked goods. (I'm jealous, I wish I could eat more baked goods. For more information, see: Pants, fitting.)
• I'm posting this link to "Consider the Oyster" for two reasons. One, it contains this phrase, which I think is awesome: "Eating ethically is not a purity pissing contest," and two, it allows me to tell you that it IS possible to cut oneself with a butter knife, which I discovered while my husband and I shucked (locally sourced) oysters the other weekend in our tiny kitchen. (We don't have an oyster-shucking knife, but I heard Alton Brown say the second-best tool is a butter knife.) We had them with homemade cocktail sauce - which had freshly ground horseradish in it - and they were awesome.
• Hipster food trends in DC include cupcakes, yogurt, burgers, and now salad. I'm giving a mango thumb up to Sweetgreen, a hipster salad joint that serves (some) locally sourced food! My friend Bev and I went there last night. (They also do yogurt. And are next door to a hipster burger joint. If you aren't careful, you might leave the area with an ironic mustache and skinny jeans.)
• I usually try to not say anything if I can't say anything nice (at least in print), but I have to give a mango thumb down to this new place in my neighborhood called the Cereal Bowl. Granted, I have not been there. But, if I wanted to put gummy worms and sprinkles on top of Froot Loops, I think I could handle that myself. (That is their successful business model!!) Unless they offer an insulin shot and free compression hose to avoid getting your feet removed from diabetes complications, I think I'm all set.

Fish, responsibly

For me, salmon falls on my food-like scale basically right in the middle between deviled eggs (which would be a zero) and lasagna (which would be a ten). It's always sort of been "meh" to me. So I kind of surprised myself when I picked out this recipe to try. Well, it wasn't that much of a surprise. It has noodles in it. And if there's anything that can sway me, it's a noodle.

And a (non-preachy) word on salmon, if you will. I actually used arctic char for this recipe. It's a close relative. Reason being, you ask? Well, I downloaded this Monteray Aquarium app for my phone that tells me which fish to avoid for environmental reasons. The store I shop at has little signs that say where the fish is from and how it's caught, because when you punch in "salmon" into the app, there are some you can eat and others that you shouldn't. My store had the responsible choice of salmon, but it was more expensive than the arctic char, so I went with that. I think its a little less "fishy" tasting than salmon, too. Now that I've downloaded the app, I feel like I really can't buy a not responsibly-fished fish. That's why I left you at the store, whole flounder...no flat fish...sigh of sadness.

Honeyed char (or salmon) and noodles, from Donna Hay's Off the Shelf
Serves 2

Fish
10 oz. salmon or arctic char
1 tablespoon honey
salt and pepper
olive oil

Noodles
1/4 cup chopped cilantro
1/4 cup chopped mint
1/4 cup chopped basil
splash olive oil
1 zucchini, shredded on a box grater

1 tablespoon lime juice
2 tablespoons soy sauce
2 tablespoons honey
6 ounces soba noodles

If your fish has skin on it, remove the skin. Cut the fish into 1 inch strips. Whisk the honey, salt and pepper in a flat bowl, then coat the fish on all sides with honey. Set aside.

Cook the soba noodles in boiling water until al dente. Rinse under cold water.

Whisk the lime juice, soy sauce and honey in a small bowl. 

Heat a splash of olive oil in each of two skillets (one being nonstick or cast iron, and the other being the biggest one you have). In the nonstick, sear the salmon until browned and carmellized on all sides, probably about 2-3 minutes total. In the second skillet, add the shredded zucchini until heated through, about a minute. Add the soba noodles and lime/soy/honey mixture and toss to combine. Turn off the heat and add all the chopped herbs.

Serve the fish atop the noodles, and give yourself 2 points for trying to eat responsibly raised food.

Happy hour included!!

It's been weeks since I posted about a fish coated in cornmeal! I feel like I'm losing my Miss Cornmeal Hands street cred. Thank God I made this halibut the other day. And if you aren't a fan of cornmeal (um, you should probably be reading a different blog), the pistachio is really the star in the crust. And before you get all crankity about having to shell pistachios for this recipe, I invite you to do what I did: Buy a bag of pistachios in the bulk section of your market. Put them in a bowl. Set out a small bowl for shells and a 1/4 cup measure for the pistachios. Open a beer. Then play "one for the measuring cup, one for me." It's like happy hour! It's even fun the second time around, when you have to start over after spilling your beer into the measuring cup of shelled nuts. (Sad!)

Cornmeal and pistachio halibut with yogurt and asparagus, adapted from February 2007 Gourmet
Serves 2

Fish
2 halibut fillets, skin removed
1/2 cup milk
1/4 cup shelled pistachios nuts
2 tablespoons cornmeal
salt
pepper
splash of olive oil

Yogurt
1/2 cup Greek yogurt
1/4 cup finely diced cucumber (removed the skin and seeds before chopping)
1 tablespoon chopped dill
1 small shallot, finely diced
1/2 tablespoon lemon juice
1/2 teaspoon Aleppo pepper (or red pepper flakes)
salt and pepper, to taste

Asparagus
1 bunch asparagus, ends snapped off
1 tablespoon olive oil
salt and pepper, to taste

Soak halibut in milk for 30 minutes, turning once or twice.

Meanwhile, heat oven (or toaster oven) to 425 degrees. Put asparagus on a baking sheet and toss with olive oil and salt and pepper. Roast until asparagus is browned and crispy, about 15-20 minutes.

Combine all the yogurt ingredients in a small bowl.

Finely chop the pistachios, and combine with the cornmeal in a flat dish. Remove the fish from the milk and after letting the milk drip off, season the fish with salt and pepper, then dredge on all sides in the pistachio mixture. Heat the splash of olive oil in a cast iron (or non-stick) skillet to medium high heat. Once the oil is hot, cook the fish about 3 minutes per side.

Serve with the roasted asparagus and a dollop of the yogurt sauce.

Linguistics and langoustines

There's a little Italian place in DC that I used to go for lunch with my old boss. He went there all the time and the owner always brought him dessert wine at the end of the meal. That always made afternoon typing a little trickier, but I am never one to say no to free booze. But anyway, I don't think I ever ordered anything other than the crab and lobster pasta, which is not on the menu, but is ALWAYS on the specials board. So, linguistically, it wasn't really a special and was more of a regular. Maybe they just really wanted to avoid having their menus reprinted. Or no one could reach the chalkboard to write new specials

When I found a bag of frozen langoustines (aka Norwegian lobsters!) at Trader Joe's, I wanted to give them the Otello's crab pasta treatment. I don't know if its exactly like the original, but it tasted good, so who cares? I know the photo looks saucy, but the sauce is really good, so sop it up with some bread.

Spicy creamy langoustine pasta
Serves 2

1 tablespoon olive oil
1 tablespoon butter
3 garlic cloves, minced
1/2 teaspoon hot red pepper flakes
2 teaspoons flour
2/3 cup white wine1 1/2 cups fire roasted crushed tomatoes
1/3 cup half and half
salt and pepper
1/2 teaspoon dried basil
12 oz. bag cooked frozen langoustines (or chopped shrimp or lobster)
1/2 pound spaghetti or fettucine

Boil a large pot of water for the pasta. Cook pasta to al dente.

Meanwhile, heat the olive oil and butter in a large skillet over medium heat. Cook the garlic for a minute or so, then add the red pepper flakes, stirring for 30 seconds. Whisk in the flour, stirring constantly for two minutes. Add the white wine and cook for another two minutes. Stir in the tomatoes and let it come to a bubble. Add the langoustines, half and half, salt and pepper to taste, and dried basil. When the langoustines are heated through and the sauce is hot, add the pasta to the skillet. Serve with bread to scoop up all that good sauce.

Bonus photo! Fresh langoustines from a summer trip to Scotland.

Not made of Buster

I love my local farmers market. Not only are there fruit and veggie purveyors, but we can also get eggs, bread, cheese, meats and seafood. And all lovingly raised and sold to you by the same people every week who will ask how you liked last weeks ground goat meat, or do the same weird rubber band trick with a carton of eggs. (Yes, egg man, I'm talking about you.) But back to seafood: one time the guy had a LIVE EEL in a bucket with a sign that said "I'm Buster. I bite." Ha! I did not try to pet Buster. I also did not take him home to eat. In fact, I think I may have shrieked a little. But I do like that fisherman's oysters. Fresh, briney, salty, slimy, yum.

I should think about changing the name of this blog to Miss Fried-in-Cornmeal Hands, because surprise! my favorite way to eat these oysters is to coat them in cornmeal, fry 'em, shove them in a hot dog bun, and top with a liberal dash of chipotle hot sauce. Aka - the oyster po' boy.

Oyster Po' Boys, adapted from Gourmet October 2001
Serves 2

1 pint fresh shucked oysters
1 egg
1/4 cup milk
1 cup cornmeal
salt
pepper
1/4 teaspoon ground chipotle powder (if you don't have this, use 1/8 teaspoon cayenne)
6 cups vegetable oil
2 hot dog buns*
chipotle hot sauce, to taste

Begin heating the vegetable oil in a heavy dutch oven over medium high heat. When it gets to a temperature of 375 degrees, you're ready to fry.

Meanwhile, whisk the egg and milk together in a medium bowl. Combine the cornmeal, salt, pepper, and chipotle (or cayenne) in a second bowl. Oysters first take a dip in the egg and milk, then on to the cornmeal. Keep them on a plate until the oil is hot.

Fry the oysters in batches of about 6-10 at a time - don't crowd the pot. They'll take about 1-2 minutes to get brown and crispy. When they are all fried, shove as many as you can in each hot dog bun, and sprinkle with hot sauce as you please. If you have more oysters than will fit in each bun, just snack on them on their own. Or make yourself another sandwich. : )

*Did you know that in New England, hot dog buns are split on the top, as opposed to the side, like in the rest of America? As a matter of fact, if you live with an ex-New Englander, that person might insist on purchasing split-top hot dog buns in mass quantities when they do become available.

A big pile of New England

Ok, so sometimes things taste WAY more delicious than they look. Hmm, can I think of an example? Finger tapping against pursed lips... Oh, yes - how about the photo at our left? I mean, this dish is AH-mazing, really one of my favorites, but it kind of looks like a third grader threw up on a piece of bread. Just to deconstruct it a little for you - we've got a thick slice of bread, topped with a piece of pan-seared cod, and then smothered with a chunky clam-chowder broth. And yes, those are pieces of bacon. Which my pescetarian brethren could leave out. In addition to the delish factor, this plate also has freez-a-bility going for it. When my husband and I make it, we make the entire clam chowder portion, but only cook two pieces of cod. Pop the leftover chowder in the freezer, and then you can just thaw it, sear up a couple more pieces of cod - and you've got a REALLY great, warming dinner in like 15 minutes.

Just a brief parenthetical word on bacon: I urge you to try the black forest bacon from the meat case at Whole Foods. Delicious.

Seared Cod and Clam Chowder on Bread, adapted from The Mist Grill: Rustic Cooking from Vermont*
Serves 4   

6 pieces of bacon, chopped
1 stalk celery, diced

1/2 onion, diced
1 carrot, diced
1/2 red pepper, diced
3 small red-skinned potatoes, well-scrubbed and diced (keep the skin on)
1 quart clam juice (I've also used fish stock with good success)
2 cups milk
2 small cans of chopped clams (you'll use the whole thing, so don't drain them)
salt

pepper

butter

4 cod fillets (whatever portion size works for you)

4 thick slices of bread

In a heavy dutch oven or soup pot, cook the diced bacon over medium heat until brown and crispy. Remove the bacon and drain on paper towels. Keep about a tablespoon or two of the bacon drippings in the pot. Cook the celery, carrot, onion, red pepper and potato until softened, about 8-10 minutes. Pour in the clam juice and simmer for 20 minutes, reducing the heat if necessary. Stir in the clams (with their juice) and milk and continue to cook for another 10 minutes. Put the bacon back in the pot, and season to taste with salt and pepper. The cookbook notes: the chowder is not meant to be thick, but rather more brothlike. Sage advice - thanks cookbook!

Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Once you've stirred in the clams and milk in the broth construction above, you are about ready to start these steps. In a heavy, ovenproof pan (have I mentioned my love of cast iron recently?), melt a tablespoon or so of butter over medium-high heat. Season the cod with salt and pepper. Once the butter stops foaming, but before it burns, add the cod fillets. Sear until the first side is golden brown. Turn them over, and then pop the skillet in the oven, cooking until the fish flakes easily with a fork - about 6 minutes.

To serve, put a piece of bread in each of four bowls. Top with a cod fillet, and then ladle the chowder broth on top. Note: The bread will soak up lots of the broth and get soft. This is supposed to happen.

*Apparently, the restaurant closed five years ago, and the cookbook is out of print. Ha! (I mean, I'm sad for them and all, but it's funny-ironic a little, right?)

Another fish crusted in a corn product

I'm originally from western Pennsylvania where every dive bar competes to serves the most gigantic fried fish sandwich. This means I am conditioned to prefer my sea critters with a crunchy coating. (In fact just an hour ago I ate a salad with fried fish on it at a restaurant in my hometown.) Add to that the fact that I found this older Rick Bayless cookbook in a used bookstore in Charlottesville, VA, and taaa-daaaaa - before I knew it I was eating cereal on my fish. (And to revisit the Rick Bayless issue from a previous blog post - yes, I did eventually see the tv show, and he is quite creepy. Damn good cookbook author, but as a show host he gives off somewhat of a stalker vibe. Blink, Rick! Blink!)

Crispy fish with tomatillo sauce, adapted from Mexico: One Plate at a Time, by Rick Bayless
Serves 2

Fish
1/4 cup flour
pinch of salt
1 egg, lightly beaten
1 1/2 cups smashed corn flakes (smash first, then measure)
2 5-6 oz. fish fillets (I used catfish), about 3/4 inch thich

vegetable oil, for frying

Sauce
1/2 pound tomatillos, husked and rinsed
1 serrano pepper, stem cut off, but otherwise left whole (use a jalepeno if serrano seeds are too hot for you and yours)
1 tablespoon olive oil
1/2 medium white onion, sliced
2 large garlic cloves, finely chopped
1 cup fish or chicken broth
1/3 cup chopped fresh cilantro

Fish preparation
Get out three flat bowls for breading the fish. Put the flour and salt in one, the egg in another and beat it with a little bit of water, and the smashed corn flakes in the third. (Note: you will probably want to smash the corn flakes with your hands rather than a food processor, because the machine will make the crumbs too fine.) Dredge the fish on both sides in the flour, then egg, then corn flakes. Really push the corn flakes into the fish. Repeat with the second fillet. Put them on a clean plate and refrigerate for at least an hour.

Sauce
Roast the tomatillos and chile on a baking sheet under the broiler for about 5 minutes on each side. You want them to blacken in spots, and they will probably also burst a little bit too. Take them out to cool for a few minutes before pureeing it all (along with the juices) in a food processor or blender.

Heat the tablespoon of olive oil in a medium skillet or saucepan over medium heat. Add the onion slices and cook until golden, about 7 minutes. Add the garlic, stir for about a minute, then add the tomatillo puree. Stirring constantly, cook until it is darker and thicker, about 3-4 minutes. Add the broth and half of the cilantro. Once it comes to a boil, turn down the heat to a simmer and let it cook and thicken for about 20 minutes. Season to taste with salt.

Fish, continued
In a large heavy skillet (cast iron is nice here), pour in vegetable oil to a depth of 1/4 inch. Heat it over a medium high flame until it is hot enough to instantly sizzle a cornflake. Cook the fish for about 2 minutes on each side, or until nicely browned. (The refrigeration helps the coating stick to the fish, which makes for easier cooking and flipping.) Drain the fillets briefly on paper towels, if desired.

Spoon half the sauce onto each plate, then top with a piece of fish. Garnish with the rest of the cilantro. I served this at my house with a simple romaine salad with a lime vinaigrette. (Bonus recipe! Lime vinaigrette: juice of one lime, salt, pepper, whisk in olive oil to taste.)

Hoo-ha free

Sometimes food can be just about highlighting a really great, fresh, seasonal ingredient. Other (equally delicious) times it's about combining all kinds of hoo-ha to make something great. This dish, which is one of my husband's favorites, is the former. When we were in Scotland this summer, he ordered a fish sampler of sorts. (I tend to prefer a beer sampler, but to each his own.) It was three different fishes, simply broiled and served with a little lemon and butter. I'm still getting my bearings with fish and tend to like more hoo-ha with my finned friends. But this was really good, and the local rockfish really shined.

Oh, and I don't eat the skin, but if you feel bad about wasting it, mail it to my parents because their dog has skin issues and fish skin will make his coat lovely and shiny. Hi Gus! Tell them you can have extra snacks tonight!

Pan-seared rockfish, with a shout-out to Alice Waters "The Art of Simple Food"
Serves 2

Fish
2 pieces rockfish, skin on (Rockfish is a type of bass indigenous to the DC area. Um, I think.)
salt and pepper
olive oil

Sauce
lemon, zested and juiced
2 tablespoons olive oil
salt and pepper
2 tablespoons capers

Whisk together the lemon juice, zest, olive oil, salt, pepper and capers.

Choose a large heavy skillet (I used my trusty cast iron pan). Wrap the bottom of another pan (or a pot) in foil.

Season the not-skin side of the fish with salt and pepper. Heat a good amount of olive oil in the heavy skillet over medium-high heat. Once it's hot, put the fish in skin side down. Put the foil wrapped pan on top of the fish to weigh it down. Cook until the skin is brown and crispy, about 7 minutes. Once it is, flip the fish over and cook for about a minute or until it is just cooked through. Remove to a plate.

Re-whisk the lemon sauce and pour it into the hot pan for about 30 seconds. Spoon it over the fish, and prepare to enjoy a hoo-ha free meal.

Shout outs all over the place

I pretty much love anything crusted in cornmeal. In fact, this year for my birthday I might request that my husband coat himself in cornmeal. Mmm, he would be so crunchy and delicious. Oysters, waffles, green tomatoes, there is really nothing cornmeal can't make yummier.

I actually meant to post this recipe much earlier in the blog, but as I wrote the salsa recipe on the back of bank receipt, and then apparently used it as a bookmark in an Indian cookbook and only found it the other day when I was looking up mango recipes for a friend who lives in Tanzania. (Hi Ellie! Stay away from snakes!) Sorry it's a bit out of season, but perhaps those in the south (Henry and Erin - WHO ARE NOW ENGAGED!) can still find some serviceable peaches.

Cornmeal crusted fish with basil fruit salsa
Serves 2

1 peach
1 nectarine
1 small poblano
1 giant green onion
1/4 cup basil
2 white flaky fish fillets (I used turbot)
1 egg
1 cup course cornmeal
1/2 teaspoon smoked paprika
2 tablespoon vegetable oil
salt and pepper

Blanch the peach and nectarine by plunging them into boiling water for 1 minute, then moving them to an ice bath to stop the cooking. Peel off the skin and chop the fruit into 1/4 inch pieces. Finely dice the poblano, green onion (including the green part)*, and basil. Combine with the fruit and season with salt and pepper to taste.

Lightly beat the egg with a splash of water in a low flat bowl or pie plate. In a different low flat bowl, combine the cornmeal, paprika, and salt and pepper to taste. Dip a piece of fish in the egg on both sides, then dredge it in the cornmeal. Set on a plate while you do the other piece (or pieces).

Heat the vegetable oil in a cast iron skillet. Once it's hot, gently place the fish in. Once the underside is light brown (about 3 minutes), turn and cook the other side.

Top the fish with the salsa.

*I hate when recipes tell you not to use the green part of a green onion. Why not? It's still onion-y and delicious.