Extraordinary Entree: Cod Fish and Cabbage

Ingredients

4 quarts of water
3 packages salted cod fish

1 green pepper
1 sweet onion
1 stalk celery
2 cloves garlic
2 tablespoons olive oil
1/4 cup green grind seasoning
1/2 cabbage, grated
2 cups tomato sauce
2 tablespoon onion powder
2 tablespoon garlic powder
salt and pepper to taste

Directions

24 hours before beginning the cooking process begin desalinating the cod fish by emptying the three bags into a pot filled with cold water. Immediately rinse and change the water.  Then change the water about every 4-6 hours thereafter. Keep refrigerated while soaking. When ready to begin cooking drain the water one last time, fill the pot again, and boil the fish on medium heat. Get the fish boiling before doing anything else.

Rough chop all of the vegetables.

In a food process combine all of the rough chopped vegetables and puree into a paste.

In a wok or large saute pan heat olive oil on medium heat.

Carefully add the puree and the green grind seasoning into the saute pan.  Saute the combination in the oil for approximately 5 minutes. 

Remove fish from heat and the drain water. Add the fish to the saute pan whole.

Saute the fish in the sauteed paste until fish is cooked through. Fish will shred during the saute process.

Add 1 cup of tomato sauce, 1/2 of the onion powder, garlic powder, salt, and pepper. 

The fish will break up further, and stir to combine.  Taste the fish for seasoning.

Add the cabbage to the saute pan. 

Stir to completely incorporate cabbage into the saute.

Cover saute pan, and turn down heat to medium low.

Allow the cabbage to wilt. 

Add remaining remaining tomato sauce, onion powder, garlic powder, salt, and pepper.  Allow sauce and seasoning to cook into the saute.  Taste and adjust seasoning as necessary.

Serve hot over a bed of white rice or with boiled plantain.

NOW LET'S GET COOKING!

I Prefer Fish That Tastes Like Chicken...

Light, flaky, and not to fishy.  It wasn't uncommon to hear me say, "I prefer fish that tastes like chicken..."  That's what I use to say after some bad experiences with fish.  The closer it tasted like chicken (according to my immature palate), the more I liked it.  I had a few bad experiences as a child with some bad fish, and that was the end for me for quite some time.

1)  Growing up my mom would force my brother and I to eat fish every day during Holy Week and Fridays during Lent because we were good Catholics...I HATED THAT! (Now that I'm a non-practicing Catholic and there's no dietary restriction I look forward to engorging in sea food during the entire Lenten season.)  During Holy Week and Fridays of Lent we were forced to eat sardines, salmon, tuna...all from a can.  I was stuck bringing that crap to school for lunch that week and Fridays. At night, my mom would throw together some quick fish concoction or some crap from the freezer section that was never quite cooked all the way through.  But one day my mom hit the jackpot and bought fish sticks made by a particular fisherman and it was divine!

I was a latch-key child when I was little, so many afternoons instead of going over to the neighbor's house I'd go home and take care of myself until my parents got home from work or my older brother got home from school. We were 6 years apart, so while I was in elementary and middle school my brother was in high school.  Innywho...the next day after school I got it in my head that I could recreate the yumminess my mom made for dinner the night before.  I thought I could just break open the package, read the instructions, and cook the fish sticks myself. Oh wait! I forgot to mention...My mom made the tartar sauce from scratch that night for dinner as well. I think the instructions were on the package.  What's the point of this long-winded story about my after school snack? Well, I popped those fish sticks in the oven, mixed up the ingredients for the tartar sauce just like I saw mom do the night before. When the fish sticks were "done" and tartar sauce "ready" I was excited to dig in...only to bite into damn near raw fish in the middle and runny soupy tartar sauce on the outside! EEEEEEWWWWWWW...I gagged and gagged!!!!  Clearly, I screwed up my Mom's yummy tartar  sauce recipe and I dunno how you screw up fish sticks, but I managed to do just that! For years I became a vegetarian during holy week rather eat anything that swam in the sea!

At some point I got over my seafood hatred (because that experience soured me on ALL things that lived in the sea) and picked up a tuna fish habit. I loved to eat tuna salad spread on these crackers made by Goya.  One day, I made a tuna salad as I had many times before, I spread it on my crackers as I had many times before, and then I took one bite. :-( EEEEEEWWWWWW...Well, apparently over night I had developed an aversion to chunky white tuna and the dark meat and veiny strings that run through it. (OH I'M STARTING TO GAG JUST THINKING ABOUT IT!)  The combo of the fishy smell up my nose and the pungent taste on my tongue sent EVERYTHING I ate that day (including the one bite) out of my stomach, up my esophagus, and shooting out of my mouth like something out of the Exorcist! I was shooting projectiles of food, it seemed, for like  a good 5 to 10 minutes before I finally composed myself.  I was turning all shades of green!  OMG What a day! Well, suffice it to say that I and didn't touch tuna fish or any other fish again for another 5 years or so. This time I restricted my seafood idiosyncrasy to just fish.  Crabs and shrimp were still good friends of mine...

So years go by without me eating fish, something my mom makes at least a couple times a month, and I'd refuse.  How long though can you can say no to your mother's cooking before she lays in one  of her patented guilt trips that you only learn how to do after giving birth? You know it's my Momma...when she cooks something and her kid won't eat, boy are her feelings hurt!  Then she lays into you about the horrible labor pains, and you know wha? You can so no only but so many times before you give in...

So after about 5 long years of my mom making fish about 2 to 3 times a month and my mother promising to make me fish that tastes like chicken I relented. My mom started with cat fish nuggets...then tilapia...then cod...all light, mild, flaky options.  But then one summer I went to South Africa and stayed in Cape Town for my summer abroad program. How does one live in a sea port and now try the seafood????  IMPOSSIBLE! I ate it all: KING FISH, TIGER FISH, WHATEVER FISH CAME OFF THOSE BOATS! Then I moved to  Trinidad for a short while and enjoyed bake and shark (recipe coming soon!)...and now I'm eating Mahi Mahi and Trout...and Red Snapper! My friend Chef Ivan makes the BEST red snapper filet with a mango salsa...TO DIE FOR!!!! 

But a daughter always goes back to Mom's basics.  My first fish offering is actually a new dish in my Mom's repertoire: Oven Fried Fish (new recipe) with Homemade Tartar Sauce (not so new recipe)...enjoy my mother's recipe (that she adapted from Rachel Ray  just last year) and tell me what you think!

Extraordinary Entree: Oven Fried Fish

Ingredients

3/4 stick unsalted butter
3 cups panko bread crumbs
1 tablespoon lemon-pepper seasoning
1 tablespoon onion powder
1 tablespoon garlic powder
1/4  cup packed flat-leaf parsley, chopped and stems removed
2 pounds Tilapia (or any fish you prefer)
Salt
2 extra-large egg whites, beaten until frothy


Directions

Spray a baking sheet with olive oil cooking spray, and set aside.  

Melt the butter over low heat in small pot. 

Clean and pat the fish dry.  

Season with salt, to taste, and set aside.  

Place the parsley in a food processor and pulse until it is well chopped.  Remove any stems before moving forward.  Set aside.

Pour the bread crumbs in a shallow dish or bowl.

Add the onion powder, garlic powder, and lemon-pepper to the bread crumbs and stir until well combined.

Pour the melted butter into the bread crumb mixture, stir until well combined.

Pour the Parsley into the buttered bread crumb mixture and stir until well combined.

Separate the whites from the yolks of 2 extra large or 4 medium eggs. 

Coat the fish in egg whites.

Then gently press them into the bread crumbs to coat evenly.

Arrange them on the baking rack.  Let the fish rest for 5 minutes to allow the coating to set.

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.  Bake the coated fish on the center rack of the oven until the fish is white and flaky and the crumbs are golden, about 20 minutes.

Serve with malt vinegar or tartar sauce! ENJOY!

Sassy Sauces and Seasoning: Tartar Sauce

Ingredients

1/3 cup mayonnaise
1 tablespoons sweet pickle relish
1 tablespoons chopped green onion
2 teaspoons Dijon mustard (optional)
1/4 teaspoon sugar
1/8 teaspoon salt
1 dash Worcestershire sauce

Directions

In a bowl, combine all the ingredients. Chill for at least 1 hour before serving. Store in the refrigerator for up to 1 week.