Crunchy Oven-Fried Fish

I have a paid subscription to America's Test Kitchen's website.  I'm glad that I do, because had I not watched the episode that shows the fish being made-- well, I might have skipped trying this recipe.  Other than salmon, my husband doesn't get excited about eating fish.  My son, on the other hand, loves fish. 

Last weekend, my husband left for his annual camping/hiking trip in the Sierras.  My son was home, on a rare night off. I took advantage of the opportunity to make a seafood dinner for him. Fortunately, wild-caught Pacific Cod was on sale. I'll jump ahead and tell you, that we both loved this dinner.

To make the crunchy coating, start with three pieces of white bread.  In a food processor, season them with salt and pepper and 2 tablespoons melted unsalted butter. Pulse until they are coarsely ground.

Transfer to rimmed baking sheet and bake (at 350F) until deep golden brown and dry, about 15 minutes, stirring twice during baking time. Cool crumbs to room temperature, about 10 minutes.NOTE: The bread crumbs can be made up to 3 days in advance, cooled, and stored at room temperature in an airtight container.

While the crumbs were cooling, I set up the breading station for the fish.  In a pie plate, add about 1/4 flour.
In another pie plate, whisk eggs, horseradish (if using), mayonnaise, paprika, cayenne pepper (if using), and ¼ teaspoon black pepper until combined. NOTE: I didn't add the horseradish, though I love it. My husband and son despite horseradish. 

Whisk in  5 tablespoons flour until smooth.  The batter becomes quite thick.

The cooled breadcrumbs are seasoned with shallots and fresh parsley.  NOTE: I don't recommend substituting yellow or white onion for the shallots. Shallots have a milder heat, and are a shade of sweet. I think onions would overpower the flavor of the coating. 

 Spray wire rack with nonstick cooking spray and place on a  rimmed baking sheet, and turn the oven up to 425F.

 Dry fish thoroughly with paper towels and season with salt and pepper. 

I have my breading station ready-- flour, the egg/flour batter and the seasoned bread crumbs. 

Dredge a piece of fish with the flour, and shake off the excess. 

 

With one hand, coat the fish into the egg mixture and then into the bread crumbs, coating all sides. With the other hand, gently press the coating mixture. NOTE: Doing this, and photographing it, was a true challenge.

Transfer breaded fish to wire rack. Repeat with the remaining  fillets.

Bake fish until and instant-read thermometer inserted into centers of fillets registers 140 degrees, 18 to 25 minutes. NOTE:  I should have checked these about about 15 minutes, as they cooked a bit more than I wanted them to.

Dinner at home, with my son, is served.  We both enjoyed a glass of white wine, and one-one-one conversation,  with our meal.

VERDICT:  While the fish was baking, the aroma made us really hungry.  I think that this recipe is kid-friendly. Seriously. The fish coating had a perfect "crunch" to it, and no sogginess at all.  The flavor of the shallots had transformed to a sweet note, with a very mild flavor of onion.  We both agreed that we did not need a tartar sauce, but just a generous squeeze of fresh lemon. I thought the fish was a teensy bit dry, but my son didn't. My advice is to watch the temperature of the fish very closely!  The crispy oven-roasted potatoes were a perfect side dish that I made along side the baked chicken.  Here's how I did it:

I par-cooked new potatoes until just barely fork tender (about 7 minutes), then drained them. While the potatoes were boiling, and the bread crumbs were toasting, I heated my cast iron skillet in the oven.  Once the potatoes were drained, I drizzled a little olive oil, salt and pepper and tossed them evenly.  Once I removed the skillet, I added a small pat of unsalted butter, added the potatoes and roasted them at 425F (along side  the rack of fish).  I had some left over chopped parsley that I added at the very end.  The spuds were crispy on the outside, and tender on the inside.

My son had a second helping, and raved how good this was.

I had to agree.  This is as good-- if not better-- than deep fried fish.  It's also a lot less fattening, too!  I am very tempted to try this coating with zucchini sticks.  I think it would make delicious baked zucchini.   A printable recipe card is at the end of this post.

Who is the Fairy Hobmother?  Fairy Hobmother's home is “Appliances Online,  who sell dishwashers and other white goods”.  The Fairy Hobmother saw me leave a comment on "My Carolina Kitchen's" blog and I was given a lovely gift card from Amazon.com!    All you need to do is leave a comment on my blog, and you could receive a surprise!  Thank you Fairy Hobmother, because I love cookbooks and I have a long wish list on Amazon.

Scallops Gratin, Ina Garten Style

A couple of weeks ago, I tweeted that I was having the ho-hums in the kitchen.  I just couldn't muster up any kind of enthusiasm with cooking.  That happens to me, every so often.  I'm sure I'm not the only one.  Last weekend, I sat outside to enjoy a sunny afternoon in our backyard.  I dug out a few of my Tyler Florence and Ina Garten cookbooks and began to revisit them.  The dry spell of cooking inspiration was broken!

I had invited my husband for dinner at Chez Debby's, that Saturday night.  (This is my way of saying I would be cooking at home, for Date Night, and he'd be doing all of the cleanup). Truthfully, I am very lucky that my husband does most of the kitchen cleanup on a regular basis.  Chez Debby's is affordable cooking, but I try to kick things up a few notches so that it looks like restaurant quality.  Ina Garten to the rescue:

Whenever Whole Foods has their special sales, I stock up-- especially when it's Sea Scallops on sale for half price!  My favorite way to prepare scallops has been to quickly sear them.  This time, I wanted to try something different and Ina's Scallops Gratin sounded perfect.

I had frozen the scallops.  My "quick thaw" method never involves the microwave. Instead, I rinse them with warm water to separate them, and then soak them. In about 15 minutes, or longer, they are good to go.

 Pat them very dry, and remove the muscle (the "feet") that it sometimes hanging on to the side.

 These are a decent size, and the price was just right.

I made a couple of tweaks to Ina's recipe.  I chose not to use Prosciutto di Parma because I didn't have any.  I also decided to add fresh tarragon (which is growing out of control in our garden).  I love tarragon.  Ina also lists Pernod, but I don't have that on hand.  I wasn't going to invest in a bottle, just for this recipe.

Tarragon and seafood are meant for one another. I love the really mild notes of licorice.

This is a very easy recipe to make, actually.   I'm going to make delicious garlic-butter topping, and then I'm going to fold in Panko crumbs.  Here's how:

To make the topping, place the butter in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment (you can also use a hand mixer).With the mixer on low speed, add the garlic, shallot, tarragon, prosciutto*,

...parsley*, lemon juice, Pernod*, salt, and pepper and mix until combined. With the mixer still on low, add the olive oil slowly as though making mayonnaise, until combined.

*I didn't use these ingredients.

Fold the panko in with a rubber spatula and set aside.

NOTE: Don't use bread crumbs! Panko crumbs are much easier to find, nowadays. Check the international aisle of your supermarket.  Panko gives a beautiful crunch to this recipe, and the crumbs would become soggy.

Preheat the broiler, if it’s separate from your oven. Place 1 tablespoon of the wine in the bottom of each gratin dish.

 Distribute the scallops among the 3* dishes.(NOTE: I scaled this recipe for two.)

Spoon the garlic butter evenly over the top of the scallops.

Nice!

Since the oven was already preheated, I decided to roast fresh asparagus with salt, pepper and a little olive oil. I like to use my cast-iron skillet for ease.  

Bake for 10 to 12 minutes, until the topping is golden and sizzling and the scallops are barely done. If you want the top crustier, place the dishes under the broiler (which I did) for 2 minutes, until browned.

Finish with a squeeze of fresh lemon juice and a sprinkling of chopped parsley and serve immediately with crusty French bread (which I didn't have, but I wish I had...the sauce is amazing!)

For those of you who watch "The Barefoot Contessa", you've seen many episodes where Jeffrey walks into the kitchen to see what's cooking.  Craig is my Jeffrey, and this meal was prepared with a lot of love. The table was set, soft music going and just the two of us, and two glasses of chilled white wine. Best of all, this really came together in about 45 minutes.

VERDICT:   I loved this dish.  The scallops were tender, and not overcooked.  How can you go wrong with wine, butter and garlic?  I'm glad that I added tarragon, because it's one of my favorite herbs.  I didn't miss adding the Prosciutto at all.  As for my Jeffrey Craig, he really loved this dish.  He said it looked and tasted just like a fancy restaurant. For me, that's an ultimate compliment.  This recipe, in fact, reminds me a lot of Ina's Baked Shrimp Scampi that I made quite a while ago.  The panko topping is really good, and I would make this for shrimp or any kind of baked fish. It's one of my favorite recipes I've made in quite a while.

A printable recipe is at the bottom of this post.  Enjoy!

Scallops with Cherry-Tarragon Sauce

I admit that sometimes my recipes involve fussy steps.  Maybe I'm a little bit masochistic on the weekends, and I love the challenge of channeling the Martha Stewart that lurks inside me.  Then, there are times when I want things to be really simple.  I love it when I find a recipe that takes minutes to make, and turns out to have that "wow" factor.  I found this recipe when I received a newsletter from Whole Foods that Wild Caught Scallops would be on sale for $9.99 a pound-- on Friday, only.   As soon as I was off work, I skedaddled to Whole Foods and stocked up on a few pounds of what I called my "Fillet Mignon of the Sea".  Score!

... and then I spotted these gorgeous Bing cherries, for $4.99 a pound.  I loved that these were sold in a box, so I could pick out all the dark red ones. When I arrived home, I found this recipe suggestion on Whole Food's Facebook Fan Page.  I admit that at first I wondered... cherries and tarragon?  When I mentioned it to my husband, he got really excited.  So, this would be our Saturday night "Date Night" dinner at Chez Debby's.  The recipe calls for shallots, which is always in my fridge. Only, this time, I was out.  Sweet onions it was...

Fortunately, we have French tarragon that grows in abundance in our yard.  It's like growing mint, in that it can take over your garden. Tarragon is an interesting herb.  It dies off in the cold winter months, and then comes back in the spring-- like gangbusters. It's an herb that doesn't seem to be used as often as thyme or oregano.  It has a distinct but subtle note of licorice, and not nearly as pungent as fennel-- and I'm not a fan of fennel.  But tarragon, I love!  It pairs beautifully with chicken or seafood.  It's also what turns a hollandaise into a Bernaise sauce-- one of my favorite sauces of all. I digress... back to how quickly this recipe is made:

To know me is to know that I'm a gadgetholic.  Last year, I bought a Norpro Cherry Pitter.  I finally put the gadget together and I was surprised at how much I liked it. You need about 2 cups of pitted cherries, quartered.  I was scaling the recipe down for just the two of us, so I eye-balled about a cup of cherries.

Scallops can be easy to prepare. Be warned, that overcooking them turns the into chewy and tough chunks of seafood.  They're similar to cooking shrimp.  Just be sure to pat them really dry and it only takes 2-3 minutes, per side, to sear on high heat with olive oil.  I have a more detailed tutorial on one of my favorite summer pasta dishes, Scallops and Pasta (to view that, click here).  Simply season with sea salt and pepper...

...turn and sear 2-3 minutes more.

Remove to a plate, and cover with foil. I like to keep these warm in the oven, that I've preheated to WARM.

Add the shallots (in this case, I had to use onion) and cook till tender, 2-3 minutes.

Instead of using rice vinegar, I added a generous splash of white wine to deglaze the pan.  Then I added about 1/4 cup of low-sodium chicken stock and the cherries.  I simply let the sauce reduce for about 5-7 minutes...

...then added about 1 generous Tablespoon of chopped tarragon, and let the sauce cook for about a minute longer.

I served this with Yellow Rice and a chilled glass of vino.

TASTING NOTES:  The scallops were as tender as I could have hoped for.  The sweet and very slight tartness of the Bing cherries worked really well with the tarragon.  Other than a duck with a cherry sauce, this is the first time I've used this fruit in a savory dish.  This dish is fancy and impressive enough for a dinner party.  It's super easy to make.  My husband was very appreciative and pleased. So was I!  I would definitely make this dish again, and I might try this using rice vinegar-- as the original recipe included.  But, I need to do it before cherry season is gone!

A printable recipe card is at the end of this post.