I have a lot of cookbooks. One hundred sixty-nine, in fact, which
is actually fewer than I thought (and therefore is not too many, as some might
suggest). Some of them are souvenirs from places I’ve visited; some are
holdovers from the period during which I couldn’t figure out how to cancel the
Cookbook of the Month Club; some are clearly intended as jokes; and some are
indispensable and beloved, full of written notes and splattered pages, a diary
of our family dinners.
But I’m in the middle of a housecleaning binge, so anything
that takes up shelf/closet/floor space needs to earn its keep and justify the
room it takes up. I have a hard time letting go of cookbooks even when I haven’t
really used them much – you never know when a recipe will come in handy! – so it
clearly makes more sense to start dusting them off and using them. With that in
mind, I’m starting a personal cookbook challenge: to make and post a recipe
from every single one of the 169 cookbooks currently gracing my shelves.
Recipe #1 comes from Prime Time Emeril by Emeril Lagasse, he
of “Bam!” fame. That was early in the celebrity chef stage. I’d like think
that we’ve all calmed the hell down a little bit since then; and I’m not going to
let the memory of my friend’s brother screaming ‘BAM!” at the top of his lungs
every time he (over)seasoned a piece of fish one summer ruin this cookbook for
me. I’d been assuming it was a gift from friends some years ago, the source of
a rich and amazing risotto recipe that we loved back when everyone in the house
ate dairy….but I was paging through it looking for that recipe, and realized
that it’s from a completely different Emeril cookbook. I had no idea I have 2.
I have no idea where this came from. Possibly Cookbook of the Month Club.
I’m always on the lookout for fish recipes that my son will
eat. Invariably I’ll find something and make it and he’ll hate it with a
full-on, Calvin-pretending-to-die-at-the-dinner-table fervor. So the next time
I make fish I assume he’ll eat leftovers from a different meal and buy a
correspondingly smaller piece of fish, and he will loveloveLOVE it and nobody gets as much dinner as they want. This is a
Next Time dish, because he loved it and ate a whole big piece of red snapper
and Anna had to eat soup (also from this cookbook, btw) after dinner.
Cornmeal-Crusted Fish
½ cup flour (I used Bob’s Red Mill all-purpose GF mix)
1 ¼ tsp salt
2 ½ tsp seasoning (more on this in a minute)
1 egg
¾ cup masa harina
3 tbsp olive oil
4 8-oz fish fillets. The original recipe called for redfish;
I used snapper; but any thin white fillet would work
Blend ¼ cup of the flour, ½ tsp salt, and 1 tsp of the
seasoning mix and pour onto plate.
Whisk the egg with 2 tbsp water, ¼ tsp salt, and ½ tsp of
the seasoning mix. Pour onto another plate.
Mix the masa harina, the remaining ¼ cup flour, ½ tsp salt,
and 1 tsp of the seasoning mix. Pour onto a third plate. At this point, it’s
helpful if the plates are lined up next to the stove so you can move the fish
along in a little assembly line.
Dust each fillet with the flour, dip in the egg wash, and
coat with the masa harina mixture.
Heat the olive oil over medium-high heat in a pan large
enough to hold the fish without crowding. Pan fry the fish until golden brown,
about 3-4 minutes per side. Serve immediately.
About the seasoning: The original recipe calls for Emeril’s
Original Essence or Creole Seasoning. (Every time I read this all I can think
is “essence of gelfling!” from the Dark Crystal.) I assume that you can buy
this in stores but he also gives a recipe for making your own mix. I took out
the paprika and cayenne, so the oregano and thyme were pretty noticeable; I’m
guessing it’s quite a lot different if you follow the recipe as written. I bet
it’s delicious. Please let me know when you try it.
2 ½ tbsp. paprika (yes, paprika has flavor! If yours doesn’t,
throw it out and go buy the good stuff from Penzey’s)
2 tbsp salt
2 tbsp garlic powder
1 tbsp fresh-ground pepper
1 tbsp onion powder
1 tbsp cayenne (and you should certainly feel free to adjust
this to taste. ‘Cause damn.)
1 tbsp dried thyme
Mix thoroughly and store in an airtight container. Use
within 3 months.
No comments:
Post a Comment