Recipes

[Bass Junkie]

I'd like to hear some fish recipes you guys like to cook. Stuff that's a little different than the old stand by batter and fry method. To kick things off I'll give one up:

Crappie Tacos

First make a dry seasoning out with this:
3 tps of Old Bay
3tps of Chili power
1.5 tps of Lemon Pepper
1.5 tps of Smoked Paprika (you could probably use regular paprika but I use smoked)

Then make a slaw out of green cabbage, purple cabbage, cilantro, juice of one lime, and a diced up pepper of your choosing. Use jalapeño if you want a little heat or a poblano if you like it a bit milder.

Pat fillets dry and brush them with a little bit of olive oil
Sprinkle the dry seasoning all over both sides of fillets

Place a small amount of olive oil (just enough the fillets won't stick) in a large cast iron skillet and get it hot
Place fillets into skillet and sear them on each side (they will blacken a little, that is okay)
Once they start to flake, break the fillets up and cook for another minute or so then remove skillet from heat. I cooked my outside on my outdoor cooker because I figured it would smoke the house up a bit and I imagine it would so if you do it indoors be aware of that. You are blackening those fillets a little and that tends to smoke some.

Serve on you favorite type of tortilla with a little queso fresco or jack cheese along with the slaw, and a little sour cream and/or taco sauce or salsa that you like.

I came up with this concoction a couple of weeks ago. Took a couple of tries to get it right but it turned out real good the second time. Wife and I enjoyed it and it's something we will for sure cook again. If you guys try it let me know how you liked it. Anyone else got a recipe to share?

[WPS456]

I do something similar with crappie filets (when I can catch them, if not, tilapia turns out good too). I bronze the filets (like blackening but at a lower temp so you can do it inside):
bring filets to room temp, dip in melted unsalted butter, season 1 side with Seafood Magic (from Paul Prudhomme's magic seasonings, if you want a little spicier then go with Blackened Redfish Magic) heat cast iron skillet to 350 over medium high heat. Place filets seasoned side down, season the other side then lower heat to medium low. I flip about every minute til close to done (bout 3-4 minutes) then break up and cook through (another 30 seconds or so). We serve these on tortilla land tortillas with a pineapple mango salsa:
I just eyeball all of this so add more of what you like and less of what you don't:
1 diced pineapple
1 diced mango (I prefer more, my wife prefers less mango)
1/2 diced red onion
1 bell pepper (pick a color, red makes it prettier, my kids prefer yellow)
juice of 1 lime
1 diced jalepeno (I like more, wife likes less)
cilantro (wife likes a ton, I like less, it can overpower)
Taste and if it's too sweet add salt, too bitter then add sugar
Serve on tortilla with fish and MJ cheese.

[brushsjigs]

Not really a recipe but its pretty good on baked fish. 1/2 cup of honey and 1/2 cup of Grey Poupon Mustard and 1 Tablespoon of basil. Coat both sides of the fillet and bake at 400 degrees.

[rojoguio]

Sacalait & Grits

Crappie fillets no-skin
Tony Chachere's Blackened Seasoning
Unsalted Butter or Ghee 4 Tbls or so
20 min Grits (at least 2 servings)

Cook your choice of 20 minute brand of Grits to the directions on the Box less the salt to start.

In a very large non-stick skillet melt 4 pats unsalted butter to start.

Add 1 Tablespoon Tony Chachere's Blackened Seasoning (Wal-Mart sells)

Fry seasoning only in pan until the butter barely starts to brown.

Swirl the pan first to spread out butter then add enough fillets skin side up to the pan to fill it.

Saute the fish until a light crust just starts to form on the underside.

Carefully with a spatula flip the fillets, they will fall apart on you here.

Saute the other side swirling the fillets around to get a coating on the skin side.

Cook to taste. I like the fish cooked through. The water out of the fish will increase the look of the butter.
No worries.

I spread my grits out flat on the plate, lay the fillets on top, drizzle the juice from the pan over the top.

Enjoy!

Tonys has a bit of salt. You can add salt to your grits when cooking if you want more.
If your really a glutton for punishment use salted butter too.

[Bass Junkie]

Wife does shrimp and grits once in a while. In fact we had them tonight. I'll have to try some with crappie. Thanks for sharing.

[Showard]

I stole a duck commander recipe for crappie and bluegill. It’s close to a fried chicken breading if I had to compare it.
dry fillets
put a generous amount of pepper and cayenne pepper if like it hot in a bowl
generous amount of sour cream- add fillets and coat heavy with sour cream
then in the same bowl add just standard flour until the mix is dry again
throw in the grease just as usual and there ya go. A heavier breading on the fish

[rojoguio]

So I make Redfish Courtboullion every fall with a couple of Bull Reds, 25+ pounds each. You need the old fish bones for the stock. So it is quite time consuming to make, 12-14 hours. I boil my bones and make the base one day and complete the next. Courtboullion was peasant food in France made from the vegetable scraps & bones. I have a recipe combined from 2 100+ year old family recipes. I will post my recipe in this post in a edit later but here is what I did with the crappie. My normal fry coating is just Bavarian Buttermilk dipped fillets coated with Zatarains Seasoned Fish fry with Lemon. These crappie fillets were seasoned with Tony's first, dipped in flour, allowed 10 min for the flour to form a glue, dipped in Buttermilk, then back in the flour, then fried crisp. A pot of long grain rice was steamed, some eggs were boiled and diced, and fillets fried. The assembly, first spread a layer of rice across your plate, place you fried fillets on top covering the rice, then ladle Courtboullion gravy over your fish, and garnish with the diced boiled eggs. Have a recliner nearby. I do this with Crawfish Bisque too, topping flour fried Crappie fillets for a real different experience in your mouth.

Courtboullion Crappie.jpg