Between my being sick and then Sean being sick, I haven’t had much time to do any real meals during the week, let alone doing any blogging about the meals. Since we are all finally starting to feel better around here, I though today would be a good day to try and get things back to normal around here and cook some good meals. I have had some flounder in the freezer and was looking for something to do with it when I came across this recipe in America’s Test Kitchen’s cookbook “Quick Family Cookbook.” I like this cookbook because it gives me some good meal options that can all be made in under 45 minutes, which make thhem great for any weeknight meal when you may not have a lot of time or energy to put into your meal but still want something made at home. This is a simple fried fish with Southwestern corn, though to be honest I eliminated a lot of the heat from this meal since Sean and Michelle both don’t really care for spicy food. Nonetheless, it’s a good recipe that you can play around with and use a variety of fish with if you have some on hand.
Cornmeal Fried Fish and Southwestern Corn
2 tablespoons butter
8 ounces chorizo sausage, chopped
1 red bell pepper, stemmed, seeded and chopped fine
1 jalapeno chile, stemmed, seeded and minced
1 shallot, minced
1 garlic clove, minced
Salt and pepper
4 cups frozen corn
2 teaspoons minced fresh cilantro
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 cup cornmeal
2 (12 ounce) skinless flounder fillets, cut in half lengthwise
1 cup vegetable oil
Melt the butter in a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Add the chorizo and cook until lightly browned, about 2 minutes. Stir in the bell pepper, jalapeno, shallot, garlic and 1/2 teaspoon of salt and cook until the bell pepper begins to brown, about 5 minutes. Stir in the corn and cook until heated through, about 2 minutes. Stir in the cilantro and season with salt and pepper to taste. Transfer to a bowl and cover.
Meanwhile, mix the flour and cornmeal together in a shallow dish. Pat the flounder dry with paper towels and season with salt and pepper., then dredge the fish in the cornmeal mixture, pressing gently so it adheres to the fish.
Wipe out the now-empty skillet with paper towel, add the vegetable oil and return to medium-high heat until the oil is shimmering. Lay the fillets in the skillet and cook until golden on both sides, about 2 minutes per side. Transfer the fish to a paper towel-lined plate. Let the fish drain briefly, then serve with the corn.
You could really use any fish fillets you like for this meal – catfish, sole, tilapia, trout, snapper – you name it. Ialso added some other colored peppers to the corn to make the meal look a little more festive since I wasn’t using the chorizo or the jalapeno. You could serve this white rice or brown rice and you would have quite a nice meal.
A nice simple meal that is great for any dinner. We are getting back to the meal plan this week after I go shopping tomorrow. We have gotten away from it lately and haven’t been planning things out and I feel we actually eat better from a health standpoint when everything is planned out for the week, so we are going to try and get back to it and try to get back to one meatless meal for the week, one fish meal, one stir fry, one chicken and one lean meat. I’ll have to see how things go at the market tomorrow to see what I can pick up and go with it, so check back tomorrow and see what we have for the week. until then, have a great day and enjoy your meal!
onedadskitchen 