No camera, so no pictures...

My friend's freezer broke. She had a package of fish fillets in there, but her family won't eat that fish, so she didn't know what to do with it. I happily offered to help... With Pesach coming, I need to buy some shmura matza that costs more than most cuts of meat! I need to save my shekels. Who am I to turn down a package of free fish? (And she gave me some other things too! Thank you friend! You know who you are!)

She recommended grinding up and making gefilte fish with it, but after I drained off all the excess water, rinsed the fillets, patted them dry... I was about to set up my food processor.

But then I decided that if I wasn't an Ashkenazi Jew I would never dream of grinding up my fish, adding vegetables, eggs, sugar etc to it. If I lived somewhere where people fished, I would probably do something else with this fish. EVEN if it tastes a bit too fishy for sensitive pallets...

I've been reading a book about a family who lives on the Bayou (in Louisiana) and they eat lots of fish. Lots of fish fried up Cajun style in a cast iron pan. And I figured, why not? So I made some spicy fried fish. And that Cayenne Pepper really helps to cover up the fishiness of this particular type of fish.

I know fried fish is not the healthiest, and should really not be eaten often. Don't worry, we don't eat fried fish very often at all - Maybe two or three times a year! I should think we'll be ok.

Here's my batter recipe:

2 eggs was enough for the whole package of fish - beaten. in it's own bowl

breading: 1 c. cornmeal, 1/2 tsp salt, 1/2 tsp granulated garlic, a generous amount of parsley, 1/8 tsp cayenne pepper. You can add more cayenne, or add ground black pepper (I ran out of black pepper and keep forgetting to put it on my shopping list. I would have used it had it been here in the house. Long story how I ran out of black pepper. It involves black pepper all over the kitchen counter and floor and LOTS of sneezing!)

I dipped the fillets in egg, then in the breading. Then I fried them in oil in my cast iron fry pan (already hot before adding the fish). Cook on both sides till golden and even some flecks of black from the pan are usually considered ok when using cast iron.

It tastes great, by the way!

Oh and I don't have my camera handy today. My husband took it to work. Or I totally would have posted pictures...