Monday, August 2, 2010

Catfish en Papillote with Tomatillo Salsa

I'm playing with the taco combination of fish, cabbage, lime juice, and salsa.  The catfish recipe is adapted from one in Eating Well Magazine, July/August 2009.  Here's what I used.  100% of ingredients are organic.  The fish is from a sustainable source.
Serves 4.
  • 1½ pounds catfish, about 2 large fillets
  • 1 teaspoon whole cumin
  • ¾ teaspoon black peppercorns
  • ¾ teaspoon fine sea salt.
Salsa ingredients:
  • ½ pound tomatillos, husked and well rinsed, fine dice - fresh from the farm
  • 1 medium sweet white onion, fine dice
  • 2 serrano peppers, not seeded, minced
  • 3 cloves garlic, pressed or minced
  • ½ cup chopped cilantro
  • juice of one lime
  • 1 tablespoon olive oil
Preheat the oven to 400º.
Cut parchment for pouches. 
Grind the cumin, pepper, and salt together.  Grinding the salt with the spices will cause them to grind faster and finer than otherwise.  Rub this spice mix onto both sides of the catfish fillets.
Food trick:  If you're going to be combining salt with your spices, add it to the grinder (I dedicate a blade-type coffee grinder to spices) with the whole spices.  The spices will grind much faster and finer than they would otherwise.
Combine the salsa ingredients.
Halve the two fish fillets, or otherwise cut into four portions. Place the catfish pieces barely to the side of the middle fold in each open parchment.  Top with one fourth of the salsa.  Bake for 20 minutes.  Let the packets rest for a few minutes before serving.  This presents best,  I think, with the unopened packets on the plates for the diner to open. Serve with the grilled slaw and corn tortillas.  You can make tacos or have the fish as a main dish and a slaw side.  I did the latter, but scooped bits of fish and slaw into tortillas as well.  I did this because it tasted good.











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