Panko Breaded Cod Fillet

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When it comes to saltwater fish there is one that stands alone as my favorite – Cod. I love its thick fillets coated in a crispy breading or batter. It’s mild in flavor and not “fishy” tasting, which is why I like it.

The Vikings would catch cod, dry it out and preserve it with salt, producing salt cod that could be taken on long voyages.

In the 1600s the pilgrims used a map of New England made by John Smith to determine “Cape Cod” might be a good place to settle and profit from fishing, although they knew little about the trade, according to Mark Kurlansky, in his book Cod: a Biography of the Fish That Changed the World.

Today, it’s available year round wherever fish are sold and can be baked, poached, braised, broiled and fried.

For this recipe, I dredge cod fillet in flour, egg and panko bread crumbs to create a thick coating made crisp by shallow frying in a skillet – which makes for large bites of moist and flaky fish with mild flavor and a nice crunchy breading for texture.

BEHIND THIS BITE

Panko Breaded Cod Fillet

Cod is by far and away my favorite type of fish to eat. When it comes to seafood in general I like mild flavor, the more “fishy” it tastes the less I like it. Growing up in the landlocked Midwest, my favorite fish was walleye, but after moving to New York and having a fish monger across the street, I gravitated toward cod. I saw Tyler Florence make fish and chips on the food network one morning and was inspired to make the dish myself. This introduced me to cod and it's now my go to fish.

Since relocating to the Midwest in 2010, I have had hit and miss luck with the seafood here, my best bet is frozen, but even that can be a crap-shoot at times. Having said that, the frozen and thawed fish prepared and pictured in this post was excellent - as good as any fresh fish from my old fish monger in New York!

Eat well, cook often ...

THE RECIPE

Panko Breaded Cod Fillet

Serves 4; 30 minutes
1 1/2 lbs Cod fillets
1 C Flour
2 Eggs beaten
1 C Panko bread crumbs
Oil for frying

Bread
Set up three stations. One each: flour, beaten eggs and bread crumbs. Season cod with salt and pepper to taste. Coat on all sides with flour, then egg and finally bread crumbs. Shake-off excess before moving to next station. Once breaded, let rest a few minutes for coating to set up.

Pan fry
Place enough oil in fry pan to cover entire bottom. Heat to medium high. Once oil is hot place cod in pan and cook until golden brown and cooked through, turn once during cooking. 6 to 8 minutes. Remove from pan and serve with lemon wedge.

Five Pepper Shrimp Tacos

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This is the second recipe on the blog that features the Smoky Five Pepper spice mix. This time I used it more like a seasoning rather than a rub. Being more judicious made it much more manageable as for as the heat goes. It adds a nice kick to the taco that is balanced by the pickled cabbage and a lime jalapeno tarter sauce.

I made it a point to keep each element simple. When it all came together I was impressed by the flavor and enjoyed 4 of these tacos myself. Later that night when I was putting together the graphic layout of the recipe I realized that all of these simple elements put together make for a pretty complex taco.

In the end, there are 17 different ingredients at work here.

That kind of blew me away, especially since I was making an effort to keep everything simple. It’s the accumulation of a few simple elements that makes this a pretty complex bite. I hope the simplicity comes through in the presentation, because if you’re just looking at the list of ingredients there is no way anyone would call it simple. That said - it's one of the best tacos I've eaten in a long time – a must try for any taco aficionado.

BEHIND THIS BITE
I have wined and complained numerous times on this blog about the seafood situation in Fort Wayne, Indiana. It’s hard to get any kind of consistent quality and most of the time it has been a "fishy" situation to say the least. I still think it sucks, but I have discovered one item that has shown some promise.

Frozen raw medium shrimp, deveined with no shell and tail removed.

Yes, the smaller frozen shrimp has a glimmer of hope. The colossal shrimp has been an expensive disaster, which you can read about here, But the variety that comes in the 50 to 60 a pound size has given me a glimmer of hope. The shrimp used in this recipe thawed easy, had no odor and tasted like shrimp should taste when cooked properly. It’s the first time in a long time that I have been impressed with the quality of seafood here in the land-locked Midwest.

It could be just a lucky grab off the shelf or maybe I have discovered a quality product. It will take a couple more samples but I actually have some hope for consistently good seafood. I’m crossing my fingers.

Eat well, cook often ...

THE RECIPE
Makes 8 to 10 tacos; 45 minutes
THE RUB
3 Tbs Salt
2 Tbs Smoked paprika
2 Tbs Chipotle chili powder
1 Tbs Black pepper
1 Tbs White pepper
1 Tbs Garlic powder
1 Tbs Onion powder
1/2 tsp Cayenne pepper

DRESSING
2 C Cabbage, finely shredded
1/2 C Cider vinegar
1/4 C Sugar

SAUCE
1/2 C Mayonnaise
1/4 C Lime juice
1/4 C Pickled jalapeño, diced
2 Tbs Cilantro, minced

FOR THE TACO
1 lb Raw shrimp, peeled, deveined, tail removed
16 to 20 Corn tortillas
Cilantro for garnish

Make rub
Mix together salt, smoked paprika, chipotle powder, black pepper, white pepper, onion powder, garlic powder and cayenne pepper.

Prep cabbage, make sauce
Mix together cabbage, vinegar and sugar, let mixture rest at least a half an hour before using. In another bowl mix together mayo, lime juice, jalapeno and cilantro refrigerate until ready to use.

Season, cook shrimp
Season both sides of shrimp’ let marinate 20 minutes. In a fry pan over medium high heat cook shrimp in batches in a little olive oil, 3 to 4 minutes or until opaque. Turn once during cooking.

Prepare tortillas, assemble tacos
Wrap tortillas in paper towel and heat on high in microwave for 1 minute. On two tortillas place 7 or 8 shrimp, drizzle with sauce, dress with cabbage and garnish with cilantro, then serve.

Grilled Shrimp Cocktail

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The land-locked seafood monster has struck again.

The product: Jumbo raw frozen shrimp with tails and shells removed.

Location: Kroger, Fort Wayne (Dupont & Coldwater Road)

I wanted large shrimp that I could skewer and grill. I decided to splurge and get jumbo shrimp – the bag cost $10.99.

The dish started out awesome. The cocktail sauce was fantastic! The sriracha was just the right touch. It added a little heat along with the horseradish. It was then balanced out by the acid of the lemon juice and the sweetness of the ketchup. If you need a cocktail sauce, this is the recipe. The quality of the sauce got me really excited about the shrimp.

I used running cold water to thaw them and the process took just a few minutes. Once the thawing was nearing the end I could tell there was something weird, the shrimp was partially cured or cooked, maybe even freezer burnt. It was not translucent like raw shrimp should be. I’ve worked with raw shrimp many times and something was amiss with this batch. It didn’t smell bad, but there was a hint of bleach.

Skeptically, I kept going, skewering and seasoning the shrimp. I grilled them to just cooked through. I took one of the bigger pieces, dipped it in the sauce and took a big bite.

Like I said, the sauce was off the hook, but the shrimp had a brined solution-soaked taste. Either something had been done to these before they were frozen to slow the spoiling process, or they were freezer burnt. I’m leaning to the toward the former because of the peculiar taste. What a let-down. The recipe is great, but my product was suspect!

I’m so tired of getting ripped off here in the Midwest with bullshit seafood that smells fishy (because is starting to spoil), or, like this shrimp – had been soaked in a preservative or frozen for way to long. I only ate two out of 16! That's $11 down the drain. This would have been so awesome had I been working with quality product.

I need fresh seafood!

BEHIND THIS BITE
As disappointed as I am with the shrimp, I’m equally as impressed with the sauce. I want to try this with some quality seafood. I think the secret was the sriracha, as I mentioned before, the garlicky heat that it added really put this sauce over the top and I can’t wait to make it again.

I think it’s about time for a visit to my old neighborhood in Queens to see some old friends. I know I can get fresh seafood there and this sauce will be as big a hit as perfectly cooked shrimp right out of the ocean!

Eat well, cook often ...

THE RECIPE

Serves 2; 30 minutes
1/2 C Ketchup
1 Tbs Horseradish
2 tsp Sriracha sauce
1 tsp Worcestershire sauce
Juice from 1/2 Lemon
8 Bambo skewers
1 lb Jumbo or large shrimp

Soak skewers, make cocktail sauce
Submerge skewers in cold water and soak for at least 20 minutes. In a small bowl mix together ketchup, horseradish, sriracha, worcestershire and lemon juice. Stir until well combine and refrigerate for thirty minutes for flavors to meld.

Skewer and grill shrimp, serve
Double skewer shrimp. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Grill over high heat until cooked through and opaque, 2 to 3 minutes per side. Remove from skewers and serve with cocktail sauce.

Shrimp, Crab or Tuna Salad

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These salads are relatively inexpensive because the meat is processed. The flavor and freshness would multiply by a thousands if you purchased and cooked all of this meat yourself, but it would cost a ton of money and time, and if I had fresh tuna or crab – there is no way it’s going into a salad!

These are affordable options for a practical lunch or an afternoon picnic in the park. They come together quick and can be transported easily and assembled at the location.

BEHIND THIS BITE
On the Food Network, or television cooking in general, they almost never use a processed item like canned tuna. They would grill a tuna steak then cut it up and put it in the salad. Not a single person I know would do that for a tuna salad sandwich. Canned tuna is cheap and it tastes good enough for a delightful lunch.

Would I serve canned tuna at a wedding? Hell no.

This is realistic everyday cooking and a true 30 minute meal. I love food television, it has inspired and taught me countless things I am grateful for. (Jacques Pepin is on the tube right now in my office as I write this) But, it is geared to people with money and time to burn. It would be awesome to see Bobby Flay turn something like a Tyson breaded chicken breast into a quick and easy dinner with his gourmet touch, or watch Rachel Ray make a 30-minute meal that can actually be made in thirty minutes outside of a scripted television taping.

Do I want them to do this with every recipe? No.

But it would be nice to see them get creative with more processed or freezer isle items because that is how the majority of us cook when we need to get food in our bellies. As creative as they are in the kitchen it would be cool to see what they did with items like that. I would love to buy all fresh food and organic meat but my money goes much further when I mix it up.

If I had an unlimited budget this post would be a lobster roll – Made from live lobster that I caught in the ocean, boiled up on the beach and ate until my stomach hurt. I would make the lobster salad the next day with the leftovers. Maybe one day. For now I’m just gonna keep cooking and eating.

Eat well, cook often ...

Shrimp Tostadas

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I have learned to accept that I can’t eat as much yummy seafood here in Indiana as I did when I lived in New York City. It’s just a matter of being landlocked. Not that I can’t get quality seafood here, it’s just that it comes a steep price.

Gone are the days of visiting the fish monger across the street and taking home a bounty that was pulled from the sea just hours before.

One seafood item that I get good results from consistently in Indiana is frozen raw shrimp. It’s cleaned and flash frozen on the boat just after being pulled from the sea and usually keeps well as long as it remains frozen solid until it is thawed just before cooking.

Sauce used in recipe.

I love shrimp, but it is delicate and must be cooked just right. I tend to lean on the side of rare with it. My philosophy with shrimp is don't be afraid to pull it from the heat to soon, kind of the opposite of chicken. Overcooked shrimp is rubbery and just plain nasty, where as shrimp cooked barely through is juicy and succulent.

For the tostadas here I season the shrimp similar to how I would season ground beef for nachos or tacos, with chili powder and cumin to give it that south of the border flavor.

I also use a sauce on these tacos that’s worth mentioning. It’s simply named Chipotle Sauce and it’s made by Empacadora San Marcos. The only major grocer that carries it in Fort Wayne is Meijer. It’s tomato based, and because of the chipotle, or smoked jalapeño, it has great kick with a smoky flavor. It reminds me of the red sauce I used get at taco stands in Queens. I always keep a can or two in the pantry so I can have quick authentic Mexican flavor when I need it. 

BEHIND THIS BITE
When I sat down to create the graphic recipe I was mortified to find out I had neglected to photograph the onion step for building the tostada. I couldn’t believe it! Because of this, the recipe was ruled out for print. You’ll notice that I overcame the blunder by using one photograph to illustrate all the garnishes. Usually each would get its own photograph. It works just fine that way but I have established a style for illustrating these recipes. Although every single step and prepped ingredient isn’t always necessary to photograph, I try to remain consistent and include everything. I believe doing that is what makes these recipes stand out and it does help to simplify the cooking process. I’m the only one in the world that would notice that, but it was the primary reason why this recipe will only appear here on the blog and not in my newspaper column.

Eat well, cook often ...

Crispy Shrimp Soft Tacos

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This recipe is frankly the easiest and best tasting tacos I have ever eaten. When I make these detailed recipes, I like to make everything from scratch, but that is not how I cook most of my meals. When I’m in a rush to get food in my belly – which is most of the time – I will keep store-bought breaded chicken or shrimp in the freezer.

In the time it takes to cook it, all other prep that is needed can be done and that is what I did here. In the 12 minutes it took to cook the store-bought popcorn shrimp, I was able to make the sauce, shred the lettuce and dice the onion. These tacos came together so quick that I had to let the shrimp cool a little before taking a bite just to save my mouth from unwanted burns.

The sauce is a play on traditional tarter sauce, in it, I replace pickle relish with finely diced jalapeños and a little chili powder and mix it with mayo. It is the perfect compliment to the crispy shrimp in the taco. I was watching my five year-old nephew when I made these and I am proud to say he found them delicious.

BEHIND THIS BITE
This is the first of a new series I’m starting here at Behind the Bites. I’m creating a second print version of the column that is slimmed down and includes just the recipe and only the essential graphics. It’s an effort that I believe will help my work appeal to more newspapers.

It’s also an effort to document everyday recipes.

Most of my columns up to now feature recipes that usually take some effort to make and sometimes feature a lot of ingredients that can be pricey. This series will feature meals that take less than an hour to make and feature more store-bought items. Such as the popcorn shrimp used in this recipe. I’m hoping to pare freezer items and canned food with a fresh item or an ingredient from the pantry. It will take creating a few to get it right, but I'm look forward to this new culinary adventure.

Eat well, cook often ...