So many gluten free flour blends are heavy with rice flour. These tend to magnify my waistline… A perusal of my pantry turned up a lovely bag of masa harina; corn that has been soaked in lime, then ground into a flour. This made a spectacular light coating for the long-line rockfish I picked up at Town & Country’s Central Market in Shoreline today.
Cut your fish into serving size pieces, salt each side and dust lightly with the masa. Brown on each side in hot olive oil. Top with a mixture of fresh mango and minced jalapeno. Pop into a preheated 400 degree oven. You want to cook rockfish fully. It will be flaky, white throughout and no longer opaque.
To complete my theme I served the delicate fish with Abenaki’s Corn Polenta. I picked up this beautiful multi-hued polenta from the people that grow the corn, grind it with utmost care and then sell it at the Eugene, Oregon farmer’s market a few weeks ago. This is some of the best polenta I have encountered, to date. I cooked it with fresh stock and a squeeze of lime to bring out the lovely corn flavor. Check out their website www.lonesomewhistlefarm.com
For some fun texture I made my own version of tostones; double fried green plantain. Simply score the plantain down each side, snip the ends and pop into the microwave until soft and the skin is dark brown/black. One large plantain took about three and a half minutes in my microwave. Once the fruit is soft, let it cool just enough to handle and remove the skin. Cut into 12-14 rounds. The recipes I’ve seen call for all manner of methods to ‘smash’ the rounds, but being a chef with ‘cast-iron’ hands (who needs fingerprints, anyway!) I placed them between two pieces of wax paper and smooshed them fairly flat with the heel of my hand. You could use a glass, a plate, a pan, whatever is handy. Now fry them on one side in olive oil in a cast iron pan. Turn them over in the oil and place the pan into your 400 degree oven with the fish, until they are done. I made mine fairly crisp, but do them how ever you prefer. They can even be cooked extra crisp and served with a dip for a fun appetizer.
Some zucchini sauteed with World Spice’s Caribbean Curry and a bit of fresh minced cilantro to finish! It was VERY quiet around the dinner table at my house!
Enjoy!! Chef Celinda