blackened, not burned.

Holy. Crap. I think that this may be the BEST fish sandwich that I've ever made. Talk about crazy delicious, this was a spicy, tangy, savory explosion of flavor in my mouth and I am so sad that it's all gone. You should really make this . . . like, RIGHT. NOW.

I came across this fish sandwich when I was looking to try out the blackened seasoning I made. I recently went to Safe Harbor Seafood Market and Restaurant down in Jacksonville and had their famously fantastic blackened shrimp nachos. Wow, were those nachos super tasty! I was going to do a food hack of the nachos, but unfortunately I didn't have the right ingredients to remake it.

What I did have was some ciabatta bread and a few frozen flounder fillets. Sounds like blackened fish sandwiches to me. :)

When I was looking for the perfect sandwich recipe, I wanted mainly one thing: no mayo in the slaw. This recipe was perfect. I liked that it was colorful and the red cabbage slaw was vinaigrette based. Also, I was able to utilize two of the seasonings I had in my cupboard; the blackened seasoning I just made and adobo seasoning.

Speaking of adobo seasoning, I had made mine (a mixture of these two recipes) before trying the McCormick's version. I did NOT like McCormick's version at all. I think it was the taste . . . it seemed off and not at all what I was expecting it to be. Whenever I have Mexican adobo sauce, it's usually more red than yellow and the homemade mix came closer to what I was used to. I had to throw the bottle of McCormick's adobo seasoning away. :/

On a happier note, the seasoning mixes worked well in this particular recipe. I've switched out the seasoning that the fish originally had with equal parts blackened seasoning. For the chipotle mayo, I subbed out the canned chipotles with dried ground ones and the adobo sauce for the seasoning. I don't usually have canned chipotles in adobo sauce in the pantry and I've found that this makes an acceptable substitute. Everything else pretty much stayed the same.

I'm telling you . . . these are the best fish sandwich EVAR.

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Blackened Fish Sandwich with Red Cabbage Slaw and Chipotle Mayo
(barely adapted from Daydream Kitchen)

For the Slaw:
1 small garlic clove, finely chopped
1/2 small red onion, finely chopped
1½ tbsp white balsamic vinegar
1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
sea salt
freshly ground black pepper
1 cup finely shredded red (or purple) cabbage
¼ cup thinly sliced, 1-inch strips of green bell pepper (“matchstick” sized)
¼ cup coarsely chopped cilantro
1 scallion, thinly sliced (white and green parts)

For the Chipotle Mayo:
2½ tbsp light mayonnaise
1/4 tsp dried chipotle pepper flakes
1/2 tsp adobo seasoning

For the Sandwich:
2¼ tsp blackened seasoning
1 tsp olive oil
2 5-oz skinless fish fillets, about ⅓-inch thick (cod, salmon, flounder, etc . . .)
2 crusty sandwich rolls, halved and lightly toasted

 
Make the slaw:
Combine the garlic, shallots, and vinegar in a small bowl. Whisk in the olive oil and season with salt and pepper.

Combine the cabbage, bell pepper, cilantro, and scallion in a medium bowl. Add the dressing and toss well to combine. Taste for seasoning and add more salt and pepper, as needed. Cover and refrigerate 30 minutes to allow flavors to combine.

Make the mayo:
Combine the mayonnaise, chipotle pepper, and adobo sauce in a small bowl. Set aside. (Alternately, you can substitute sour cream or greek yogurt for a lighter dressing.)

Make the sandwich:
Rub the blackening seasoning all over the fish, coating both sides well and pressing to adhere. Heat a nonstick skillet over medium-high heat and add the olive oil. When the oil is hot, but not smoking, season the fillets with salt and add to the pan.

Sear until beginning to blacken on the bottom, about 3 minutes. (Reduce the heat to medium if the spices begin to burn.) Turn and sear the second side until blackened and the fish is just cooked through, about 2 minutes longer, depending on thickness.

To serve, spread the chipotle-mayo sauce on all 4 cut sides of the rolls and lay a filet on each bottom half. Mound the red cabbage slaw on top of the fish and cover with the top halves. Serve right away.

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Blackened Seasoning
(from Mom-Makes . . .)

2 1/4 tsp sweet paprika
2 1/4 tsp smoked paprika
1 tbsp garlic powder
1 tbsp onion powder
1 tbsp dried thyme
1 tsp ground black pepper
1 tsp dried basil
1 tsp dried oregano
1/2 to 1 tsp cayenne pepper

 
Combine the paprika, garlic powder, onion powder, thyme, black pepper, cayenne pepper, basil, and oregano in a food processor or spice grinder and pulse until finely ground and evenly mixed. Alternately, sift ingredients into a bowl and whisk until well combined. Store in an airtight container in a cool, dry place. Keeps up to 6 months.

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Adobo Seasoning
(adapted from Food. and Lemon Chiffon Cake)

1 tbsp lemon pepper seasoning
1 tbsp garlic powder
1 tbsp onion powder
1 tbsp dried oregano
1 tbsp parsley flakes
1 tbsp achiote powder
1 1/4 tbsp kosher salt
1 1/2 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp sweet paprika
1/2 tsp smoked paprika
1/2 tsp ancho chile powder
1/4 tsp turmeric powder

 
Combine all ingredients in a food processor or spice grinder and pulse until finely ground and evenly mixed. Alternately, sift ingredients into a bowl and whisk until well combined. Store in an airtight container in a cool, dry place. Keeps up to 6 months.

going cajun'n creole.

one thing that i haven't really tried is crawfish. it was just one of those things that my mom never made so it never got on the menu. so, while i was walking down my nearest vietnamese market today after work, i stopped by the fish aisle to take a gander...

lo and behold...crawfish was on sale!

i looked at those tiny little buggers and thought what i could possibly make with them. then i thought of an etouffe recipe i saw a while back and though...eh. why not? i figured i'd make it work with a live crawfish so i gathered about a pound of them suckers and went home to ponder how i was going cook them.

when i got home though, the game plan changed as i got a little lazy and didn't want to dig out my bag of flour from the topmost shelf. what to do? i hopped onto google and searched for a simple crawfish recipe. what popped up and caught my eye was this little recipe that seemed super easy. so i went to work and i am soooooo glad that i made this! the sauce was just amazing and the seasoning was perfect! savory, with a little kick from the cayenne. i modified the recipe a bit but damn...was it good!

next time...going to make this with shrimp!!

 

Crawfish Cardinale
(from Grill a Chef)

1 lb. of crawfish tails (i used live crawfish so there was considerably less meat, haha. i recommend what he put. :D)
2 tbsps, cajun seasoning**

2 oz. (1/2 a stick) of butter (since it was just me, i used about 3 tbsps)
1 bunch of scallions, roughly chopped
3 tbsps tomato paste
1 cup heavy cream (didn't have any. used creme fraiche instead, about 2 tbsp, some silk vanilla *yikes, i thought it was regular!* coconut milk and used water to thin it out.)
3 tbsps cognac (i used Courvoisier Cognac VSOP.)
3 tbsps fresh parsley, chopped (i used italian parsley.)

1. Season the crawfish tails with salt and the cajun seasoning. Set aside. (obviously i skipped this step, lol. :D)

2. Heat large skillet over medium heat. Melt the butter and add the scallions to cook. Stirring occasionally.(i used the first 2 tbsp of butter for this part)

3. Once they are slightly softened and translucent, after 3-5 minutes, add the cream, cognac, and tomato paste (also threw in the cajun seasoning here and added water so it was a little thin). Bring this to a simmer and reduce until thick. (by about 2/3's), this will take around five minutes.

4. Dump in the crawfish and simmer just enough to warm them well (dumped the live crawfish here so it took about 7-10 min(?) for them to fully cook then a little bit more to make the sauce nice and thick. added the last tbsp of butter right here too). Toss in the chopped parsley and serve with nice french bread or over pasta. (i had it with whole wheat crackers. :) but crusty bread is the best way to go!)

**author's note: You could use something like Paul Prudhomme's Blackening Seasoning, which I love. OR you could make some yourself.:

 
Cajun'n Creole Seasoning

1 tsp paprika
1 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp onion powder
1/2 tsp ground cayenne pepper
2 tsp black pepper
1/2 tsp dried thyme
1/2 tsp dried oregano

Simply mix the ingredients well and store in a dark, dry, cool place. (i eye-balled this part since it was just a small portion. also, added a bit of Homestead Seasoning from my local spice shop.)

Note that this is pretty much the same as blackening seasoning. However, there is no salt in this mixture, I like to leave the salt levels up to the cook. If you wanted to sub this into other recipes for store bought mixes you would have to add 2 tsps salt. (i was frugal with the salt. there's a lot of things going on here and i wasn't sure if it was goibng to be too salty. i added barely 1/8 of a tsp of kosher salt right when i put in the crawfish.)