I have a joke with my Number One food fan when she asks, "What's for dinner?"
"I'll make a selection from the market's freshest offerings," I tell her. Sometimes I know exactly what I want for dinner, and I'm joking. Sometimes not. Yesterday was one of those days I wasn't joking. I had no idea what to make for dinner save for the only restriction I had placed on me was "no beef," with some considerable hinting that seafood was a desired entree category.
So, I walked around my neighborhood grocery store and saw that they had some fresh red snapper, which isn't standard inventory for them. I asked the counter attendant if I could please smell it. He wasn't put off by my request and understood that this is the best way to tell if fish is indeed as fresh as the sign says.
"Sure can," he said. "It's the only way to tell if it's fresh." After donning on plastic gloves, he pulled a fat red snapper fillet from the ice and held it up to his nose before holding it out to me at face level. "No smell," he said, "This baby is ready to eat." I agreed and selected two plump fillets.
I had no idea what I was going to do with it or what to serve it with. I went to the Produce section and started to look around. Somehow, sugar snap peas looked good, so I grabbed a bagful. Then I saw the eggplant. It was gorgeous: a deep, shining purple with absolutely no dents or blemishes, and a soft green-leaf stem. I held it and checked for any soft spots, and there were none. This eggplant was in the field just days ago, I suspect, and it had traveled well.
I came home and started to surf around for some recipes when I ran across a popular Asian dish called Crispy Red Snapper that essentially deep fries a whole fish and serves it with a spicy chili sauce. I decided to do a theme on that and this is the dish I came up with.
Snapper is always sold with the skin on, which is meant to be cooked and eaten, unlike some other fish, like sea bass and salmon (there are those who may disagree with the latter, but it's my kitchen and my blog). If you attempt to remove the skin from a filet of snapper, it is so thin and delicate that you'll end up with shredded fish because the meat of the fillet will fall apart. Don't be put off by this and trust me, cooked correctly, the skin becomes deliciously crispy.
Ingredients
For the red snapper
2 ~1-lb red snapper fillets, cut into thirds for six even-sized portions
½ cup seasoned bread crumbs (like, Old London or Progresso)
½ cup Parmesan cheese (not fresh; use the green can of Kraft)
½ cup plain baked potato chips (like, Lay's)
3 tsp Hungarian paprika
1 tsp cayenne pepper
1 tsp salt
2 eggs, beaten
2 tbsp heavy cream
3-4 tbsp olive oil
½ stick butter
Ingredients
For the eggplant
1 medium eggplant (about 1 pound)
2-3 tbsp salt
1 cup mayonnaise
3-4 heavy dashes of Tabasco sauce
1 cup grated Parmesan cheese (not fresh; use the green can of Kraft)
2 tsp dried basil, crushed
1 tsp lemon pepper
Non-stick cooking spray (like, Pam)
Ingredients
For the sugar snap peas
1 lb sugar snap peas, washed and snapped, strings removed
2 tbsp olive oil
1 tbsp soy sauce
1 tbsp rice wine vinegar
2 tsp toasted sesame seeds
Ingredients
For the lime butter chili glaze
1 stick of butter
2 tbsp lime juice
1 tsp Asian chili oil
2 tbsp honey
pinch of garlic powder
The Recipes
First prepare the eggplant:
Cut 1 inch or so off the ends of the eggplant and use a vegetable peeler to take off the peeling. Cut the eggplant width-wise to slice into rounds, about 1/2 to 1/3 inch wide. You want 6-8 slices, so you may be discarding one or two slices depending on the size of your eggplant. Liberally salt the eggplant slices and lay on a 2-3 paper towel for 10-15 minutes. The salt will cause water to leach out of the vegetable which will be absorbed by the paper towels. About mid-way through this process dab the tops of each slice to remove any accumulated moisture, then turn the slices over.
Next, prepare the coating mixtures:
Put the baked potato chips in a plastic zip-lock bag and squeeze out as much of the air as possible. Using a mallet or other heavy tool, smash the potato chips to granular size. Add the crushed chips in a mixing bowl to the bread crumbs, Parmesan cheese, paprika and Cayenne pepper and salt. Blend well.
Crack the eggs and heavy cream in another mixing bowl. Whisk together until well blended.
In still another mixing bowl, combine Kraft Parmesan cheese, lemon pepper and dried basil. Blend well.
In yet another mixing bowl, combine the mayonnaise and Tabasco sauce and blend well.
Then, dredge the snapper and cook the eggplant:
Dip each piece of the red snapper in the egg and cream mixture, and then dredge each piece in the potato chips, Parmesan cheese and bread crumb mixture. Coat each side well. Allow the fish to rest on a hard, non-absorbent surface, skin side down until you're ready to cook them.
Pre-heat oven to 400 degrees. Dab any remaining moisture off of the eggplant slices with a paper towel and brush off any remaining salt. Then, coat each side of the eggplant rounds with the mayonnaise using a rubber spatula, and then press each side into the Parmesan mixture. Place these slices on a sheet pan or cookie sheet coated well with the non-stick cooking spray. Bake the eggplant for 30-35 minutes until browned and crispy. Flip each slice over about midway through cooking. You can finish everything else while the eggplant is cooking.
In the mean time, cook the red snapper and the sugar snaps:
When you have about ten minutes remaining in cooking the eggplant, it's time to finish everything else.
Heat the olive oil and half-stick of butter in a large skillet to just under the smoking point. Place the fillets of snapper in the hot oil, skin side down first. Cook each side 3-4 minutes over medium high heat. Allow the fillets to drain on paper towels before serving.
In a medium size skillet, heat the olive oil until shimmering. Toss in the sugar snap peas and saute for 5-7 minutes, shaking occasionally. Add the soy sauce and rice wine vinegar, and continue sauteing for another 2-3 minutes until the liquid reduces. Toss in the sesame seeds at the last second before serving.
Finally, finish the dish:
Melt the stick of butter in a saucepan before everything is ready. Add all the remaining ingredients except the Asian Oil for the lime butter chili glaze to the melted butter. Bring everything to a bubble before serving.
To plate up, lay a round of crispy eggplant on your dinner plate and stack a fillet of crispy red snapper on top of it. Drizzle the spicy Asian oil around the stack, then drizzle the lime butter on top of and around the stack. Garnish with some rough chopped cilantro or watercress. Serve the sugar snaps on the side.
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