Inspirations from the strangest of sources...

Dinner the other night was one of necessity: the need to use things up, including two defrosted tilapia filets; several ripe homegrown tomatoes, cucumbers and peppers; three separate batches of CSA potatoes (in three colors too!) and a bag of carrots I discovered buried at the bottom of the fridge.  I knew I wasn't going to be following any set recipe that required a special trip to the store, I set out to make use of what was on hand.

Originally, I wanted to pan-sear and oven-finish the fish filets, and top them with a spicy peach and black bean salsa...but I came home to find a peach-free fruit bowl.  But a big batch of stale bread (I save and freeze it for stuffing, bread crumbs, bread puddings, etc) setting out to dry led me to the idea to coat & bake it instead.  Inspired by a tin of Old Bay Seasoning I bought for last week's Shrimp Boil (did I write about that?), I decided to go forth on a spicy adventure. Mmmm, Old Bay, how I love you....

First, I preheated the oven to 425 degrees.  I cut up about a pound of potatoes and three large carrots into big chunks, then tossed them with chipotle oil, old bay seasoning, salt and pepper on a baking sheet and threw them into the oven. Aren't they pretty?  While honestly I don't prefer the purple and red potatoes taste and texture (I'm a redskin and yukon gold girl) they are gorgeous to look at.  These went into the oven for 20 minutes, during which I started on the rest of the food.

I seeded and sliced a cucumber, jalapeno and tomato, and threw them all into a bowl with a tablespoon or two each of cider vinegar, pomegrante balsamic vinegar, water and salt/pepper and stirred it around to make a quick tangy salad. Then, on to the fish!.  Dredged in flour, dipped in a beaten egg, and submerged in breadcrumbs.  These crumbs were ground up from the dried bread slices, but panko would be great, and regular breadcrumbs would be fine too.  I mixed Old Bay, salt, pepper & garlic into the crumbs, too, just to spice up the fish a bit.  After the potatoes had cooked about 20 minutes and been stirred/flipped, the breaded fish went onto another baking sheet and joined them in the oven for another 20 minutes.

So breaded fish just must be dipped in something, right?  So quick tartar sauce it was today, spiced up with Old Bay (surprise!) and Frank's Red Hot.  So easy, by the way.  Mix up a few spoonfuls of low-fat mayo with dijon mustard, minced dill pickles, a tsp or so of white vinegar, freshly ground pepper, and whatever other spices you have (like those aforementioned ones).  Easy, quick, and good. 

The resulting dinner was delicious, although I couldn't help thinking how good the fish would have been on a toasted bun, with lettuce & onion & that spicy tartar sauce...maybe next time!