SW style "hashed snapper"

[DonK]

Had this on my menu when I owned a restaurant...
The potatoes encrusts the fish, whic keeps it nice and moist

ingred:

Snapper, grouper, or even 'phin filets (about 2-4 oz ea)
flour
2 eggs, beaten
shredded "hash brown" potatoes
("simply potatoes" brand works well)
salt & pepper
Cumin seeds or powder
finely diced onion
finely diced fresh jalepeno or chipoltle (optional)
oil, butter or other frying medium
(black) beans and rice (or red, pigeon, or white beans)

Mix the onion and hot pepper,cumin and some salt &
pepper with the potatoes
Season the flour;

Dust the filets with flour.

dip in egg

Completely encase the filets with the potato mix (thicker is better)

shallow fry (just like a hash brown) until golden and crispy.

Important tip: don't move or touch the 'hash'd fish for until it really browns! moving it too much will cause the potatoes to fall off! And make sure there is enough oil to cover at least 1/2 of the sides of the filet

Make a ring of rice around the plate, put the beans in the center, and place the hash'd fish on top of the beans.

Top with salsa, guac and sour cream, serve immediately

or:

if you are a total "foodie" try a pico de gallo made with
roast corn, tomato, onion, avocado, cilantro, and mango

enjoy!

[tales]

Recipe sounds great! Can't wait to try it out.

[DIRTYFOOT2]

tried this recipe out w/ some fresh snook. Sweet jesus. Makes like a tater ball round the moist tender filets. This one will be on the house menu for years to come.Thanks Donk

[DonK]

glad you liked it! one of my favs!

[Boboe]

Sounds awesome. I've got a pile of salmonthat I brought back from this summer in Alaska, where I was guiding. Hash browns probably won't be that great with the rich, oily salmon, but what the hell. It's not like I paid $13/lb for it. If it sucks, I'll pull out another fillet and do something different

[DonK]

another style is to use thinly sliced raw potato and layer it on like scales. This is a more classical french cusine method. I would use either reds or white new potatoes. Season with lemon pepper and dill

[DonK]

I would guess you already know about cedar planks if you are salmon fishing up north? <><

[DonK]

Boboe, another method that is coming back into fashion is salt roasting.

For the salmon it may be a nice change:

Use coarse kosher salt, moisten just enough to make it hold together a little. You can also mix some dill, or herbs, other seasoning into the salt...but go light..a little goes a long way.

lay a bed of salt into a baking dish, at least an inch thick.

lay the salmon ( or any fish) skin side down in it. Cover with another inch or more of the salt mixture.You can optionally layer a root veg like potatoes, turnips, carrots, or such on top of the fish...some protiens tend to stick to the salt, other don't...trial and error here...worse case you may have to trim a thin layer off the top of the meat when done. IT seem that the hight the fat content, the more salt will stick to the surface.


bake it in a very hot oven or grill...450 degrees or more if you can...the idea is to get the salt crust as hot as you can.

Follow the 20 minutes per inch of thickness rule using the thickness of the salt, not the fish. (however I like to eat salmon on the rare side)

You can stick a meat thermo into it if you want to watch more closely. I like to pull fish out at around 125-130 and let it stand 5 minutes to set and "carry over cook" another 5 degrees.

if the salt crusted, gently crack it open...brush any loose salt off the fish. gently lift the filet out and top with whatever you like...

Amazingly, the salt doesn't permeate the fish..it actually draws moisture outward which creates a crust in the salt that seals the product's juices in. If any, only the outermost surfaces may be salty from the crust sticking to it.

!!! Just be Careful of hot salt..it can burn you as badly as sugar...so let it cool a little before handling.

One other variation of this is making a salt dough (homemade pla-doh) which is 1 part flour, 3 parts salt, veg oil and a little water to make consistency...only this will bake hard, so you have to crack it open to get the goods out.

[Boboe]

Yeap, I've done the cedar plank thing. I'm not a huge fan of it. It's not bad, but I don't think it's as great as some make it out to be. I've seen the salt crust done on a cooking show before, but never done it myself. Maybe I'll give it a shot.