Fish Sticks and Fried Green Tomatoes

While at the store last week, the seafood case had some nice looking fresh cod fillets and I bought a couple just to have in the freezer.  Later it dawned on me that I would like to turn them into fish sticks and I selected a recipe from Crunchy Creamy Sweet. 

I made the recipe as written but used the Italian bread crumbs I had on hand and I deep fried them.  You can click on the above link for the original recipe and a couple of good shots.

Homemade Fish Sticks – Adapted from Crunchy Creamy Sweet

Ingredients:

2 white fish fillets tilapia, cod, catfish, etc.

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon black pepper

1 large egg

2 tablespoons half and half

1/4 cup all-purpose flour

1/3 cup plain Italian breadcrumbs

1/4 teaspoon garlic powder

1/4 teaspoon Italian seasoning

1/2 cup vegetable oil for frying in pan (see note for baking)

Instructions:

Slice fillets into 3/4" wide pieces.

Prepare breading station: in one shallow dish, whisk egg and half and half; in another dish, place flour; in the last dish, combine breadcrumbs with garlic powder and Italian seasoning.

Season fish pieces with salt and pepper.

Dip each fish stick in flour first, then egg mixture, then finally in breadcrumbs. Coat evenly, shake of excess. Repeat with all fish pieces. Set them on a plate next to stove. Prepare another plate with a paper towels or use a rack to drain.

To deep fry: heat up vegetable oil to 340F. Fry fish sticks in batches, until golden brown then remove to the rack.

We served the fish with homemade tarter and homemade remoulade sauces.

I had a couple of sides dishes I was considering to go with the fish but Bev wanted to have fried green tomatoes before her tomatoes began to ripen.  I had a couple of recipes in my file and opted to use the one from Roz on her La Bella Vita blog but I scaled it back for the amount I wanted to cook and still had more than enough of the breading.

I made the coating and breading as shown below but I did not use the sauce as Bev wanted to use remoulade and some relish that she bought in Charleston SC after eating it on some fried green tomatoes. 

I’d like to try the sauce next time as it sounds like it would be good on many things.

You can get Roz’s original recipe by clicking on the above link.

The Best Fried Green Tomatoes - Adapted from La Bella Vita

Ingredients:

3 green tomatoes, sliced ½" to ¾" thick.

4 tsp. freshly-cracked sea salt

Garlic-Buttermilk Coating

1/2 cups whole buttermilk

1 tsp. chili sauce

1/8 tsp. garlic powder

Breading

¾ cups all-purpose flour

½ cups yellow cornmeal

¼ cup Italian breadcrumbs

¼ tsp. freshly-cracked black pepper

Garlic, Bacon Buttermilk Sauce

2 slices thick-cut bacon

¼ cup mayonnaise

1/8 cup whole buttermilk

1 Tbsp. fresh Italian parsley, minced

1 Tbsp. fresh chives, chopped fine

½ tsp. French Dijon mustard

¼ tsp. chili sauce

¼ tsp. garlic powder

1/8 tsp. (each) freshly cracked sea salt and black pepper

Instructions:

Prepare The Garlic, Bacon Buttermilk Sauce

Cook at least 4 slices of bacon until nicely browned and cooked thoroughly.

Allow bacon to cool and then chop it up into tiny pieces.

Combine and mix the buttermilk and mayonnaise in a small mixing bowl.

Add the chopped bacon, Italian parsley, chives,mustard, chili sauce, garlic powder, salt and pepper.

Mix well, cover and chill.

Prepare The Tomatoes

Lay paper towels on top of several cookie/baking racks and place in a baking sheet.

Lay the tomato slices on the paper towels, generously sprinkling each layer of sliced tomatoes with approximately 1 - 2 tsp. of salt (on each layer).

Allow the salted tomatoes to sit and sweat for 30 minutes.

Shake the liquid from the tomatoes and pat dry with clean paper towels.

Heat a deep heavy pan half-way full of canola or vegetable oil, on the highest setting.

Prepare The Garlic-Buttermilk Coating

In a medium sized, shallow baking dish, mix the buttermilk, chili sauce and garlic powder together

Prepare The Breading

In another medium sized, shallow baking dish, mix the flour, cornmeal, Italian breadcrumbs, garlic powder, and ½ tsp. each of salt and pepper

Preparation Of The Fried Green Tomatoes

Place each slice of tomato in the buttermilk mixture and coat well on both sides, and allowing extra milk to drip off.

Place buttermilk-coated tomato slices in the flour-cornmeal mixture, covering both sides and slightly pressing down for the dry coating to stick.

Repeat the dipping into buttermilk and back into the flour-cornmeal mixture a SECOND time, again gently pressing so that the double-coating sticks.

Immediately and carefully place the coated tomato slices into the 325-350F, (thinner ones can be cooked quicker) and cook until nicely browned, flipping a time or two

When cooked, remove tomato slices from the hot oil with tongs or a large slotted utensil and place on a rack to drain.

When I got to this point in the meal,

it occurred to me that I had taken no pics, so here is a shot of the last to be cooked that were not eaten.

Everyone loved both the fish and the tomatoes and I would use both recipes again but I will slice the tomatoes about 3/8” thick so they will get more done on the inside without getting too dark.  I don’t recall ever buying cod before but we all agreed it worked very well when deep fried and that it would make good fish tacos but I don’t believe it will replace catfish and crappie as our favorites.

Photos can be enlarged by clicking on them and the blue words are links.

Have a great day and thanks for stopping by Almost Heaven South.

Larry

6/23/20 event date