My Signature Recipe

Every chef has to have a signature dish and the following recipe is mine.  Of course I can’t tell you the name of the dish without losing a part of my anonymity, but you can still make it and call it what you wish.  I first got the idea for this recipe while fishing for halibut in Cook Inlet in Alaska.  The seas were rough and I had been tossing my cookies over the side for most of the trip, but had finally begun to feel better as we started back to port in Homer.  One of the ship’s crew had filleted a couple of the smaller halibut, dipped them in butter, sprinkled then with lemon pepper and coated them in crushed Ritz crackers and baked them until they were brown.  Those were some of the best fish I have ever put in my mouth.  I am sure the exertion of deep water fishing, the completely empty stomach and the unbelievable Alaskan scenery added to flavor, but they were awesome nonetheless.  I tweaked that recipe and used a few fresh ingredients that I had at hand to make my signature dish.  If you don’t have fresh herbs you can used dried.   Enjoy and let me know if you try it.

 

4-6 thick fillets of grouper, snapper, halibut or other firm white fish.

11/4 sticks of butter

4 cups of Pepperidge Farms herb seasoned stuffing mix

4 tbsp fresh grated parmesan cheese

2 tbsp fresh oregano finely chopped

2 tbsp fresh basil finely chopped

1/4 cup parsley roughly chopped

2 small green onions roughly chopped greens and all

1/2 cup dry white wine

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

Cut the fillets into pieces about 2 fingers wide.  Crush the stuffing mix just a little more and add the cheese, oregano and basil in a gallon zip lock bag and shake to combine ingredients.  Melt 1 stick of butter and dip the fillets in the butter and then place 2 or 3 pieces into the zip lock bag.  The herbs, cheese and smaller pieces of stuffing mix will stick to the fillet.  Place the fillets in a baking dish and sprinkle with some of the larger pieces of the stuffing mix on the fillets so they are well coated.  Repeat until all the pieces are in the baking dish and not quite touching.  I usually pour some of the leftover dry ingredients over the top of the fish.  Bake until the stuffing mix turns nice and brown.

When the fish is nice and brown, melt the 1/4 stick of butter and combine with the wine, parsley and onion.  Spoon this mixture over the fillets and let cook for about 5 more minutes.  When the fish comes out you can spritz it with the juice of a lemon if you like, but this is not necessary.

Serve with baked potatoes, sautéed asparagus, toasted french bread and the remainder of the white wine.  Bon appetit.

My first blog post

 I was just turned down for a promotion that I should have gotten and at the moment I hate this god forsaken office.  I am pissed for sure, but I will get over it.  The best way for me to get over something like that is to write and I like to write poetry.  Every so often I will toss a poem in here and hopefully get some feed back if I ever get any followers.  Some days I will bitch and some days I will pour out my soul onto these pages.  Some days I will talk about family and some days I will talk about fishing or food and some days I will talk about the more complicated parts of my life, but today I will start with a poem that I gave to a very special person.  Let me know what you think.

 Sunshine on my Soul

You come when I most need you 

Like the breaking of the dawn

Your beauty drives away the gloom

Till all the mists are gone

Your smile is like a ray of light

Your laughter warms my heart

There was something in your sparkling eyes

That I loved right from the start

You know my deepest secrets

And keep them safe from harm

You share with me your hopes and dreams

And I find in them your charm

I know that when you’re close to me

My broken heart is whole

You loose the tightness in my chest

Like sunshine on my soul