I Can Cook Fish!!!

Ok, y’all. I know that I said that I was gonna start posting all my Thanksgiving recipes. And today’s eas gonna be Aunt Nita’s Sweet Potato Casserole. Well, I just cooked fish–for the first time–and have to write about it. I will probably give y’all Nita’s Sweet Potato recipe too, since everyone is waiting for it.

ANYways, more importantly, I have never cooked or liked fish. The only fish that I like was ones that Daddy cooked or Mama Jean cooked after we caught them out of our pond at Big Bass. Well, I was home alone tonight, and fantasizing about Thanksgiving when I realized that I had not eaten today. In lieu of just running to a fast food place or a pizza place (which I have been doing too much lately) i looked in the freezer, and there were some tilapia filets. I thought about it, and thought. Hey, if I can fry OKRA, then I can surely cook FISH. So taking a hint from my Okra prep, I present to you, how I cook fish (The first time I cooked it).

Now, these tilapia fillets are real thin. I took them out of the freezer and defrosted them in milk with a little buttermilk added in. I figured that would do something to them. Especially since that’s what I do to chicken. Meantime, I was thinking…what in the world do I eat with fish? I saw a head of cabbage in the fridge. . . i knew I wasnt using it for Thanksgiving, so it needs to be used up. I chopped about 1/4 of it and threw it into some boiling water with a chicken bullion cube. (Do people outside of the south use bullion?) I knew if I just ate that much cabbage, I’d be farting all night long, so I boiled the heck out of it, and decided–in a moment of clarity–to cook some bacon and throw that in there too.

Ok. Now I had to figure out what to do with the fish. It was thawed, and I was sweating. So I put 2 Tablespoons of Flour and 1 Tablespoon of Cornmeal (yellow) in a bowl and mixed it up. I dredged the fish in it, and salted it after. I put my trusty cast iron skillet on the fire and cranked it all the way to 11 with some oil till there was smoke. I also remembered seeing people cooking the fish on one side then flipping it and putting it in the oven on the Food Network, so I turnt the oven on to 350 or something close to that.

I had to have a sip of wine, then threw that fish in the skillet with the oil. I let it set there for about 2 minutes, then turned it over and threw it in the oven. The whole time I was praying–please please let this taste good. Then I thought, let me put 1/2 tablespoon of butter on the top..you know so it won’t burn. (and Julia Child always says to add “enrichment butter” to her recipes). I threw the oven door open, threw the butter on top then closed it.

Next, I tasted the cabbage. Still not completely finished, but finished enough. Good thing I am single, cause I didn’t boil all the gas out….I put in on my plate. Then the fish was done so I put it on, poured a glass of wine, came to the table and tasted it. OH MY GOD. I think I have died and went to a heaven where I like fish!!!

Try cooking your fish like this and let me know what you think!!