Swampy's missive on blackened fish

Swampy loves blackened fish, but it is something he hadn't tried until yesterday. It was moderately successful -- not perfect, but a definitely a good dinner.

Blackened fish is rubbed with a spice mixture and then fried in a very hot covered pan with only a minimal amount of oil. The spices covering the fish become highly roasted, almost burned. in the process. Usually, you also make a drizzling sauce. Swampy cheaped out on this because he has only limited ingredients, but it turned out quite acceptable.

For a vegetable, Swampy roasted brussels sprouts using a basic toss and bake recipe.

Here is the recipe:

Spice rub:

onion powder
dried parsley
dried oregano
cumin
mustard powder
hot paprika
hot pepper flakes
black pepper
salt

Combine, and grind to a powder (Swampy uses a small coffee grinder for spices only)

Rub on the fish, set aside for 2 or 3 minutes while you heat up the pan.

Take a thick bottomed pan you can cover. Heat it with just a little oil until it smokes. In goes the fish, cover, wait 5 minutes and flip. You should start to smell "burning" a little, but not severely.

For the sauce, Swampy used:

butter (about 2t)
Worcestershire sauce (about 1t)
rice vinegar (2t)

melt butter, add other ingredients, reduce...drizzle over the fish right before you serve.

Obviously, the sauce is the "cheap version". It would be better, instead of the vinegar, to reduce some wine and maybe sautee some shallots in a little olive oil first.

[TrudieC]

That does sound good.  What do you think about using smoked paprika in this?

[swampcritter]

You could experiment with smoked paprika, but it may be that the extra flavor is lost in the blackening process. So it may not be a real flavor win. You could consider sprinkling it on the fish after cooking or incorporating it into a sauce.