Albemarle Tradewinds July 2019 Web Final

The
Outer
Banks
Marvelous Mahi
By Rosie Hawthorne
Wave
One of the perks of living where we do is our access to some
of the best seafood in the world. My son recently went
deep-sea fishing and came back with dolphinfish, AKA mahi
mahi, a beautiful fish and one of my favorite eating fishes. From
ocean to table in just a few hours, it doesn’t get any fresher than
this.
I’m preparing beer-battered and fried bites, served with a simple
side of coleslaw and a duo of dipping sauces – cocktail and remoulade.
My batter is light and crisp and perfectly complements
the sweet, succulent meat of the fish.
It's not just another wave,
it's an experience.
Read More at:
outerbankswave.com
For more recipes, tours of my garden, and the
occasional travelogue, please visit
with Rosie at
KitchensAreMonkeyBusiness.com.
For any culinary questions, e-me at
Rosie Hawthorne@gmail.com.
Beer-Battered Fried Mahi Mahi
Mahi mahi fillets, cut into bite-sized pieces, about 1 – 1
½ inch cubes
For the batter:
½ cup flour
½ cup corn starch
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp dried mustard
½ tsp cayenne
Pinch kosher salt
About a cup of beer
Whisk all dry ingredients together, then slowly stir in
beer. About a cup. You know – until it “looks right,”
like a thin pancake batter.
For the frying oil, I use peanut oil. It’s a neutral flavored
oil and it has a high smoke point. The smoke
point of an oil is the temperature at which the oil starts
to smoke, burn, and disintegrate. The higher the
smoke point, the more “refined” the oil, meaning fewer
impurities in the oil, which can break down and cause
the oil to smoke, imparting a burnt flavor to your fried
food.
Photo and fish courtesy of
Youngest Hawthorne.
absorb the oil, essentially steaming your food, resulting
in a greasy, not crisp, product. In other words, always
fry in batches, maintaining the high temperature, to get
a golden brown, crisp, and greaseless crust.
Drop the fish pieces into the batter to coat, then pick
up each piece individually and let the excess batter
drain off before gently easing into the hot oil. Fry in
small batches about 2 minutes, turning, until golden
brown. Drain on a rack.
For the dipping sauces, I have the ubiquitous cocktail sauce and a
remoulade sauce.
For the cocktail sauce:
½ cup ketchup
1-2 TB horseradish
1 TB lemon juice
1 TB Lea & Perrins Worcestershire.
Amounts are suggestions and a starting point. Adjust according to
your own tastes. And when I combine these ingredients, I don’t
make a homogeneous mixture. I swirl the ingredients, giving me
“pockets of flavors.”
For the remoulade sauce:
½ cup mayonnaise
1 TB lemon juice
1 -2 tsp coarse grained mustard
1 tsp Tabasco or Texas Pete
½ tsp Lea & Perrins
¼ tsp paprika
¼ tsp cayenne
½ tsp chopped capers
2 tsp chopped parsley
1 TB thinly sliced scallions
Combine all ingredients.
Enjoy!
My fry pot is a heavy pot with an 8-inch diameter and
a 4-inche depth, with at least 2 inches of oil in it. Heat
the oil to 375°. (It helps to have an instant read laser
thermometer. Takes the guesswork out of frying.) As
always when frying, never crowd the pan. Food needs
breathing room in the pan so the heat and air can
circulate around. Overcrowding decreases the temperature
of your oil, causing the breading or batter to
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