fish po'boys

I had to take a break from blogging. The only reason I stopped blogging was because I couldn't eat! I was sick with a flu that left me 10 days without the ability to taste any food. I ate mostly peanut butter on toast until last night when Nuno made the most delicious Spaghetti Puttanesca, miraculously, the sensation of tasting food returned! It was one of the best meals I've ever eaten, not only because of this circumstance, but also because he nailed the recipe spot-on. 

Last week on Fat Tuesday, our original plan was to eat a dinner inspired by Mardi Gras (which really meant any New Orleans-style dinner). But since I was sick we had to wait until today to make our Fish Po'Boys. This recipe originally appeared in the first Everyday Food book, Great Food Fast. 

We used tilapia instead of flounder and we also decided to bake the fish instead of frying. Our variation on the recipe was a total success. We toasted the cornmeal in the oven first for 15 minutes and then, after dredging the fish in egg whites, coated in the cornmeal and then baked in the oven. There was a remoulade (of sorts) as the main condiment in this recipe which was particularly good. We have lots leftover and I might just use it again with other fish recipes. 

Baguettes are very tough & chewy, so we made a side of Cheddar-Corn Spoon Bread so that Owen could eat the fish and cornbread. He totally loved both. The Cheddar-Corn Spoon Bread is a particularly good recipe for little ones because of how light, soft and naturally sweet it is. I wish we'd made for this for him 6 months ago because Owen now eats just about everything we do unless it's hard to bite through or too chewy.