Fish Creole
Of the dozens of Creole-style fish recipes I’ve tried, this one is the easiest and best tasting. The beauty of the dish is that you can use either one type of lean, firm fish or an assortment of fish and shellfish, depending on what is available. Try this dish with halibut, sea bass, cod, snapper, drum and dorado. Serve with white rice.
Fish Creole
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 pounds fish fillets cut into bite-sized pieces
- 15 – 20 large shrimp peeled and deveined
- 15 – 20 medium fresh oysters with oyster liquor
- juice of 2 lemons
- 1 teaspoon Old Bay Seasoning optional
- salt and freshly ground black pepper
- 1/3 cup peanut oil
- 1/3 cup flour
- 1 cup yellow onion finely chopped
- 3/4 cup green bell pepper finely chopped
- 1 jalapeño pepper seeded and finely chopped
- 1 cup celery chopped
- 6 garlic cloves minced
- 1 6 ounce can tomato paste
- 2 cups tomatoes fresh or canned, diced
- 1 cup fish stock
- 1/4 cup Cajun spice mix
Instructions
- Place fish, shrimp and oysters in a bowl, squeeze lemon juice over, season liberally with salt and pepper and set bowl aside. In a heavy-duty large saucepan (preferably cast iron), heat oil over medium-high heat. Add flour a little at a time and stir constantly until medium brown in color. Reduce heat to medium-low and add onions, peppers, celery and garlic and cook for 7 minutes, stirring often. Reduce heat to low and stir in remaining ingredients and juice from fish, shrimp and oysters. Cook for an additional 10 minutes. Adjust seasonings with salt and freshly ground black pepper.
- Place the fish, shrimp and oysters in a large baking dish. Pour sauce over and bake, uncovered, for 20 minutes or until fish is firm, but flaky.