ocean rockfish with gumbo

2021-07-23

a. Enriched gumbo

Zatarain's gumbo mix isn't bad all by itself, but becomes so much better by adding gumbo vegetables, which means the Cajun trinity (onion, celery, bell peppers) and okra. Lucky for me, our local grocery store Peppers sells a frozen gumbo vegetable mix. I do add more onion and bell peppers in addition to that.

I like this gumbo on the wet side, and cook it with at least 1 extra cup water over the recommended amount.

You can make this from scratch by starting with a very dark roux and meat or fish stock, then adding the vegetables and seasoning. I don't bother when I have the packages in stock.

INGREDIENTS

This is what you need for 2-3 servings:

  • 1 pckg. Zatarain's gumbo mix (with rice)
    OR Zatarain's gumbo base + 1-2 cups of rice
  • 1 pckg. frozen gumbo vegetables
  • 1/2 lb. frozen onion & bell pepper mix
  • S&P
Pic1: all-vegetable gumbo

Directions

2021-07-23

Pic2: gumbo mix, gumbo vegetables
Pic3: extra onions, bell peppers
Pic4: simmer

 

Pic5-7: cook

Alternative to breading and baking,

The internal heat in the pot should fully cook the fillets in 20-30 minutes without the fish breaking up in the gumbo stew as would happen if the fish were added from the start.

b. ocean rockfish

This is a new fish species for me, found it at Sprouts in Las Cruces.

I do recommend to go easier on the breading,  unless you intend to pan-fry or deep-fry. The excess breading is not so nice when oven-baked. It didn't bother me because I don't eat the breading anyway, only use it as a drying cover for the cooking and remove (most of) it at the table.

INGREDIENTS

This is what you need for 2 servings:

  • 1 lb. ocean rockfish fillets
  • Zatarain's seasoned fish fry breading
Pic8: breaded ocean rockfish fillet

Directions

2021-07-23

Pic9: Zatarain's fish fry mix
Pic10+11: bake

 

Pic12-14: served