Crispy Fresh Rockfish

One great thing about living here is the fresh seafood readily available. Rockfish is another name for striped bass, and (bit of trivia) is Maryland's state fish. Rockfish season recently opened, and my very generous neighbor showed up at my doorstep with a couple pounds of rockfish filet that he had caught that morning. Lucky me! It just so happened that the current issue of Cooking Light had a recipe on making crispy flounder which I adapted a bit for this beautiful piece of rockfish. Panko made an extra crispy crust, and just a slick of oil in the skillet was all it took to pan fry it, so it had a fried texture without the extra fat. I served it with steamed broccoli & cauliflower and quinoa cooked in vegetable broth.

RECIPE:
1-2 lbs whitefish, cut into 4oz fillets
1 cup Japanese panko
1 tbsp dried italian seasoning
1 pint cherry tomatos
2 tbsp capers
1 shallot
1/4 cup fresh basil, thinly sliced
olive oil
kosher salt
freshly ground pepper
cooking spray

Heat a bit of olive oil in the bottom of a small skillet on medium heat. Saute shallot, tomatoes, and capers for 5 minutes. Add about 1/4 cup water to the skillet, cover, and let steam until the tomatoes are wilted, which took about 10 minutes. Heat a large skillet to medium-high heat, then add enough olive oil to just coat the bottom of the skillet. Combine panko and italian seasoning on a shallow dish or plate. Spray fish fillets with cooking spray then sprinkle with salt and pepper. Dredge fillets in panko, then place on the hot skillet. Cook fish fillets about 3 minutes on each side until it easily flakes with a fork. Serve the fish warm with a topping of tomato-caper mixture and a sprinkling of fresh basil.