Ziggy Marley & The Chieftains - Redemption Song

Today's tune can be found on The Wide World Over: A 40 Year Celebration:

Recipe: Onion Straws

• 1 large white onion
• 1 cup milk
• 1 tbsp lemon juice
• 1 cup white flour
• 3/4 cup wheat flour
• 1/4 cup corn meal
• chipotle chile powder
• fresh ground black pepper
• 1 quart canola oil

Mix milk with lemon juice. Let stand 10-15 minutes. Or spend more money to buy fake buttermilk that is made pretty much the same way. Or spend even more money and buy traditional buttermilk.

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Slice onion in half, root to tip. If you feel you can slice in mid-air, without support, go ahead; I did that with the first onion and it didn't work so well.

Place the onion half freshly-cut side down. Starting at the tip, slice as thin as you can and still have the knife somewhere near the onion. You should be able to see the knife through the onion.

Repeat with the other half.

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Separate onion bits and place in a large glass dish.

Pour buttermilk over the onion.

Allow to sit for 1 hour.

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Mix flours together.

Add spices. Go heavy on the black pepper, it's better that way.

I also added some ground white pepper and a pinch or two of tarragon, but the latter was inconsequential and the former works just as well as more ground pepper.

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Pre-heat canola oil in saute pan, dutch oven, or other appropriate container, to 350 degrees.

Pick up onions from buttermilk, drop into the flour mix.

Shake the extra flour off, drop the coated onions in the oil.

By the time you mix the next batch of milky onions in the flour, the ones in the oil will be cooked.

They go real quick, so keep an eye on them.

Place on a paper towel to drain.

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Make sure you eat them before anyone else realizes they're ready. Or make two onions worth, which is what I did.

Also, for best results, use one set of tongs in the milk/onion mix, another in the flour, and a third (I used a metal slotted spoon for this one) to scoop them from the oil. I'm thinking of getting some metal mesh screened pans to shake more of the excess flour off before they go in the oil; the excess sludge really drops the temperature of the oil pretty quickly. Any ideas on keeping that to a limited quantity would be welcome!

Recipe: Fried Cod Pieces

• 2 large cod filets (or haddock or flounder or any other white fish, really, although if you use something else, you lose the clever word play in the title, which means a possibly more appetizing title, which means less fish for you)
• 1 cup milk
• 1 tbsp lemon juice
• 1 cup white flour
• 3/4 cup wheat flour
• 1/4 cup corn meal
• chipotle chile powder
• fresh ground black pepper
• 1 quart canola oil

And yes - if you make this with the onion straws, the recipe is the same. Next time, I may do a beer battered fish, but this was done to keep the flour mix identical.

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Mix milk with lemon juice. Let stand 10-15 minutes. Or spend more money to buy fake buttermilk that is made pretty much the same way. Or spend even more money and buy traditional buttermilk.

~ ~ ~

Slice cod filets into narrow strips, cutting each in half at the spine.

Place in a glass dish.

Pour buttermilk over the onion.

Allow to sit for 1 hour.

~ ~ ~

Mix flours together.

Add spices. Go heavy on the black pepper, it's better that way.

I also added some ground white pepper and a pinch or two of tarragon, but the latter was inconsequential and the former works just as well as more ground pepper.

~ ~ ~

Pre-heat canola oil in saute pan, dutch oven, or other appropriate container, to 350 degrees.

Pick up fish from buttermilk, drop into the flour mix.

Shake the extra flour off, drop the coated onions in the oil.

By the time you mix the next batch of milky fish bits in the flour, the ones in the oil will be ready to be turned (unless you use enough oil to cover them).

Cook them a lot less on the second side.

Place on a paper towel to drain.

Recipe: Fisherman's Salad

• onion straws
• cod pieces
• green leaf lettuce, chopped into thin slices
• baby spinach leaves, thinly sliced
• carrots, chopped into thin slices
• extra sharp cheddar, shredded
• Briannas Lively Lemon Tarragon dressing

Prep the salad ingredients, make the onion straws and cod pieces.

Heat 2 tbsp of the dressing (or so) in a small saucepan over very low (as low as you can go) heat. I simmered it while the fish fried, turned the heat off, and left it there until the onion straws were done, and it was perfect. A bit of heat brings out the sweetness in the dressing; it's not necessarily served hot, though.

This is best done in individual size servings ~ I wouldn't advise putting this in a big bowl and tossing it.

Add a few onion straws, then the lettuce, spinach, and carrots. Mix that up a bit. Add some more onion straws, and a few pieces of the fish. Top with the cheese and drizzle with the dressing.

As mentioned with the cod pieces recipe, beer battered might be the way to go... although the onion straws held up well with the dressing and veggies, the fish seemed to get soggier. A battered coating may prevent that.