I can hear you now: Woah, woah, woah, Quirky. You don’t dump the contents of your cabinets on fish. Ew! I know you are on a wedding budget and all, but for seriousness – get some taste buds! Or at least some ramen.
But, friend, trust me, Queen of Quirky’s clean out the pantry fish is delicious. Thanks to my parents who unloaded the contents of their freezer (and my dad’s weekly Costco habit) prior to their cross-country move, I had a big bag of frozen mahi mahi in my freezer.
Inside my cabinets I also had a can of chili style stewed tomatoes, a jar of green olives, a small can of green chiles and various spices including red pepper, salt, pepper, cumin, celery salt and more chili powder. On my counter, I had a few cloves of fresh garlic.
So, I diced up the garlic and threw it in some olive oil on the stove. A few minutes later, I put a piece of (thawed) mahi mahi in the oil, searing both sides. Meanwhile I coarsely chopped some green olives and two chiles. I poured the can of tomatoes on top of the fish and garlic. Then, I sprinkled in a dash of all the seasonings previously mentioned (heavy handed on the red peppers! hot mama!). Finally, I slid the contents of my cutting board into the pan and let it simmer with the lid on for about 10 minutes.
Then I served myself the fish with the tomato topping and juices spooned on top.
It was kind of like a poor girl’s version of fish Veracruz-style.
And it was yum. The best part is, you could totally improvise – a jar of salsa v. the canned tomatoes, capers v. olives, onions v. green chiles etc…
Clean out the pantry fish dinner
I can hear you now: Woah, woah, woah, Quirky. You don’t dump the contents of your cabinets on fish. Ew! I know you are on a wedding budget and all, but for seriousness – get some taste buds! Or at least some ramen.
But, friend, trust me, Queen of Quirky’s clean out the pantry fish is delicious. Thanks to my parents who unloaded the contents of their freezer (and my dad’s weekly Costco habit) prior to their cross-country move, I had a big bag of frozen mahi mahi in my freezer.
Inside my cabinets I also had a can of chili style stewed tomatoes, a jar of green olives, a small can of green chiles and various spices including red pepper, salt, pepper, cumin, celery salt and more chili powder. On my counter, I had a few cloves of fresh garlic.
So, I diced up the garlic and threw it in some olive oil on the stove. A few minutes later, I put a piece of (thawed) mahi mahi in the oil, searing both sides. Meanwhile I coarsely chopped some green olives and two chiles. I poured the can of tomatoes on top of the fish and garlic. Then, I sprinkled in a dash of all the seasonings previously mentioned (heavy handed on the red peppers! hot mama!). Finally, I slid the contents of my cutting board into the pan and let it simmer with the lid on for about 10 minutes.
Then I served myself the fish with the tomato topping and juices spooned on top.
It was kind of like a poor girl’s version of fish Veracruz-style.
And it was yum. The best part is, you could totally improvise – a jar of salsa v. the canned tomatoes, capers v. olives, onions v. green chiles etc…
It’s not Mexico, but it’s cheap and it’ll do!