An Ode to Pappadeux's

In Houston the Pappas restaurants are a way of life.  I can remember for almost every birthday dinner I would want to go to Pappadeux’s for their Blackened Opelousas or Crawfish Trio.  As a child, it was my once a year brush with culinary heaven.  I even worked there for a summer, using my employee discount as often as I could.  Living on the Texas Gulf Coast we had ample opportunity to get fresh seafood, and it makes you a little regionally biased.

Then after moving to Peru I was exposed to how good Pacific Seafood could be.  Ceviche, mussels,  tiraditos, scallops, and the best calamari and octopus that I have ever eaten.  We experienced four years of some of the best seafood in the world, it was so accessible and inexpensive there was little that I needed to make at home.

Then we moved to rural Venezuela on the shores of Lake Maracaibo where there is little seafood available.  We would occasionally see frozen fish sticks and frozen precooked shrimp at the local grocery store.  Our seafood intake was essentially nothing but canned tuna and salmon.  Then lo and behold they had frozen corvina (sea bass) fillets at one of the local grocery stores.  This opened the doors, and now tonight I am going to blacken the fillets and serve them with a spicy creole white wine sauce with shrimp and cilantro-garlic rice.

Blackening Seasoning

1 tablespoon Paparika

1 tablespoon Black Pepper

1 tablespoon Garlic Powder

1 tablespoon ground oregano

1 teaspoon Red Pepper Flakes

1 teaspoon Gumbo File

½ teaspoon cayenne pepper

1 teaspoon salt

Process:

Mix all the spices thoroughly and place in an airtight container.

Spicy Creole White Wine Sauce;

1 tablespoon flour

1 tablespoon butter

1 cup White Wine

¼ cup heavy cream

¾ cup milk

1 teaspoon Cajun Seasoning (Tony Chachere’s or similar)

1 teaspoon Blackening Seasoning

1 cup peeled and cleaned shrimp

(If you have crab meat, oysters or scallops, they may be used in addition to or instead of the shrimp)

Process:

Heat the butter over medium heat, whisk in the flour to create a roux.

Cook the roux over medium heat, constantly whisking it until it is the color of peanut butter.  This will give the sauce a richer more complex flavor.

Slowly whisk in the white wine, this should make a thick paste that will look just like peanut butter. 

Now slowly add the milk and the heavy cream and continue whisking until smooth and creamy.  Add the spices and let simmer on low for 20 minutes.

Add seafood and simmer for an additional 5 minutes or until shrimp and oysters are completely cooked through.

Serve on top of your Blackened Fish

Blackened Corvina

4 fillets corvina (seabass, catfish, redfish or snapper will work)

Olive oil

Blackening seasoning

Process:

Thoroughly season both side of the fillets with blackening seasoning.

Heat heavy skillet and a liberal amount of olive oil until it begins to smoke, then add the fillets. Cook on high heat for 4 minutes, add more olive oil if needed and flip fillets and cook for another 4 minutes. 

Fillets will have a nice char on both sides and should still be moist on the inside.  Plate the fish and serve immediately.

 Cilantro Garlic Rice

1 Onion finely chopped

4 Cloves Garlic minced

1 teaspoon corn oil

1 cup white rice

1 cups chicken stock

1 cup water

½ teaspoon salt

½ cup chopped cilantro

Juice of 1 lime

Process:

Using a food processor, finely mince the onion, garlic and ¼ cup of cilantro.  Set to the side.

Heat oil in a sauce pan, add rice and sauté until puffed.  Add onion and garlic and ¼ cup of cilantro, sauté until most of the liquid is gone.  

Add the stock and water, bring to boil, cover and simmer 20 minutes.  Take off the heat, add remaining chopped ¼ cup of cilantro and the juice of the lime.  Mix thoroughly and serve.

 
Put it all together and this is the lovely dish you get!  Enjoy!