liv bites

I recently went home to Jackson, Mississippi for a long weekend to celebrate a friend’s recent engagement, and I ate the whole time I was there.

Friday night we went to my favorite restaurant, Walkers, where no less than two desserts were shared. Saturday I picked fresh basil from my dad’s garden and made a caprese salad, enjoyed by the pool with a glass of rosé (mm). Sunday my assistant got his first taste of fresh boiled crawfish, my mom’s seafood gumbo and her famous chocolate praline bars. And then we sat on a plane for 6 hours.

Oddly, all of the Southern-style eating just had me wanting more when I landed back in not-so-sunny San Francisco (yes, it’s 55 degrees here). Enter Paula Deen for inspiration. I found this Pecan Coated Fish recipe, and I was sold — especially since I already had some pecans in my pantry.

Paula, bless her, isn’t known for her heart-friendly recipes, so I tweaked mine a bit to make it healthier. Served with a side of roasted sweet potatoes and sautéed spinach, it was the perfect meal to transition me back to the West Coast.

Pecan Crusted Cod with Remoulade Sauce

Ingredients (Serves 4):

2 cloves garlic

2 slices whole wheat bread, toasted

2 tbsp. flour

2/3 cup pecans

1/2 tsp. nutmeg

1/2 tsp. black pepper

2 eggs

4 filets of cod (about 2 lbs.), or any white, flaky fish

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

Chop garlic in a food processor until minced. Add toasted bread, flour, pecans, nutmeg and pepper, and puree until the mixture is soft and fine, but still a bit chunky. Transfer to a large plate.

Beat eggs in a medium-sized bowl. Dredge cod filets in the eggs, then place filets in pecan mixture, coating both sides thoroughly.

Place cod filets on a lightly greased baking sheet, and bake for about 12 minutes. Turn heat up to broil and bake for another 5 to 7 minutes, or until done (I check by sticking a fork in the thickest part of the filet and seeing if it flakes. If it does, it’s probably done).

Note: I turned the heat up at the end because I wanted the outside to get a nice brown, toasted texture. Toasting really brings out the flavors of the pecans, too.

Serve cod with remoulade sauce, recipe below.

Lightened-Up Remoulade Sauce

Ingredients (Makes about 1 cup):

2/3 cup plain yogurt

2 tbsp. mayonnaise

2 tbsp. dijon mustard

2 tbsp. olive oil

1.5 cloves garlic, minced

2 tbsp. capers

2 tbsp. chopped green onions

Juice of 1 lemon

1/2 tsp. brown sugar

Pinch of salt

Stir all ingredients together and serve. Many remoulade sauces call for puréeing all the ingredients in a food processor, but I wanted to preserve the chunks of capers and green onions — just a matter of preference.

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