OH, OH, POMPANO! AND MESSY MAHI TOSTADAS

These meals go from heaven and then back to earth, and both delightful!
We were lucky to find some fresh Pompano. My Dad was an avid sports fisherman and dedicated himself to Striped Bass on Cape Ann. We often enjoyed "tinker" mackeral and flounder when in season, only moments off the boat. When Dad went to Florida, though, only Pomano would do. It is delicate and delicious and, I understand, the most expensive Gulf fish to purchase. 

My favorite treatment of a delicate, exquisite fish, is to adorn it with Beurre Blanc. Sometimes, fish such as Dover Sole, needs only butter and lemon, but I love playing with the variations of a Beurre Blanc.

For this one, I used white wine, shallots, white wine vinegar and tarragon. I have never had a recipe for Beurre Blanc, but have never failed using this process:
Reduce white wine with shallots and/or herbs to about  1/4 cup in the pan. Start with at least 1 cup.
Remove from heat or lower to minimum and add 1 tablespoon of butter at a time whisking constantly until smooth and thickened to consistency desired. (you don't want a watery sauce, just unctuous)
Some people add cream and you can add flavors with orange, lemon or grapefruit juice.


Season the fish fillets with salt and pepper or maybe a seafood rub.
Saute them in butter or olive oil until browned and flaky.
Ladle with sauce.


Pompano, Flounder, Halibut, Orange Roughy or any delicate non-oily fish is superb with this sauce.

I have been fortunate enough to find a source of local organic produce delivered to my home, suncoastorganics.net, so rounding out the meal is now easy. I love it! The produce changes weekly, so you can organize menus around the selections, or just create as you go along. ( you also have the option of choosing a la carte, but I like the challenge of having to figure out what to do with what you get!)


For this meal, I added some wild rice cooked in chicken broth and a salad of arugula, dandelion greens, cucumber and tomatoes in a red wine vinaigrette.


Vinaigrette
3 tablespoons red wine vinegar
salt and pepper
1/3 cup extra virgin olive oil whisked in 

Then for dessert, I mixed the wonderful berries received in the order, strawberries, blueberries, raspberries and blackberries with some triple sec and whipped cream.


Simple, simple, simple, divine, divine , divine!

Now for the Mahi Tostadas

Season Mahi fillets with a seafood rub such as Old Bay or Paul Prudhomme
Saute in an oiled skillet until just done (flaky)


Fry corn tortillas in oil until crispy (or if you can find tostada shells without hydrogentated oil, USE THEM!)


Spread tartar sauce on the tortillas, top with lettuce and tomato and then the Mahi fillets, add some hot sauce or salsa or more tartar sauce. Serve. Picking them up in your fingers works best. They are messy, but good!!

I served them with some sauteed zucchini, colorful peppers, red onion and oregano.  Good meal, had to share!