"Light" and Fried Fish, Really?

So as much as I love my subscription to Cooking Light, I'm not always completely sure if things they have recipes for are 'light' - I know, that's the whole point of the magazine but hey, sometimes it's hard to believe. I'm a few months behind in my magazine reading but tonight I pulled a recipe from the December 2008 Cooking Light (which by the way has some fabulous stuff on the cover, hot chocolate fudge cakes...maybe add a raspberry sauce and it can be a Valentines thing?) -- Pan-Fried Halibut with Remoulade....the original recipe can be found on the Cooking Light website, but mine has a few modifications and is listed here:


Remoulade:
1 TBSP Chopped Fresh Parsley
2 TBSP Reduced-Fat Mayo
1 Tsp Louisiana Hot Sauce
1 Tsp Worcheshire Sauce
2 Tsp Whole-Grain Dijon Mustard
1/2 Tsp Minced Fresh Garlic
1/2 Tsp Fresh Lemon Juice

Fish:

1/4 Cup All-Purpose Flour

1/2 Cup Panko

1 Lg Egg White, Lightly Beaten

2 (6-oz) skinless Cod Fillets

1 Tbsp Canola Oil

2 Lemon Wedges

1/4 Tsp Garlic Powder

1/4 Tsp Salt

1/4 Tsp White Pepper

1. To make sauce, combine all ingredients listed under Remoulade, chill until needed.

2. Place flour in shallow dish. Place panko in a shallow dish and egg white in another shallow dish.

3. Sprinkle fish evenly with salt, garlic powder and white pepper. Working with 1 fillet at a time, dredge fish in flour, shaking off excess. Dip fish into egg white, allowing excess to drip off. Coat fish completely with panko, pressing lightly. Set aside. Repeat process with remaining fish.

***My suggestion is to use one hand for flour-ing the fish and the other for the egg/panko portion, so that things aren't all lumpy in the flour.

4. Heat a large non-stick skillet over medium-high heat. Add oil to pan, swirling to coat. Add fish to pan; reduce heat to medium and cook 4 minutes per side (or until browned and fish flakes easily when tested with a fork). Serve with sauce and lemon wedges.

Tonight this was dinner for my sister and I, she is home still as the lucky college girl doesn't start back until 1/20 -- wow do I miss those days! Needless to say, the fish was a hit and will remain in my regular rotation. Alongside the fish, I served a family favorite, baked sweet potatoes with garlic and chile pequins. Strangely my sis and I were always the kids who were not interested in the baked sweet potatoes at Thanksgiving, you know the ones, they have marshmallows all over the tops. To this day I'm not a fan (I know that's probably going to put me on a hit list somewhere), but about ten years ago my mom started experimenting with varieties of savory sweet potato dishes, first at Thanksgiving and then once we moved back to Texas and had chile pequins in our yard, on a more regular basis. This variety is one of our favorites and is a go-to easy meal all by itself for me after a long day at work.

For one potato:

1 Sweet Potato

1 Clove Garlic, slivered

4 Chile Pequins

Kosher Salt

Fresh Ground Pepper

Foil

1. Heat the oven to 425.

2. Wash potato, dry but leave a little bit of moisture (enough so that some salt and pepper will stick to it).

3.Using a steak knife, put slits in the potato (all around the potato), large enough to slide the garlic and chiles into.

4. Depending on how much garlic and spicy you like, insert your garlic and peppers into the slits.

5. Salt and pepper your potato and wrap in foil. Bake until it's sufficiently squishy (yea, I know, not the most appetizing word but it's the most accurate for this). Typically 30-45 minutes.

For those of you who aren't enlightened or just want to know more on Chile Pequins, here is a great briefing on the pepper...a few things to know:

1. It's pretty darn hot.

2. It's really really hot - don't touch your eyes after touching them....yea that sounds like a 'duh' statement but my sister, myself and I'm pretty sure my mom have all experienced the eye business hours after touching the peppers.

3. Pequin pepper (or "Piquin") is a hot chile pepper, also known as "bird pepper."

4. Birds love eating these peppers, hence the nickname.

5. The pequin is so small, the largest are scarcely the size of an apple seed.

6. It takes its name, in fact, from Spanish word 'pequeño,' which means small or tiny.

**So I would've actually had better photos to post of the food but we were so hungry that I forgot to take them until it was a little too late....so I had to improvise with the photos you see here...a side fish photo, a some chile pequin photos. Sorry!