Vote vote vote vote vote vote vote vote...Everybody!

Apologies for the major delay in posting.  Have not been motivated to cook of late due to late work days and coming home to the horror of P cooking.  Just kidding.  P's cooking is not that bad.   Also obsessed with watching episodes of Lost on Netflix.  Never watched it when it was actually on but now P and I cannot tear ourselves away.  There's a lot of gasps, F bombs, and sounds of exasperation reasonating in our little apartment with every twist and turn...mostly from me.  Hard to cook when all you want to do is sit and watch.  But I'm back!

Today is BC elections day and after much research, I voted for the party which will most likely provide the funding needed so I can work more.  Having only a part time line at work, I was fortunate to be able to pick up extra shifts in order to work full time.  But unfortunately, I no longer have those extra shifts unless whichever government gets elected in has mercy and throws some more money towards health care.

Ergo, I am on a budget so tight that it reminds me of me trying to get into my pants I wore in my early twenties: no wiggle room. 

A few weeks ago my brother in law N made a tasty fish dish that involved basa fillets, capers, lemon, white wine, and parsley.  I have been wanting to try to replicate it myself, but am on a tight budget.  Thankfully, basa fillets aren't too expensive.  I had some leftover lemons from making lemon bars for P's nephew Milutke's birthday.  I bought No Name capers for $1.28.  I don't have an issue buying No Name products if they're going to be incorporated into a dish and are not the star of the show.  It's cheap and affordable and you can't tell the difference.  Only thing missing is the wine.  I know the caveat is if you won't drink it in a glass, it doesn't belong in your food.  But I'm not Burt Reynolds with money to burn.  I admit it!  I went and bought a cheap American Chardonnay called Flip Flop.  The price was attractive (a whooping $8.00 plus change) and what can go wrong with a wine named after my favorite shoe type.  I did drink it while making dinner and while eating dinner.  For $8 wine, it did its job.

I start to organize my ingredients and P, while rolling his R's to accentuate the Spanish pronounciation, hollers from the living room that he does not want to eat the dish I am cooking unless it involves the fish being put into a tortilla with salsa.  I don't blame him.  We had tasty fish tacos at a pub by Kits beach and we've been craving fish tacos since. 

Basa Fillets with White Wine, Lemon, and Capers sauce

Serves 2

2 basa fillets

salt and pepper

1 generous tablespoon flour (or more depending on how big fillets are)

1-2 tablespoons olive oil

1 small onion (I highly recommend a shallot but alas I only had a very large onion)

 juice of 1-2 lemons (depending on how juicy your lemon is)

1/2 to 3/4 wine glassful of white wine

3 tbsp capers drained and rinsed

a big ass pat of butter.  I'm guessing it's about 2 tbsps.

1/2 tbsp dried parsley.  If you have fresh, obviously use fresh.  I refused to buy fresh parsley because I knew I would never use all of it and it would just turn to yucky mush.

Chop up onion finely.

Heat pan on medium heat.  Pat basa fillets dry if needed.  Sprinkle with salt and pepper.  Press the fillets lightly to push in salt and pepper into fillets.    

On a separate plate, put flour.  Coat fillets with flour.

Pour oil into pan and let heat briefly.  Put in fillets.  Brown fillets on both side (approx 3 minutes per side depending on size of fillet). If it's not quite done, don't fret.  Keep reading. 

Take fillets out of pan and put on a plate.  Add a little more oil if needed.  Put onions in the pan and cook until softened.  Add lemon juice and wine.  Reduce heat slightly and let reduce. 

Once reduced to about 1/2, add butter and swirl the pan.  Add parsley.  Return fish to pan and continue to let simmer for 3-5 minutes.  I had to do this because my fish fillets weren't quite yet cooked despite the browning.  If your fish is cooked (it's cooked when it flakes with a fork) skip the simmer step.  Swirl pan to coat fish with sauce.  

I served this with rice.  The fish was still juicy and the sauce was tangy with the lemon and capers, but somewhat rich due to the butter.  P liked it too, but said it would taste better, again rolling the R's, if it was in a tortilla with salsa.  Sigh.  That's for another day.

On a side note, in my early twenties, besides being able to fit in some cute jeans, I also had bad food poisoning from a fish fillet of some white fish I can't even remember.  As a result, I have not eaten white fish fillets since, but I am slowly trying to reintroduce them back into my life.  I can only eat so much salmon and I am too poor to afford delicious shellfish.  This was a nice little introduction back. 

Here's hoping the party voted in will do what's best for B.C. and give me some more work!