Pepper Jelly Fish Fillet. Love that sweet & Spicy!

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This recipe was inspired by my need to use up items from my refrigerator that I love but I don’t use often. I am sure you know exactly what I am talking about. You have a jar or bottle of something that you bought for a recipe or maybe you had every intention of using but just haven’t. The latter is what happened to me.

I love pepper jelly. Whenever I am eating out I am inclined to order anything on the menu that includes it. So one week while grocery shopping I saw the pepper jelly and thought “you love pepper jelly, why not eat it more often?” So I bought myself a jar of it. Naturally, I thought to pair it with seafood but the reality is I don’t have enough seafood in my diet so that was probably my first misstep. With that said, I have placed greater emphasis on adding more seafood to my diet this past year. Any of the seafood recipes on my site was a direct effort to push myself to have a more inclusive diet.

So here we are, a jar of pepper jelly and not much to use it with. After a few weeks I decided to use it and you know what? It was so GOOD! It was just like I remembered and I wondered why I waited this long. Guess what though? after that dish I went back to forgetting I had it and now I have had it for a couple months. I guess old habits really die hard. So I am trying my hand again and being intentional about it.

What can we make with pepper jelly?

There’s actually quite a bit to make with pepper jelly, it can be a spread, a sauce, a dip, a glaze or a filling. However, seeing as I am in the early stages of using it I have been playing it safe. Another seafood recipe cant hurt, its quick, its spicy and its absolutely delicious. This was inspired by sweet n sour fish and escoveitch fish and in my opinion a compromise of the two. I know, these two dishes don’t have much in common except for the fried fish. I wanted the sauciness of sweet n sour yet the spiciness of the escoveitch without actually escoveitching it. And so, I bring to you Pepper Jelly fish fillet.

How to make Pepper Jelly Fish Fillet?

Its actually quite easy, like most seafood dishes. You’ll need, fish, oil, some dried spices, corn starch, flour, sweet pepper, onions and red pepper flakes. I used Butter fish fillet, washed with vinegar and lime then pat dry and cut to 1 inch pieces. Create a mix with the salt and dry spices and add to the fish. Mix and set aside. Meanwhile mix your flour, cornstarch and some of the dry spices. I like a dredge version to frying than batter because it comes out flaky and crunchy but sometimes the recipe calls for batter and that can be good too. Heat up your oil. A trick for those who do not have a thermometer, you can dip a wooden spoon in the oil and if you see small aggressive bubbles around the spoon then the oil is ready for frying. Dip each fish in the flour mixture then in the oil it goes. I recommend 4-5 pieces at a time so that the temperature doesn’t drop and the fish cooks evenly.

That Sauce though!

The sauce is the fun part. A few tablespoons of pepper jelly, vegetable oil, onions, sweet pepper and red pepper flakes on low heat until nice and thick. It looks good and taste great. All you’ll need now is to add the fried fish, toss and serve. So now that we know what’s up.

Lets get cooking!

Price Range: $1,200- $1,400 JMD. _{(Price range based on type of supermarket, brand and season. Does not include Pantry Items and tax)}                                                                         

Eating in can be easy on the pocket yet just as fun and tasty as dining out.  Enjoy!

Brawta: Pepper Jelly. _{(Non pantry ingredients that are leftovers for future use.)}