Cooking with Paul: Discovering the fish-breading joys of plantain strips - San Antonio Express-News

Cooking with Paul: Discovering the fish-breading joys of plantain strips - San Antonio Express-News

Cooking with Paul: Discovering the fish-breading joys of plantain strips - San Antonio Express-News

Posted: 29 Feb 2020 02:00 AM PST

Every week, Express-News Taste writer Paul Stephen cooks several recipes for his job — often creating his own in the process. Cooking with Paul chronicles what he learned each week from that process. Enjoy!

Things got a little fishy in the kitchen this week. OK, make that a lot fishy.

I was initially on a mission to make the traditional fried fish feast enjoyed by so many every Friday during Lent a little lighter by baking it in the oven instead of splattering my kitchen with grease. Enter my editor, Emily Spicer, who said, "but, what about Flamin' Hot Cheetos!"

(Editor's note: There was a lot more to this convo. But if you like the idea of breading catfish in Cheetos, the idea was mine. If you think, Ew, gross, then the idea was Paul's. Smiley face.)

Well, next thing you know we have this week's Taste centerpiece built around chip-encrusted fish fillets baked in the oven.

Looking for recipes? See what recipes we're creating and cooking here. Bookmark the page!

A big highlight here was discovering several new (to me) bags of chips in the process. The snack food aisle at Central Market is forever changing, and one of those revelations was their house brand line dubbed Exotic Fruit Chips.

I wanted to use plantain chips for one of the recipes, but found the standard chips to be a little too thick for my liking. Fortunately, the Exotic Fruit Chips Plantain Strips ($2.98 for an 8-ounce bag) were thinly sliced lengthwise down the plantain, resulting in a lighter, flakier chip that crushed more easily into the texture I wanted.

On ExpressNews.com: Swim into Lent with responsible fish choices for cooking

And while I was in the process of writing all these recipes up, a massive box from Lay's the potato chip company landed on my desk.

Y'all remember back in 2017 when San Antonio resident Ellen Saram won a million bucks with her Crispy Taco-flavored potato chips? Well, Lay's is rolling those limited-run chips (and their Wavy Fried Green Tomato flavor) back out next week to coincide with the launch of the 18th season of the NBC show "The Voice." Look for the chips in area grocery store snack aisles.

Just don't expect to find me in that aisle, as well. My quarterly chip quota was definitely met in two days this week.

Recipe: Baked Flamin' Hot Cheetos Catfish with Queso

Recipe: Plantain Chip-Crusted Snapper with Napa Cabbage Slaw

Recipe: Crispy Baked Tortilla-Crusted Black Drum

Recipe: Salt-and-Vinegar Potato Chip-Crusted Cod with Creamy Dill Sauce

Paul Stephen is a food and drink reporter and restaurant critic in the San Antonio and Bexar County area. Read him on our free site, mySA.com, and on our subscriber site, ExpressNews.com. | pstephen@express-news.net | Twitter: @pjbites | Instagram: @pjstephen

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