Well… last night turned out to be way more eventful than my typical Monday evening – and I believe that the term “blackened” was taken much too literally in our kitchen… can I just say that an oven fire was not in my plan for the night!! Things were going per usual when I left work… hit up Central Market to grab some groceries for the week, dropped off dry cleaning, arrived at home to change into work out clothes, and I went for a run on my typical route (blah blah)… after that things took a scary and drastic turn. I got back home to start dinner, and the first thing I did was preheat the broiler to 500… about as hot as I usually get the oven… fantastic. While I was waiting on the oven to preheat for the fish, I began to prepare the bell peppers and ingredients for the sauteed corn… WOW things started smelling really unusually good… Was it our neighbors cooking steaks or hamburgers? Thinking nothing of the smell, I just kept chopping away, but then it got intense… like are the living room curtains on fire? I swear I didn’t light candles this evening… frantically I started running around my house, but nothing?… no fire? I went back to the kitchen and realized smoke was now seeping through the back of the oven and out the sides….. HOLY… I totally forgot that during John’s birthday party last week I stored an extra box of J. Rae’s cookies in the oven as I was out of counter space (they come in a very large cardboard, i.e., very flammable PAPER box)… and this box was up in flames… bursting flames. I wish there was a video capturing my reaction as I panicked and called 911 – “OMG OMG my house is going to blow up in flames…” – John wasn’t home yet, so I ran out and started banging on my neighbors door, ringing the bell like a freak show… running back to my kitchen, smoke now billowing out the the back of the oven… and finally the firemen arrived… what felt like an eternity probably only took a few minutes. They arrived on scene – all 4 trucks (why is that necessary?!), and about 6 firemen in my kitchen… to remove a flaming J. Rae’s cookie box. The kitchen was fine, oven fine, no one was hurt… and the firemen looked at me and said – NEVER use your oven as storage when you run out of counter space… lesson learned. I asked, “please tell me this has happened to someone else” – they replied, “yes, but typically to 80 something year old women”… I was feeling super at that moment, and the crowds of neighbors standing in their front yards… probably wondering what is going on??! really did.not.help. // Another very important thing that everyone should take away from this is never under any circumstances open your oven to check and see how large the flames are becoming… if I had opened it to peer in, then the oxygen would have fed the flames, and I probably wouldn’t have a face left. The entire thing shook me up pretty bad, but the oven was fine, I was okay, and luckily nothing serious came about. I had the fish already marinated and the side dish on its way, so I went on with my night and finished dinner. I guess you just have to get back on the saddle… but who burns a box in their oven – dumb a$$ of the year over here!!! If you prepare this delicious, semi dangerous, and healthy dinner tonight, just remember to only blacken the fish! Hoping your Cinco de Mayo was a little less dramatic than mine! Adios.

Blackened Halibut + Mexican Corn & Refreshing Topo Chico… prep & cook time under 20 minutes!

I purchased these key ingredients…

Blackened Halibut

Ingredients:

• 2 to 4 filets of fresh Alaskan halibut (try using tilapia for a less expensive fish / salmon would also work well) – each filet was a little under half a pound
• ask your seafood butcher to remove the skin for you… I really prefer skinless fish / he also packed it on ice, which I highly recommend for freshness
• 2 limes
• 1 packet of blackening seasoning or dry rub… or you can concoct your own
• pico de gallo
• nonstick cooking spray
• tomatillo salsa
• cilantro

Directions:

• preheat your oven on broil at 500 – without a paper box inside of it!
• in an oven proof dish – I used a small rectangular pyrex… spray nonstick cooking spray and arrange your fish, skin side down (remove skin)
• coat the top of the fish in the blackening seasoning, and place two limes slices on each
• pop them in the broiler for ten minutes… when 1 minute is left, remove the fish and pour lime juice over them… put them back in the oven for a final minute – fish should be white throughout and flake with a fork easily
• place the halibut over the tomatillo salsa and top them with pico de gallo, add cilantro and lime slices for garnish
• tip: cook your corn while the fish is in the oven, scroll for recipe

Before:

After:

Mexican Corn

Ingredients:

• 1 large bell pepper
• 1 can of Mexican style corn with peppers
• 1 lime
• salt & pepper
• nonstick cooking spray
• optional, any type of butter or margarine

Directions: 

• while your fish is in the oven, chop half of your bell pepper… here is brief lesson on the fastest way to dice…

Step 1 – using your knife, cut around the top of the pepper to remove the stem

Step 2 – remove the stem, and run cold water inside of the pepper to remove all of the seeds

Step 3 – flip it over and quarter it

Step 4 – slice each quarter in thin strips and then dice the strips (you only need about half of the bell pepper for this recipe, so save the rest to dip in hummus or put in salads)

• place a medium sized saute pan/skillet on your stove
• spray nonstick cooking spray and add a tiny bit of butter (or skip the butter, I didn’t!)
• add the bell peppers, salt, pepper and stir… let it cook for a few minutes
• open your can of corn and pour in (you can also steam a bag of frozen corn in the microwave and add instead of canned… using fresh corn is also an option but it sort of takes forever to cook!)

• give this a stir and add the juice of one lime and of course more S&P… and cook on medium heat until sizzling (a few minutes)
• it should now look like this… let it rest on low until you are ready to plate (if you started this when you put your fish in the oven, then everything should turn out at the same time)

• I used a Texas shaped cookie cutter to plate the corn in honor of my Tex-Mex dinner… totally optional!

• I paired this dish with refreshing Topo Chico mineral water with fresh squeezed lime juice…

OLE!