Okay, so I'm already tired of chicken again. I've got a few pieces left from the last bird, so I'll be finishing that up before too long, but I finally got to go grocery shopping again this weekend and picked up a 2lb bag of frozen swai fillets for $10. Five bucks per pound really isn't the best deal, obviously, but it's still better than then $8+ for beef.
For those unfamiliar, swai is a Vietnamese river fish pretty similar to catfish. According to The Googles, it's a type of catfish, but, as far as I'm concerned, there's only one type of catfish, and that's catfish. Swai, thankfully, costs quite a bit less than catfish (which was something like $8/lb), which is why I bought it instead.
My idea for this meal changed a few times over the course of prepping it. Originally, I was thinking miso-soy glazed broiled swai, so I started up by scooping some of my miso paste into a bowl and pouring some soy sauce, sesame oil, and rice vinegar over it, then mixing it with a fork until it was a goop with a fairly uniform consistency. There were still a few chunks in there, but who gives a fuck?
I decided that the best side for an Asian-inspired fish dish would be a vegetable fried rice; however, my current stock of veggies didn't really lend itself to a "traditional" fried rice. For this reason, as well as me being in a "to hell with it, I'm hungry" mindset, I decided I was going to have Italian fried rice. I went with a couple stalks of baby broccoli, some cherry tomatoes, a few mushrooms, a couple cloves of garlic, some red onion, and a few basil leaves.
I cut the florets (tree-looking parts) off the broccoli, then thinly sliced up the stems; I threw those into a bowl with the mushrooms, which were also thinly sliced (15-16 slices per shroom). The cherry tomatoes were quartered and put into a bowl with a dash of salt, then also topped with the basil and one clove of garlic (both minced). I also kept a plate aside with a bit of the red onion (minced) and the other clove of garlic (roughly diced). In addition, I had to take a break to rinse my eyes out with water and get the ceiling fan turned on because the fucking onion was killing me.
Before I started cooking, I took my two swai fillets, dredged them in flour, covered them with the miso/soy mix, and then gave them a light coating with panko bread crumbs (they cost, like, $2 or $3, the same as normal bread crumbs). I did this because I changed my mind and decided to fry the motherfuckers instead. This was a good decision. Frying the fish was a pretty straightforward affair: butter and olive oil in a hot pan, put the fish in, flip it when the breading is browned, finish cooking it, enjoy that tasty shit.
I'm pretty sure I've put fried rice on here a few times, so I'm not going to step-by-step this one. Just know that the pseudo-Italian flair turned out pretty tasty.
As the meal prep was simple in itself, I decided plating should be pretty simple, too. I scooped a layer of rice into the bottom of my bowl and laid the fish on top. The miso/soy paste in lieu of an egg wash worked wonderfully and gave a lot of flavor to the fish, which had no other seasoning on it. Yes, you read that right: no fucking salt, no black pepper, nothing but flour, the mixture, and bread crumbs.
I'll be trying this one again, but probably with some honey added to the mix. I think a little touch of sweetness would really complete the dish overall. Might throw in a little spice, too, but we'll see about that when the time comes.
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