Kettle-Chip Crusted Lingcod Filets

Jared and Katy are getting married!

While this celebratory exclamation seems random, it’s not. See, shortly after my good friend (Jared) proposed to his lovely girlfriend (Katy), the excited groom-to-be asked me if I would be his best man. I was – of course – honored, and accepted immediately.

Best man? Hell yeah. Weddings are awesome, and unlike our female bridal-party counterpart, dudes only have three responsibilities: wear a tux, make sure the groom isn’t hammered by the time he gets to the altar, and throw a bachelor party. Of course, this obviously highlights a minute a very specific element of the gender-based social imbalance still glaringly obvious in the world, but this is a food blog, so that’s beside the point.

Anyway, I believe that I can successfully accomplish at least two of those three things, and hey, 66% is a passing grade.

We ticked one of these items off the list a couple weekends ago when we went charter fishing for Jared’s bachelor party.

We chartered a boat named the Rock ‘n Roll, which is operated by the cleverly-named Ocean Sportfishing Charters out of Westport, WA. The trip was a “Combination” fishing trip, which meant that we would spend part of the day trolling for salmon, and a second part of the day fishing off the bottom for rockfish and lingcod.

The day – note: this statement is specifically related to the fishing – went well. The captain was friendly, the first mate was helpful, and the weather was overcast, but pleasant. Plus, we caught fish.

We each reeled in our limit of salmon (two), and rockfish (ten), and as a bonus the bachelor-boy landed a lingcod.

Lingcod are ugly, bottom-dwelling carnivores, and are neither ling (a denizen of the north-Atlantic) nor cod (a denizen of water). Regardless of their species, genus or other scientific-jargon crap, their flesh is delicious. Though not a firm as halibut (which I’ve been known to enjoy), the meat is firmer than that of most other white-fish, and has a sweet, slightly nutty flavor when cooked properly.

Since Jared was gracious enough to give each of us a piece of his prized catch, I decided to keep my recipe simple so as to highlight the flavors of the fish.

Ingredients:

• 1 lb ling cod
• 1/2 cup lite mayo
• 1 tbsp Dijon mustard
• 1 tbsp olive oil
• Salt and pepper
• 1.5 cups crushed salt and pepper kettle chips
• Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

In a small bowl, mix together the mayo, mustard and olive oil.

Pat dry the fillets and sprinkle with salt and pepper.

Brush the mayo mixture onto the fillets, coating them lightly but thoroughly.

Coat the fillets with the crushed kettle chips.

Place on parchment paper on a cookie sheet, and bake for 10 minutes.

Consume.

Enjoy.

Note: this recipe is not specific to lingcod. This is a versatile recipe and simple means of cooking fish that could be used for almost anything.