Felicia’s Porgy with Chimichurri Tomato Salsa is an original dish you’ve got to try. Photo by Tom Schlichter.

Recipe by Felicia Scocozza

The beauty of this recipe is a unique sauce combining chimichurri with tomato salsa to make a new topping for your tasty porgies (scup). The chimichurri salsa should be prepared first so the flavors can marry (or hook-up) for at least ½ hour in the refrigerator. The porgy is rolled in a simple cornmeal mixture and pan-fried in vegetable oil.

You’ll find this recipe incorporates a variety of summer flavors – making porgy a perfect choice as the main ingredient. While there appear to be a lot of steps, prep time is reasonable at roughly 30 minutes. The chimichurri topping, by the way, also works well with many meats and pork.

This recipe serves six.

Ingredients: Chimichurri Tomato Salsa

• ½ cup finely chopped parsley
• ¼ cup finely chopped cilantro
• 2 garlic cloves, minced
• ½ tsp. red pepper flakes
• ½ tsp. ground cumin
• ½ tsp. dried oregano
• 2 cups of chopped grape or cherry tomatoes in any color combination you want
• 1 jalapeno chopped and seeded; leave some seeds if you desire more heat
• ¼ cup chopped red onion
• 2 tsp. salt
• ½ tsp. black pepper
• 3 tbsp. olive oil
• Juice of 1/2 lime
• 1 cup thawed frozen corn or cooked fresh corn sliced off the cob

Preparation:

1. Mix all ingredients together in a large bowl and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes.

Ingredients: Fish

• 1 ½ lbs. porgy, sea bass or similar white-fleshed fish filets
• 2 cups buttermilk
• 1 tsp. salt
• ½ tsp. black pepper
• 1 ½ cups of cornmeal
• ½ cup flour
• ½ tsp. cayenne pepper
• 2 tsp. Old Bay seasoning
• 1 tsp. salt
• ½ tsp. of black pepper
• ½ tsp. garlic powder
• Canola oil for frying

Preparation:

1. In a medium bowl whisk together buttermilk, 1 tsp. salt and ½ tsp. black pepper
2. Soak fish in buttermilk mixture for at least 5 minutes while preparing the cornmeal coating
3. In a separate bowl, mix 1 ½ cups cornmeal with remaining ingredients except for canola oil
4. Heat ½ inch of canola in a heavy-bottom pan on medium high
5. When oil is hot, dredge buttermilk-soaked fish in cornmeal mixture and gently place in oil.
6. Fry fish, 3 minutes on each side or until golden brown. Don’t crowd the pan, cook in batches.
7. Remove fish, drain on paper towels. Plate with a helping of chimichurri salsa on each fillet. Alternatively, you can serve inside a soft corn taco topped with chimichurri salsa and dab of guacamole.

Optional: Grill some fresh corn while fish is frying. Cut off kernels from one cob and add to chimichurri salsa instead of frozen corn.  Serve other cobs on the side.

Note: Unlike baking, cooking is not an exact science. Readers are encouraged to adjust and modify these recipes to their own tastes.