Blackened Fish with Tropical Salsa

This recipe is a combination of several different recipes, and marries blackened fish with a sweet mango and red pepper salsa.  It works best with white fish, but any fish will do.  It’s the perfect dish for a warm summer evening, and goes well with coconut rice.

Ingredients

• 1.5 pounds tilapia or cod
• 2 c milk
• 3/4 c flour
• 3 T chipotle or chili powder
• 1 T paprika
• 1/4 t cayenne pepper
• vegetable oil for frying
• 1 large ripe mango, peeled and cut into 1/4″ dice (see this post from Simply Recipes on how to dice mango)
• 1/2 large red bell pepper, cut into 1/4″ dice
• 1 small shallot, minced (can be substituted with 2 T chopped onion, rinsed after chopping)
• 3 T lime juice
• 3 T chopped cilantro
• salt and pepper to taste

Instructions

1. In medium bowl, toss mango, red pepper, shallot, 3 tablespoons lime juice, cilantro, and 1/2 t salt.
2. Let stand at room temperature for 15-30 minutes to blend flavors, and adjust seasoning as desired.
3. While salsa is resting, place fish in a shallow casserole container and cover with milk – let soak for 30 minutes.
4. In a medium bowl, combine flour, chipotle or chili powder, paprika, and cayenne.
5. Once fish is done soaking, place 2 T oil in a large skillet and heat over high, until oil is just smoking.
6. As skillet is heating up, working in batches, remove fillets from milk and drain excess moisture, then transfer to flour mixture and coat on each side.
7. Add fillets to skillet and cook until blackened on each side, approximately 2-4 minutes per side.  (To test if fish is done, you can use a cooking thermometer and take fish off heat when it reads 145F).
8. To serve, cover fish fillets with salsa.