Crusted White Fish Sandwich

I’ve been crav­ing a fish sand­wich all sum­mer. And this sand­wich is not it. What I’ve been han­ker­ing for is some­thing much less healthy than what I ended up with. I thought about try­ing to make a home made Filet ‘O Fish with tar­tar sauce but you know, even if you lighten it up it’s still going to be a deep fried mess. Some­times I amaze myself with my own restraint. Although it wasn’t what I ini­tially wanted, this sand­wich rocked. The corn meal made a nice thin crust that you could spice up any way you like and the toma­toes and — hello! — the spicy mayo madee it moist and juicy to bite into. Plus, Tilapia is a fish you can feel good about in every way — it’s super healthy and envi­ron­men­tally Kosher. It’s also nice and light and cooks quickly.

This sand­wich is more of an assem­bly job than any­thing else. On a hot sumer day, isn’t that exactly what you want? I made a lit­tle cole slaw of car­rot, cab­bage and bok choy to go with it. I was shoot­ing with our lovely pho­tog­ra­pher Maya on this day and thought I’d make it last so we could have one each for lunch. Just then Laura and Scar­lett arrived for the after­noon shoot. It was lucky I had enough for sand­wiches they were such a hit with every­one. Scar­lett didn’t find the mayo too spicy at all — although I noticed she took a pass on the toma­toes! Oh, well, you can’t win ’em all.

pho­tos by Maya Vis­nyei