It's Not Really Black

 

Supper Wednesday April 29, 2020: blackened mahi; farfale a bella (farfale, baby bellas, cream, butter, garlic, parmesan, black pepper).

The grocer we use has had whole mahi filets (frozen, cryovac) on sale for some time. (When does a sale time out and just become the new price?) We keep going in expecting the "sale" to be over but it doesn't end so we have been eating a fair amount of mahi. It works really well blackened. I'm not sure what about it makes that method turn out so well but it does. By contrast I tried cutting it into strips then breading and frying it. Fried fish right? Anggg! Try again. It is not good that way. The texture and flavor just don't work with frying. But hey, blackening is easier anyway. 

The thing to keep in mind about blackening is that it is not really black, in other words burnt. It is more like black-ish. The spice coating should be very browned. It looks at a glance as if it is burned but not quite. If truly burned the spices will turn bitter. The pan should have a little oil and hot enough to shimmer the oil well, but not quite smoke it. (If it's smoking just a little go ahead, but drop the heat just a skosh.) A cast iron or other heavy pan works best because it is more temperature stable from its large mass.