Breakfast Fish

Several months ago I had the strange idea that fish might taste good if it was marinated in maple syrup. Ever since then, to the delight of friend and family, I’ve been serving maple marinated fish. I find that the idea works well with fish like sole and flounder that pretty much take on the flavor of the things around them. Usually I coat the marinated fish in a light layer of flour and sauté it, giving the fish a slightly crunchy sweet crust that really works well with the flounder I usually use. I then pair it with corn (something else that is slightly sweet and crunchy) and either poached cranberries or sour cherries.

This weekend I decided to play around with this dish and make it more breakfast-y. I was thinking of things I eat and thing I buy at the Green Market and thought about incorporating berries and bacon into the dish. Originally I wanted to marinate the fish or puree it with maple syrup and then stuff it with blueberries and walnuts, wrap it in bacon and bake it (which I still might do) but time constraints on Sunday (thanks to football) led me in a different direction. Instead of pureeing the maple marinated fish, I coated it in brioche bread crumbs (another breakfast item) and baked it. I then served the baked fish over crispy, slightly sour, Mutsu apples; blueberries, raspberries, and bacon-sage vinaigrette. Overall I was really happy with the dish although next time I might make a spread with the raspberries and bake the apples so that they’re a little softer in texture. I also found upon baking that the syrup coating the fish becomes a little more subtle. I think I might also add a little syrup to the vinaigrette to make up for this. I like the fact that the fish looks eerily similar to a McDonald's hash brown

I posted this today because after my dinner on Friday I was thinking of my own creative process and thought this was a nice example. Perhaps this post can inspire someone else to better understand they’re own creative process.