Round 2 - Jessica B. Harris' "Beyond Gumbo" Cookbook

A huge jicama is in the HOUSE! I found it at my neighborhood Safeway yesterday, where none were to be found last week. So I had to re-make the jicama cole slaw to see if there was a difference. Remember last week I substituted quince. Well, let's see.

First, have you ever peeled a jicama? There's the outer peel, a tough, faintly yellow, straw, matrix-looking second layer, and then a firm, somewhat juicy, inner white fruit. The second layer makes peeling jicama a little work. For my second try at this recipe, I used about a quarter of the jicama because it was so large and I used one of those quarter lb. size Ziploc bags of cabbage saved from last week. This time I didn't add the golden raisins, but I did modify the recipe again - 2 tbsps apple cider vinigar, 3 tbsps buttermilk plus the 3/4 c mayo, salt and pepper, sugar to taste. Oh, and I'm called "Hot Pepper" for a reason, I added a tsp of cayenne to give the slaw a little kick!

Did the jicama make a difference? Well.... jicama has a rather earthy taste and reminds me of one of those foods that takes on the flavors of whatever is added to it. So to be blunt, I didn't taste much of a difference from last week's cole slaw BUT because the jicama was juicy, it made the texture of the slaw a little more loose and smooth. Nice.

My second recipe was supposed to be fried catfish steaks, Columbian style (p. 237). As I said last week modify and substitute when necessary. No catfish steaks on hand, used tilapia fillets instead. Otherwise following the recipe to the letter almost, I marinated 4 fillets with the juice of one lemon ( recipe called for 2 tbsps), salt and pepper to taste for 1 hour in a glass dish (recipe called for nonreactive bowl). I prepared a batter by beating 2 eggs and adding 2 tbsps flour and 1 tbsp dried cilantro instead of parsley. Lightly coating the fish with the batter, I then fried them until golden. Pictures of the end result are shown. Served warm with the cole slaw, it was delicious.