Mr. Hawthorne Cooks Lunch.

We don't eat fried very often, but Mr. Hawthorne loves his fried fish. and yesterday for lunch he prepared fried tilefish.

First he soaked the fillets in buttermilk after removing the bones. And he prepared the batter - 1/3 all purpose flour 2/3 semolina flour Cajun Seasoning Montreal Steak Seasoning

Dredge the fish in the flour mixture, shaking off the excess.

Carefully place in hot oil. Do not crowd. People who say they can't fry food usually either don't have their oil temperature high enough to begin with or they crowd whatever they're frying, thus lowering the temperature of the oil. If you're unsure of the temperature of the oil (Generally you want it to be 375 degrees.) I would suggest getting a thermometer or use the wooden spoon trick. Dip the end of a wooden utensil in the oil. If bubbles vigorously bubble out of the wood, your oil is ready. You might want to try the wooden spoon along with the thermometer at first to be sure of the temperature.

After about 3 minutes, the fish is done.

Drain on paper towels.

Really the only thing you need for the fish is a little lemon juice. Tilefish is a mild-flavored fish. But I had a few extra flavors in the fridge which I wanted to use on the fish.

The darker sauce on the right is the chicken piccata sauce I made the other night with capers and pink peppercorns. The sauce on the left is the sage cream sauce I used on my sweet potato agnolotti. Mr. Hawthorne fried the tilefish perfectly. Very succulent. Moist and juicy on the inside. Crispy on the outside. And I really liked the addition of the sauces. The sage sauce is delicate like the fish. The piccata sauce is rather piquant, so you only need a small amount on the fish. Both were quite welcome accompaniments to the tilefish.