Redfish Pot Pie

by Jimmy Brod

Smokin’ Cracker BBQ Pit Master Jimmy “Smokin’ Cracker’ Brod has finally perfected his redfish pot pie recipe and decided to share it with our readers this month. The next time you reel in your one slot red, be sure to pull out this issue and treat your family to an amazing dinner.

Smokin’ Cracker’s Redfish Pot Pie

Ingredients:

• 1 or 2 fresh redfish (fillet fish and cut into 1-1/2” squares until you have about 2-3 pounds of fish.
• 1/2 cup cream and 1/4 cup of good drinking white wine
• 1/4 minced green onions and 1 clove of crushed garlic
• 1 whole stick of real salted butter (the “good” stuff that’s “bad” for you)
• 1/2 cup fresh grated Parmesan cheese (not the crap in the shaker can)
• 1 can cream of asparagus soup (condensed, thick stuff)
• 1 can of French-fried onions 2 cans crescent rolls
• 1 bag frozen mixed veggies of your choice (I like the frozen potato, green bean, onion and pepper mixture) defrosted to room temperature (use as much or as little as you like).
• 1 tsp. of corn starch Garlic salt, pepper, salt and crushed red pepper

Directions: Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Arrange about 2-3 pounds of cubed redfish (dried with a paper towel and lightly seasoned with garlic salt and crushed red pepper) in the bottom of a well-buttered 10” x 15” baking pan.

Drain all the liquid from the veggies in a strainer and pour the dry, room temperature veggies evenly over the fish.

In a sauce pan, slowly bring to a simmer the cream, white wine, green minced onions, crushed garlic, corn starch and the condensed can of soup (season to taste).

Simmer for 1-2 minutes and pour evenly over the mixture of fish and veggies. Cover the casserole evenly with the whole can of French-fried onions.

Melt the stick of butter and drizzle evenly over the French-fried onions and sprinkle the Parmesan cheese over the whole casserole evenly.

Then separate the first tube of crescent rolls into squares. Do not separate into triangles, but instead cut into 1” strips. Stretch and arrange squares in a lattice work type pattern across the center of the pie.

Separate the second tube of crescent rolls into 8 triangles. Starting from the wide ends, roll up halfway and arrange around the edges of the pie so pointed ends are directed toward the center slightly covering the edges of the lattice pattern. Bake approx. 30-45 minutes, until rolls are golden brown on top (but not burnt) and casserole is bubbling.

Check every 5 minutes after the first 20 minutes. Remove the pie from the oven and let it rest for approximately 30 minutes before serving.

Enjoy with a few cold beers or your favorite bottle of white wine!

Notes: Substitute any fresh, thickly-cut fish (grouper, snapper, snook and cobia all work very well) for redfish in this recipe. Choose veggies with lower water content for best results. For more, go to: www.smokincrackerbbq.com.