Pan Seared Escolar with Cherry Tomato, Corn & Basil

Being the overzealous type of person that I am, often times, little pit stops leave me riding my bike miles and miles with a freaking melon in my backpack. A sad but true story. Usually, it's safety first. Big, dorky helmet - check! Epilepsy-inducing blinky back light - check! I put my foot down at wearing an orange reflective vest, but you get the idea. That fillet of escolar, pictured above, is the only thing that has deterred me from my usual code of conduct. How you ask?

After work last Tuesday, I made a bit of a detour to go pick up parchment paper and chocolate at Surfas. The Ballona Creek bike path picks up right by work and literally drops you off right in the heart of Culver City. Get to where you want without dealing with cars. Conveniently enough, the Culver City farmers' market was going on that day. Maybe subconsciously I had planned it that way. Dunno. The mind works in mysterious ways, I'll say. I had only meant to poke my head in, but was immediately enticed by the West Coast Fish Truck. Beautiful,  giant, glistening fillets of fish chilling on ice. How can a girl resist? Give me fish over diamonds any day. :) After a quick survey, I decided upon a pound of escolar. It had just come in yesterday and at $13 a pound, the price was right. The guy, in all his expertise, sliced off a piece that measured to exactly a pound. He wrapped it up with a bunch of crushed ice and as I walked away, I realized that I had a dilemma on hand. Pun intended. The bag reeked of fish. My backpack which contained two pounds of Callebaut chocolate, parchment paper, stilettos and my change of "business casual" clothes, left no room for a condensating, stinky bag of fish. That would just not work. Fishy chocolate!

Against my better judgment, I slung the flimsy plastic bag over one of my handle bars. I have heard horror stories about bags getting tangled with bike tires, broken arms, etc. I was equally worried about the plastic bag giving way to the weight of the fish/ice. There I was, huffing and puffing all the way home, trying to make good time. Me versus the sun. Needless to say, I won.  And with all the hard work that went into procuring this slab of deliciousness, I decided to keep the preparation nice and easy. Sweet corn and garden fresh cherry tomatoes (thanks Helene) dressed in lime juice and basil topped my pieces of pan seared escolar. It doesn't get much easier than that.