I eat a lot of chicken. It’s yummy and easy and you can make it a lot of different ways, but today I was in anti-chicken mode. I wanted to make something different and special for dinner. I love fish, especially in the summer, and I thought that would be a good healthy option to mix up our dinner schedule this week. Plus, my car is continually becoming a money pit so I wanted to make something delicious as a thank you to my dad, who just paid to have the gas tank replaced. Whoops. I found a fun recipe on Chow and decided to put my own spin on it.

The recipe called for halibut but it’s friggin’ expensive, so I went with cod. Still wild caught though, none of that farm-raised nonsense. I think any mild white fish would work. I seasoned the filets with a little olive oil, salt, and pepper. Then I husked my corn. Corn on the cob just screams summer, which I’m pretending is not coming to a close. Reserve some of the wider, unbroken husks (about 10-12 to be safe) and rinse them. Place each filet into a husk.

Mix about 1/3 cup chopped cilantro and 1 finely chopped jalapeno (I removed the ribs and seeds). Sprinkle the mixture over the four filets, and then squeeze the juice from 1/2 of a lime evenly over the fish. Place another corn husk over the top, fold it over and secure with toothpicks. Place the fish into the refrigerator to marinate while you prepare the rest of the ingredients.

Finely dice 1/2 of a medium red onion. Add about 1-2 tablespoons chopped cilantro and the juice of 1 lime. Add 2-3 roma tomatoes, medium dice, and 1/2 finely chopped jalapeno. Heat up your grill to about 375-400 degrees. Place your corn on the grill and rotate every 2-3 minutes until you have an even char. If you want your salsa to be a little spicier, grill 1 jalapeno until it’s slightly blistered and charred on the outside. Once the corn and jalapeno have cooled enough to handle, slice the corn off the cob (like you did when you had braces) and finely dice the jalapeno and add to the salsa mixture.

Place your fish on the grill in the husks (toothpicks removed) cilantro and jalapeno side down. Cover the grill and cook 2-3 minutes. Turn the fish over and cook another 2-3 minutes.Remove and serve with the salsa. We also had rice pilaf with it, courtesy of Uncle Ben. The whole concoction together was extremely flavorful and well balanced. I was really careful about not making it too spicy, because my family is really sensitive to it. My mom thought the locals in Costa Rica were playing a trick on her when they served her fish tacos. If you want it really spicy, you can use two whole jalapenos in the salsa (raw or grilled) and also leave the ribs and seeds in- that’s where the hotness (?) is.

Cod with Grilled Corn Salsa

Adapted from Chris Rochelle, of chow.com

4 cod filets (or any mild white fish)

2/3 cup cilantro

3 jalapenos

4-5 ears of corn

2-3 roma tomatoes

2 limes

1/2 medium red onion

olive oil

salt & pepper

This dish was very light and summery- satisfying without weighing you down. Which is perfect, because then I can weigh myself down with dessert. I made these brownies courtesy of Food Network Kitchens for dessert. They got 5 stars from Kevin, and 5 servings for me.