This is basically a fried fish with a Creole-ish style tomato sauce. Just about any local fish fillet will work just fine. If you don't want a fried fish simply change the recipe by sautéing, grilling, or even baking the fish - and serve with this spicy sauce.

Serves 6

1/3 cup vegetable oil or butter, plus oil for frying
1 small yellow onion, diced
6 green onions, finely chopped
1 small green bell pepper, seeded and diced
1 small red bell pepper, seeded and diced
2 stalks celery, diced
1 tablespoon chopped garlic
1 or 2 Serrano or Jalapeno chilies, minced (see note)
4 large, ripe tomatoes, cored and chopped
1/2 cup tomato juice
1/2 cup dry white wine
Juice of 1 lemon
1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
1 bay leaf
Salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
Tabasco sauce, to taste
2 pounds perch fillets
All-purpose flour seasoned with salt and freshly ground black pepper
Milk or lightly salted water, as needed
Yellow cornmeal, for coating

Heat the oil and butter in a pot. Cook the yellow and green onions, bell peppers, and celery over low heat for 10 minutes. Add the garlic, chilies, tomatoes, tomato juice, wine, lemon juice, Worcestershire and bay leaf. Bring to a boil. Season with salt, pepper and Tabasco. Reduce the heat and simmer for 30 minutes.

For the fish, pour oil into a large skillet to a depth of ½-inch. Dust the fillets with seasoned flour. Dip the fillets first in the milk or water and then in cornmeal, shaking off the excess. Fry until golden brown and crisp, 2 to 3 minutes per side. Transfer the fillets to a heated platter. Remove and discard the bay leaf and serve the fish topped with the tomato sauce.

Note: When choosing what kind and how many chilies to use, know their strength. If you want to minimize the fire, remove the seeds of the chili. If fresh chilies are not available, ¼ to ½ teaspoon crushed red pepper may be substituted. Also it's a good idea to wear plastic gloves when handling the chilies.

Variations: This basic sauce is great with just about any fried white fish. It also makes a marvelous sauce for grilled bluefish fillets that have been lightly marinated with olive oil, garlic, and rosemary sprigs.

Adapted from Chesapeake Bay Cooking with John Shields, Broadway Books, 1998