Cookaholics Bulletin Board

We have a ready supply of very fresh whole fish, and we eat a lot of it. I have a nice 3 pound hogfish on ice for tonight's dinner. However, I am getting bored with my regular preparations and am looking for new ideas.

In regular rotation:
Grilled, with or without compound butter
Pan fried or sauteed, various pan sauces and covered in various salsas
Blackened, spicy
Fish curry (soup style with onions, pepper, carrots in coconut milk and fish stock)
Fried in corn meal & /or Panko

Any obvious preparations I am missing? I prefer not to deep fry whole fish - it's a lot of oil for one fish.

Thanks!

--Lisa

How about in pappiote ( I am sure I spelled that wrong) You can use parchment paper or foil and just load whatever herbs, wine and butter in the package....add veggies too, and just steam the packet in the oven.

Salt crust. Very lush.

Mary

Steaming with Asian flavors, like fermented black beans.

I've been longing to try this so it gets my vote too.

The fish tastes fantastic. One word of warning, the salt holds all the flavor AND the odors in... it is a bit overwhelming when you crack it open.

I also just remembered this recipe that, I believe, Josh gave me. It is very good and the presentation is fantastic.

Pepper Fish
One large white-fleshed fish, such as snapper or dorade, about 4lbs. (or two smaller ones), deboned for stuffing if available, otherwise just with a large belly cavity
Salt
Pepper
Aleppo pepper
Twine
Stuffing
Olive oil
2 onions, chopped (2cups)
1 bell pepper, chopped (1 cup)
1 medium-hot minced green pepper, minced
¾ cup crushed or finely chopped walnuts
salt
black pepper
⅓ cup chopped parsley
⅓ cup chopped coriander
Tahini Sauce
1 cup tahini (ground sesame seeds)
3 cloves garlic, mashed
½ cup fresh lemon juice
⅔ cup cold water
Olive oil for basting
lemon wedges
2 tablespoons pomegranate seeds (if available)
2 tablespoons chopped walnuts
1. A few hours before dinner, salt and pepper the fish and set aside to season.
2. In a skillet: fry the onions until soft. Add the peppers and walnuts and fry 2-3 minutes. Season lightly with more salt & black pepper. Remove from heat and stir half the parsley and cilantro.
3. Heat the oven to 350. Oil a baking pan large enough to hold the fish. Stuff the fish with the stuffing and tie it shut with twine. Oil the outside of the fish. Bake for 30 to 45 minutes, basting every 5-10 minutes with juices or additional olive oil. Take out when the fish flakes when poked with a fork.
4. While the fish bakes, make the tahini: puree the sesame, garlic and lemon juice together. Add the water in a stream, stopping when the sauce reaches the consistency of mayonnaise.
5. Pour the tanini sauce over the cooked fish. Garnish with the remaining chopped herbs, walnuts and pomagranate seeds.


Source

Paula Wolfert
Servings/Yield

--
Mary

I think we will steam tonight - I found this simple recipe at Epicurious which sounds good and we have all the ingredients at home.

I have to try the salt crust at some point. I always wondered - can you reuse the salt for another salt fish or is it so strongly scented with fish you just want to toss it immediately? Although I am not sure I want to actually store it.

The Pepper fish also sounds very good, and is going on the list.

Thanks all!

--Lisa

You don't want to save the salt. It gets hard, like a crust and some of the food sticks to it.

Mary

Thanks, Mary. I had a feeling that would be the answer. I will buy a couple of boxes of salt when I want to try it.

--Lisa

I steamed the fish last night using the Epicurious recipe and it was very good. I used half the oil in the recipe and it was too much and didn't do much for the sauce, so next time I will just lightly fry the scallions separately and add them over the top. I think I would also take the head off the fish next time - the presentation is nicer with the head on, but it is unwieldy to maneuver the hot platter when it is full of the sauce, and I think a less full platter would be easier to manage. And, of course, I used a hogfish, the pumpkinhead of warm water snappers, so the head was enormous.

I have never worked out a good serving method for this kind of soft whole fish. I brought the platter to the table and we just used a thin metal spatula to pull the filets off (not terribly neatly) and then had to flip the fish to get to the other filets. Possibly headless we will be able to just lift the bones out. It was messy, but quite good.

Thanks for the recommendation!

--Lisa