I can't get enough fish!

[notalwaysright]

Food Lady, I don't really use a recipe... This is the closest I could find to the cooking method. I think I only do it for 10 minutes before carefully opening the foil to broil. I never measure the ingredients, but it's always honey, minced garlic, olive oil (or melted butter sometimes), whatever spices I feel like, and usually lemon juice. For this recipe I don't seem to need to go as heavy on the spices as I do the white fish, if that makes sense. The honey that gets broiled gives the deeper flavor I think. Anyway, sorry if that's vague, but it took me some time to figure out that cooking in foil is really the key. The spices are important too, of course, but they can't save dry fish, thus the foil method.

[Blue Ginger]

With salmon, I have a few 'throw together' recipes. Honey and soy work well in the pan. I have to limit my salt and oil intake, so it's usually about 1/2 tablespoon of soy for 2 salmon fillets with 2 teaspoons of honey. (If your pan is not non-stick, add oil or water too). It only takes a few minutes to cook and it's perfect on rice and veg or on salad. You can also add sesame seeds for a little difference.

I also do lemon and lime juice with cracked pepper. Again, doesn't take long to cook and tastes pretty good. I do this with 'white' fish as well, but use less juice to stop the fish being over powered by the flavours.

With foil wrapped baked in the oven fish, I have done a few interesting combos. Parsley, sliced lemons and/or lime juice. Dill and cracked pepper. Italian mixed herbs. Lemon slices and fresh mint leaves (was surprisingly yum).

One thing I was told to do when baking wrapped fish without a liquid flavour added, is to add an ice cube to a small piece and a few cubes to large or whole fish. Apparently it will help stop the fish from drying out. No idea if it works or not because I LOVE lemon juice so all my fish gets plenty of it.

I'm not a big fan of sauces, so I can't offer any recipes for those. But just try experimenting with whichever herbs and spices that you use for other foods.

[AccountingDrone]

The restaurant I worked in made a great recipe that is good with most any fish -
Cod a la Bretonne
1 filet of cod
2 leeks - trim into 3 inch julienne matchsticks
2 carrots - trim into 3 inch julienne matchsticks
1 lemon - slice half into thin discs, other half squeeze the juice out
3 sprigs thyme
4 tablespoons butter [this is for about a 1 pound filet of cod for 2 people, don't worry]
2 9x18 sheets foil
good spritzer of olive oil

spritz a nonstick pan with olive oil, saute the carrots and leeks til just going translucent. Remove and reserve.

Preheat oven to 420 degrees F, make sure the rack is in the center. Take a baking sheet, plop down one sheet of foil and spritz with olive oil. Lay down half the sauteed veggies, then lay down the rinsed and checked for bones fish filet, then top with the rest of the veggies, the thyme sprigs, the slices of lemon. If you want to salt and pepper, go for it. I prefer to do so when I serve myself. Drizzle the lemon juice over the mass, then arrange the pats of butter on top. Top with the other sheet of foil and fold together into a nice bundle. Slide into the oven, bake for more or less about 45 minutes [works out to something like 10 minutes per inch of thickness or some such nonsense. Ovens vary on accuracy and heat maintenance.] Done when the fish just barely flakes.

I like to serve with a tossed salad and some sourdough bread, but whatever floats your boat.

I 'invented' another recipe the place ended up using -
No name, I tended to call it the dead fish dish because I use blood orange so it has red juices +)

Filet of sole per person
sprig of rosemary or thyme per person
salt and fresh cracked pepper
blood orange juice, freshly squeezed is best
butter
spritzer of olive oil
foil or parchement. I prefer foil, I am lazy

Preheat oven to 425 F, rack on center [I sense a theme here]
Spritz oil on oil, lay out the filet of sole, lay in the herb sprig salt and pepper if desired, and about a teaspoon of butter, roll the filet around the herbs and butter. Drizzle a tablespoon or so of blood orange juice on the filet and make the foil into a tidy bundle around the filet. Bake for about 20 minutes. Again, salad and bread.

* you can premake compound butters and let them live in your freezer, I like to do mine with lemon zest, cracked black pepper and thyme leaves. Good shortcut as those are the flavors I really like with my fish. I tend to do the foil bundle thing a lot, saves on cleanup.

*if you want to get fancy, you can poach fish by having a vessel large enough to lay your filet or hunk of fish in flat and have liquid in it that covers the fish. As a poaching liquid, I like water with a lemon chopped up and dropped in, a bouquet garni of thyme, parsley and marjoram wrapped in gauze so I can fish it out. I actually have a poaching pan but I have seen it done in an oven in a roasting pan. You poach by bringing the liquid to a boil, then backing the head down til you just get a sort of shimmer on the surface. Lower the fish in and make sure it is fully covered, and the temp can be maintained [that is why doing it in a roaster in an oven can be good] and let it poach for about 7-10 minutes per inch of thickness. You can gently test to see if it flakes, you want it just barely flaking because fish will continue to cook for a couple minutes once you plate it. You can also poach in milk but then I don't use citrus, I use white wine as the acid because citrus will curdle the milk =)

*You can also broil fish, make sure that you brush it with oil, butter or mayo and watch to see it doesn't burn, similar to grilling just inside in an oven set up to broil.

I am not a vegetarian, so one of my go to fish foods in the winter is cod chowder, I start that by sauteeing the bacon and diced veggies together, but I suppose you can use just oil but I like the way the bacon flavors the chowder +) You could go with bouillabaisse if you like shellfish in your fish soup, or even cioppino.


mmmmmmm so many fish, so little time!

[MoonCat]

With salmon, try maple syrup and a little brown sugar on top. I'm not the cook in the house but we've done it that way a few times. It's delish

[Dreamstalker]

We buy all our spices from Savory Spice now. They have a lot of salt-free options and blends. Tons of recipes also.

[Food Lady]

Thanks to everyone who's posted so far! I like recipes that don't have exact measurements. I will need to go shopping this weekend. Lately I've been broiling tilapia and making fish tacos. YUM