Blackened Fish

Here's an Earth Day fun fact for you via Mario Batali.  The cattle industry produces more greenhouse gas emissions than our transportation vehicles.  His point being, if we all ate a little less meat and a little more vegetables or fish, we could help the Earth as well as ourselves.  Interesting food for thought.

In the spirit of that, I should be bringing you a vegetable dish but alas, I felt like fish.  It's my blog and I can cook what I want to.  I love teaching my clients how to cook fish because I find more than any other food group, people are intimidated by fish.  Most people have one or two fish recipes they can pull off and then they're stuck.

This is simple.  3 ingredients. 1 pan. Done and done.  Blackened fish, it's highly seasoned but not spicy (at least my blend wasn't).  A little Cajun seasoning for flava.  Boo-yah!  You have the spiced crusty outside contrasting with the tender fish inside.  This is an especially good dish for people who are on the fence about fish since the bold spices are the star.  One note, this smokes up the joint so open the windows or you could cook it outside.

Here's a tip of the day:  Fish takes about 8 minutes per inch of thickness to cook. 

Blackened Swordfish
Serves 1-2

1 Swordfish steak
1T unsalted butter, melted
2T Blackened Cajun seasoning (I used Paul Prudhomme's)

1.  Heat a cast iron skillet over high heat for 10 minutes.
2.  Using a pastry brush, brush melted butter on both sides of swordfish.
3.  Coat fish with seasoning.  Pat it on and be generous, you should not see fish peeking through.
4.  Add to hot pan and cook about 4 minutes on each side if steaks are around an inch thick.
 

Get Thee To A Fishery

Are you intimidated by fish?  I have some deep-seated shark issues (thanks for taking me to see Jaws when I was 9, Dad!) but cooking fish is not as scary as it seems.  For the following recipe, I used a whole Branzino which is a mild, white fish that was ON SALE!!!  This recipe is simple, delicious and could be done on a grill too (just put the fish on a piece of heavy duty foil first).  It's impressive for a dinner party because it looks beautiful but takes you no time to cook.  Make sure everyone gets a piece of the crispy top fillet and the flavorful bottom fillet.

When you are purchasing a whole fish look for 3 things:
1. Does it smell fishy?  It shouldn't if it's fresh.  Ask when the fish came in.
2. The eyes should not be sunken or cloudy.
3. Most importantly, the gills of the fish should still be a healthy red color.

Ask the fishmonger to clean the fish for you (lest you want fish scales all over your hair, clothes and kitchen.)  Ask them to butterfly and bone it for you.  Head and tail on or off is your choice.  I leave them on until after cooking.

 This is what it will look like after being cleaned, butterflied and deboned.  Run your finger over the flesh and pull out any little bones they may have missed.  

Whole Roasted Fish
Serves 2

1 Whole Branzino (or other fish)
1 t crushed fresh garlic (use a garlic press, not that nasty store bought kind)
1 lemon, sliced in rounds as thin as you can make them
3-4 fresh basil leaves
a pinch of crushed red pepper
2t olive oil, divided
salt and pepper

1. Preheat oven to 500 degrees.
2. Place the fish on a sheet pan.  Open up the fish. Coat the flesh with 1 t of olive oil and salt and pepper.
3. On the bottom half of the fish spread the crushed garlic and red pepper flakes.  Layer the basil on next, followed by 3 lemon slices.
4. Close the fish back up and with a knife score the skin of the top of the fish 3 times with a sharp knife. (This will prevent the fish from curling up.)
5. Coat the outer skin with the remaining teaspoon of olive oil.  Lightly salt and pepper skin.
6. Roast the fish for about 10 minutes.  The flesh should flake but still be moist and the skin should be crisp.
7. If you like, drizzle a tiny bit more olive oil over the finished fish and serve.  

*Note: You could use any herbs or flavors for this recipe.  Substitute sesame oil for olive oil,  lemongrass and ginger and use soy sauce instead of salt for an Asian flavor.

 Layering on the flava!

Scored and ready to roast