Friday, September 5, 2008

Steamed fish that I actually LIKE!

We don't eat a lot of fish in our house. Mostly because I end up spicing the hell out of it, and then it is a bit on the wild side for DaNece.

 

There is also a matter of the type of fish that we like.

DaNece likes primarily mild fish, like halibut and orange roughy. I enjoy more full flavored fish like salmon and trout. We are both fans of the occasional swordfish and shark, which of course are normally more expensive, and therefore don't get purchased all that often. :)

 

We have tried a couple different ways of cooking (steaming, broiling, grilling, pan-seared, and boiled), but nine times out of ten the flavor is left pretty flat (hence my spicing-the-hell-out-of-it proclivities).

 

But then I saw THIS RECIPE for fish that is baked in the oven in a wax paper packet, essentially steaming it. I posed the idea to D and she gave the thumbs up to give it a whirl.

 

IT WAS AWESOME!! Finally some fish with flavor that didn't require massive doses of salt, pepper, and Old Bay to hit my tastebuds. I didn't manage to take any pictures, but it was every bit as ugly looking as the linked recipe shows.

 

Notes to self:

- I don't know how they made those cute little packets out of wax paper. Mine were a pain in the ass and ended up falling apart when I pulled them from the oven. I will tape those SOBs together next time.

- Use whole dill, not chopped. That way it can be easily pulled out for those who don't like it

- More sauce in the packet is better.

 

And as always there were substitutions:

- No sea bass available at the store, so rockfish sufficed.

- No green chile. Thought we had a can, but we didn't

- Added more garlic. Like 6 cloves. But that is because I am a garlic whore

- Added zucchini chunks to my portions

- only had one tomato, so used a can of tomato sauce while cooking the onions and tomato

- added carrot... because you know those are good for you.. or so I am told

- added sugar to the veggies, because that is how I roll and it helps to cut through the acidity of the tomato

- paired it with some potatoes cooked low with lots of butter and some rosemary, which did a great job of soaking up the juice

 

GREAT meal, which we will definitely be making again.

4 comments:

Melissa said...

I always hear that doing fish in paper like that makes it come out very tasty. I should try it one of these days. And Steve and I have the same issues with fish - I can eat stronger flavors, but he prefers the mild for sure.

TomboCheck said...

what really works out nice is that for those that like tons o' flavor, you just pile all the sauce and veggies on the fish and eat it together. For those who prefer milder, just push the stuff off to the side.

good stuff!

Daly said...

That sounds like a wonderful recipe and awesome meal! I must try it.

TomboCheck said...

Daly - I would definitely recommend it.