rock fish recipies

I done the beer batter thing with newcastle & even a stout (stockyard-got it at trader joes) and enjoyed it both times. the darker the beer the more of the beer flavor stays with the batter, so it's a personal taste thing. Of course the cook always gets to finish whatever's left in the bottle. Sometimes I'm lucky if any beer makes it into the batter at all.
-sean

One of my favorite recipes involves beer, bisquick, and an egg.  Make sure it's on the runnier side as if it is too think you end up with a big gob of fired crust.  When done right, the bisquick is fluffier and crisper than plain flour based recipes.

-Allen

My old standby--best with a nice white meat, like halibut or seabass, but works with rockfish etc. It takes about 20 min., but you can *delay* between finishing the sauce and adding the fish for timing purposes

instructions are per person--multiply by # of people you want to serve

splash olive oil in pan on med high
add half onion sliced
while it's cooking:  start a pot of rice
    open a can of stewed tomatoes
    cut up some garlic
    de-pit some olives: good calamata and I also mix in green olives (not the stuffed martini) -- quality olives make a BIG difference.  Get them from the "Olive Bar" at the upscale grocery. You won't regret it. I smash/tear/cut the olives in halves or thirds

now the onions are translucent and just starting to brown.... (you may want to splash in more olive oil)
throw in a pinch of herbs de provence (or just oregano/rosemary)
add in the olives... a stir or 2
add the garlic ... a vew moments to bring out the aroma
dump in the tomatoes and stir
cook it a few minutes. I smash/cut larger pieces of tomato, if nec.

If serving a large group, best to finish in a baking dish in the oven with foil cover. If just for 1, 2 or 3, you can finish in same pan with cover
Place fish evenly spaced on tomato sauce.
salt and pepper
drizzle olive oil over all
cover and simmer until fish is cooked through

serve over rice


vanim

We've been grubbing on rockfish the last few days and here's the latest recipie that got me some extra WAF.

Ingredients:
3lbs boned and skinned rockfish fillets
Fresh Ginger (size of thumb)
Fresh dill greens - same volume as ginger
1/2 stick butter
2 green onions
Salt, pepper, ect.
Aluminum foil boat lubed with thin coat of olive oil.

Dice the ginger and dill and put it in a microwaveable dish with all the butter. Nuke it until the mix boils and resembles oatmeal - you want the flavors to get into the butter.  

Grind some pepper into the foil boat and lay the fillets out.  Try to cover as much of the bottom as possible with fish.  Add more pepper and salt to the tops of the fillets, then spoon the ginger concoction onto them evenly.  Cut the green onions into 1/2" pieces and sprinkle them on the fillets last.

Put on the grill at the lowest heat until they just lose the raw pink color.  Hit them with salt and pepper again after they're plated.

A side of homeade mashed potatoes went well with this last night.  Just mash the potatoes and add butter and whole milk until they're creamy (no longer dry and crumbly).  Then fold in diced chives, salt and pepper.

Tonight I'm going to try the same thing with basil instead of ginger.  Should be good too.

That sounds really good Josh... I love Ginger...

We've had alot of guests and 'cookovers' the last couple weeks and the fridge is stocked with herbs and other produce - forcing us to come up with ways to use it.  

I sauted some garlic and zuccinni in butter.  took it out of the pan and added the fish fillets.  When the were close to done I dumped the garlic and squash back and poured some spaghetti sauce over it.  and let lt all simmer a few minutes.  I ate it with lots o' romano cheese and french bread.

It was fast, easy and tasty! (like a good woman!   )

My wife recently created a rockfish recipe that is INSANE.  It sounds complicated, but it really only took about 10-15 minutes to prep.  The investment is worth it, SUPER tasty and it looks impressive.

1) Get some BIG portebello mushrooms, 1 for each serving.

2) Pop the stems off the shrooms and set them aside.  Quickly saute the caps in a little olive oil and garlic, just a few minutes a side.  Take the grilled caps out of the pan and put them bottom side up on a cookie sheet.

3) Put a little fresh gound pepper and sea salt on each side of fillets trimmed to the size of the shroom caps.  Quickly brown them in the same pan you used to saute the caps.  Once both side are nice and golden-brown take them out of the pan and stack a fillet on each shroom cap.

4) Chop up the shroom stems you saved and add a minced garlic, onion and celery.  Make enough so you can put a decent scoop on top of each fillet.  Saute them in the same pan for a few minutes.  Put a generous scoop on top of each fillet.

5) Top off each shroom/fillet/saute stack with crumbled feta, grated parmesan, and a final drizzle of good quality olive oil.  Bake it in the oven for about 15-20 minutes until things are browning and starting to flow.

Serve with chicken stock risotto, salad, and a spicy red...an unbelievable combo!  

BTW-you also now know why I am a fat bastard, but a HAPPILY married fat bastard!

That sounds really good...I'm catching something weekend, and I'm trying it - rockfish, lingcod, halibut, salmon, whatever it takes.

Here’s one you’ll like…it’s a 5 Star and works with LingCod and Halibut, I haven’t tried it on Vermillion or other Rockfish but I’m sure it’s da kine!

Make a sauce first….
Mince 1 Shallot
Add one tablespoon White Wine Vinegar and 2/3 cup White Wine to Shallots in a sauce pan. Reduce over low/med heat till just a little liquid is left.

Add 2/3 stick of Unsalted Butter chopped into smaller cubes. Whip as butter melts and DO NOT let it boil or it will break the sauce. When this is complete, set it aside but have a couple tablespoons of fresh Basil finely chopped at the ready to add when you reheat the sauce before dripping it over filets.

The filets….
I lightly dust the dry filets with my own mix of seasoning which consists of Mrs Dash, Paprika, Kosher Salt, and Pepper. Salt and Pepper or whatever you prefer would be fine but use it in moderation. Make a simple batter of 2 eggs and a splash of whole milk or ½ & ½ cream. I add a dash of flour to thicken it just a bit. Grate about 2/3 of a wedge of Asiago Cheese over the finest grater, almost like a powder, this takes the most effort! Dip the filets in batter, let excess run off and then place them in a pile of the grated cheese like a breading, coat them thoroughly on both sides. I then place them on a PAM coated sheet of foil to hold till they’re ALL ready to cook. When they are all ready, place them in a good Teflon coated, no-stick pan that has about 4 or 5 tablespoons of medium heated Grape Seed Oil. Cook until golden brown on each side…usually just a 3-4 minutes each side.

Now, gently reheat the sauce and whip in the fresh Basil. Upon completion, drizzle the sauce over golden brown filets.

You’re gonna LOVE this one and even the worst fish haters will be asking for more!

Vanim's Rock Fish Proncale sounds like a tastier and more refined version of my quickie standby and one that is good for fish that might be approaching its "best by" date:
 
  Enough rockfish filets to cover the bottom of a covered skillet
  A big can of Diced Tomatoes - enough to cover a layer of filets, more for a bigger pan.
  some garlic powder
  some onion powder
  some parsley, dried or fresh
  some basil, """""""""""""
  some combined Italian spices (or marjorm, thyme, rosemary, savory, sage, oregano),    dry or fresh.
  some sliced olives
  some dry red wine
  some salt
  some pepper
       "some" = err on the light side, you can always add more
Heat everything except the fish in the skillet, add fish, getting it to the bottom, cover and cook for a while - 10 mins? until it turns opaque and flakes.
Serve over rice, brown or white.  Green veggies (esp. aspargus) go well with it and make a nice color combo.
  You can make this in about 15 mins if you have the rice cooked.
  But if you have the time, Vanim's sounds a lot better and you would probably not want to do it this quickie way afterwards.

 

Here's a real simple one for nearly any kind of fish. I started out using it on Bonito and Yellowtail and it's really good with those.

Dip your fillet in melted butter/garlic/splash of white wine/and a dash of fresh dill.
Grill to desired temperature.

While you're grilling, dump some Pine Nuts into a saucepan with a few tablespoons of olive oil just until they start to brown. Dump in a desire amount of Trader Joe's Pesto Sauce and mix up till it's hot. Pour it over your grilled fillets as soon as they come off the grill.

Bad to the bone without the bone! 

Bill, I do something very similar to yours' but with one thing more that really imparts a lot of flavor. I put some alder chips in a can, and put it on the back burner of my gas webber. Once it starts smoking I put the fish in. I make a tray with aluminum foil and line it with parchment paper. Keep the front two burners below medium for a slow cook.

Had Sackyak (Etienne) over for dinner last week in Cambria for rockfish tacos and he liked the sauce so much I decided to post it with the slaw -

CABBAGE AN CELANTRO SLAW -
1 1/2 quarts finely shredded cabbage (10 oz)
1/3 cup chopped celantro
3 tbl lime juice
2 tbl vegetable oil
1/4 tsp hot chile falkes
salt to taste

CHIPOTLE TARTER SAUCE -
2 TBL canned chipotle chiles (discard seeds and veins)
1 cup mayonnaise
1/4 cup sweet pickle relish
1/4 cup chopped onion.
blend all ingredients until smooth. Makes 1 1/3 cup

Enjoy Scott

I had a whole vermilion in the 4lb range that I wanted to do somthing different with so I
Wrapped it in a banana leaf with lime,garlic,coconut milk and curry paste, then put it on the bbq
It was fantastic!

Here is the recipie
banana leaves
1 lime
1 garlic clove
2 scallions thinly sliced
2tbs Thai curry paste
4 tbs coconut milk

thinly slice half of the lime and garlic then place in slashes along the fishes side, sprinkle the scallions on top.
zest the other half of the lime then juice. add both to the curry past and coconut milk. Mix then spoon over fish.
wrap fish in banana leave and tin foil then bbq for 15-20 min turning occasionaly.
          Morgan

Scott,

We just tried your recipe with my catch from the HMB Derby.  Mmmmmmmmmmmm.  Really tasty.  I love the way the spicy sauce and sharp freshness of the slaw combine with the fish and tortilla.     We are happy campers around here tonight.  Thanks again.

Etienne