Thursday Night Halibut

Time for another installment of Thursday night fish pictures by Lindsay!

Today's dinner was Alaskan halibut roasted atop potatoes sliced so thin that some of them became chips. The baked potato chips that you buy in a store don't taste as good, though, since they usually aren't drenched in olive oil.

For two people:

• 2/3 pound fillet of halibut
• 1 pound potatoes, sliced as thinly as possible (something like 1/8 inch or smaller)
• 3 heads green garlic, or a few scallions, chopped
• lots of olive oil
• salt, pepper

Pat the halibut dry and sprinkle both sides with salt and pepper. Put the potatoes in one layer (or as close as possible) in a roasting pan with some salt and a lot of oil. Roast at 450 degrees for 10-15 minutes, keeping a close eye on the potatoes. Flip them and cook for about another 10-15 minutes, getting them good and browned, and adding more oil if you want. You'll turn the heat down when you start cooking the fish, so don't worry too much about burning them. When they look basically ready to eat, plop the halibut down in the middle of the pan, toss the green garlic on top, and sprinkle some more olive oil over the fish. Turn the heat down to 400 and put the pan back in the oven until the halibut is just cooked through, which took me a bit over 10 minutes. I'm not sure whether fish needs to rest like meat does, but I suspect a few minutes patience will only improve things.

Delicious Fish Pictures

Photographer extraordinaire Lindsay took some excellent pictures of our dinner yesterday.

It was Pacific cod with Chimichurri sauce. I got the recipe for the sauce from Simply Recipes and it's very good; use a food processor when you make it. For the fish, I just sauteed a half pound fillet of cod in olive oil over medium-high heat for about three or four minutes per side. It stuck to the pan about as much as it could (it's a very finicky pan!), so I deglazed it with some white wine to salvage the delicious little bits. Here's another view:

Spaghetti with Sardines, Almonds, and Orange

Lately sardines have been much in the news. The last American sardine cannery is closing. Mark Bittman is cooking with sardines, and he encourages you to try too. A kind person has published this ranking of sardines that I found here. Now it's time for my contribution to the sardine genre. My recommendation is to buy sardines packed in olive oil. I've never actually eaten the ones packed in water, but if I were a fish doomed to spend a year in a dark can surrounded by liquid, I would want it to be olive oil. The distinguishing thing about this recipe is the almonds and orange zest. I got the idea from a restaurant review that claimed this was some famous chef's signature move, but I can't remember whose or find the review. This recipe only takes 40 minutes or so, and it serves two or three people depending on what else you're having.

• 1/2 pound pasta
• 1 can sardines without bones, packed in olive oil (mine was 85 grams, not counting the can)
• 1 medium onion, chopped
• 3 or 4 dried mild chilies, crushed up (or some red pepper flakes)
• 1/4 cup sliced almonds
• zest of an orange
• juice of 1/2 lemon
• chopped parsley
• 2 tbs. oil, plus the oil from the sardine can
• salt, pepper

Put on a pot of salty water, and start cooking the spaghetti as soon as it comes to a boil. Heat a small pan (preferably cast iron) over medium heat and put the almond slices in it to toast. Shake them up from time to time and keep a close eye on them. Take them out when they start turning brown, and add the orange zest to them.

Meanwhile, start cooking the onion in a large skillet over medium heat with the olive oil and some salt and pepper, stirring occasionally. Add the chilies. Cook the onion until it softens up and browns a bit, 10-15 minutes. Add the sardines and their oil, mush them up a bit, and cook them till they're heated through. Add the lemon juice and some more pepper. Mix all of this with the cooked spaghetti, add the almonds with the zest, and serve with Parmesan (or without).

Salmon with Escarole

Despite the soy sauce and sesame oil, this tasted thoroughly European. Maybe it was all the olive oil I used. (It sounds like those flavors should clash, and if I had thought about it before I started, I would have done something different, but I'm glad that I didn't.) This only took 30 or 40 minutes, and it serves one. It could be scaled up as much as you'd like without any trouble.

• 1 salmon fillet
• escarole--use twice as much as you think you'd like
• 4 cloves garlic (yes, for one serving)
• 2 tbs. soy sauce
• 1 tsp. sesame oil
• Olive oil
• salt, pepper

Mince the garlic and sautee it in olive oil in a large skillet over medium heat for a few minutes. (How much olive oil? Since I spent my formative years eating the escarole at Sam's (238 Court St., Brooklyn, NY), which is equal parts oil and escarole, I don't think it's possible to use too much.) Wash the escarole; don't bother to dry it. Add it to the skillet along with the soy sauce. Turn the heat to medium-low, cover the skillet, and stir every few minutes.

Heat up a pan that can be put in the oven with olive oil for a few minutes, and turn on the broiler. Dry the salmon. Season it with salt and pepper (not too much salt, but lots of pepper). When the oil is quite hot, put the fish in the pan skin side up. After two minutes, move it under the broiler--it should be about four inches away. It should be done in 2-5 minutes. While it's broiling, uncover the escarole and turn the heat up. When the salmon is done, take it out of the oven. Add the sesame oil and some pepper to the greens and put them on a plate. Put the fish on top. Pour the liquid from the skillet with the greens on top of the fish and serve.

I'm not sure if this is the right way to go about cooking salmon. The idea (stolen from Mark Bittman, of course) is to make the skin crisp. It worked, but as my salmon fillet still had scales, it didn't do me much good.