Fish!

Cooking fish seems a bit daunting - probably because I just have not done it too much. But I love fish, it is fast to cook, and Coastal Seafoods is even closer than the grocery store, and well, why not just give it a try.  Also, it turns out Coastal has sales pretty much every weekend on something or other, which provides some guidance on the wide array of fish and seafood options (you know, beyond my fave scallop option).

So, I tried two different fish recently: Monchong (white ocean fish from Hawaii) and Walleye. I was pretty impressed with myself - not there is anything difficult about this cooking - but they both tasted totally delicious!

Monchong (or any white ocean fish like Seabass or Halibut)
I didn't measure here - and of course it will vary according to how much you make, but the basic method is to saute the fish.

1) Heat olive oil or ghee/butter in a cast iron pan, and when it is hot, place the fish in the pan.
2) Cook for about 5 minutes and then flip the fish/pieces over. Stick in a preheated 400 degree oven for 5-7 minutes.
3) Sprinkle with salt and pepper, and cover with tomato parsley sauce (below).  Enjoy!  So easy.

Sauce/Topping: Mix diced fresh tomatoes, chopped fresh parsley, fresh squeezed lemon juice, olive oil, basil (fresh if you have it, i only had dried), and salt. Capers would be nice in there too if you've got them. Yum!

Walleye
Walleye is a bit more fragile, so after some consult with My Charming Companion (aka fish cooker extraordinaire), I decided to bake the fish and not attempt to saute or fry it at all so that the pieces would stay together and look nice. Baking these fish was SO easy and delicious.

1) Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2) Melt butter (at least 4 T - enough to coat the entire fish) in a shallow baking dish, and swirl in 1-2T fresh lemon juice.
3) Dip the fish in the melted butter/lemon (and flip it over so it is coated). Sprinkle with salt and pepper.
4) Bake for 20 minutes.
5) Serve sprinkled with almond topping (see below!) *Parsley would also be good on this too!

Almond topping: Chop 1/4 c. of almonds into small, split pea size pieces. Melt 1-2 T coconut oil or butter in a small saucepan on low heat. Saute almond pieces until browned. I turned the heat up a little at the end to get them dark - but watch them closely!

*So this is not the fish I cooked because the almonds are not on there, but it is essentially what mine looked like. Mmm.