Friday, July 07, 2006

Friday Food #23: Quick Fish Dish

We don't eat a lot of fish, but I always think we should: it's healthy, it's low fat, it cooks quickly. But I don't much like cooking it or think I do a good job of it.

Then a friend gave me this recipe. She made it for my birthday, in fact, and I liked it so much I asked for it. How the story is supposed to go now is that I've been cooking fish all the time, weekly maybe, because the recipe is so good and easy.

It really is that good and easy, but I don't always remember to buy fish. So in fact I made it yesterday for the first time. I'll give it to you as she gave it to me, and then I'll note a couple of easy changes, too.

You'll need as many fish steaks (or fillets) as you think will feed your family adequately. I made it last night with a single swordfish steak and a largish piece of halibut. I think they were each about a half pound. Everyone would have eaten more, but there was enough.

Mix together 2 tablespoons of mayonnaise and 1 tablespoon each of honey and dijon (or, in my case, Gulden's Spicy Brown) mustard.

Spray a baking pan with nonstick spray and lay the fish in it, skin side down (if there is skin; the swordfish steak only had it on one small side, of course). They can be pressed up pretty close together. Smear the mayo/mustard mixture on the top of the fish. Sprinkle generously with chopped parsley and season to taste with salt and pepper (I only used pepper).

Bake at 350 for 40 minutes, or, as I did last night, at 400 or so for about 20 minutes. Pierre Franey has a version of this for which he uses flounder fillets and broils very briefly. Just check to make sure the fish is flaking and it's done. It's really pretty flexible: the mayo/mustard mixture keeps it moist and as long as that gets brown on top you're probably fine. Squirt some lemon juice over the fish when it's done if you think of it (I didn't), or serve with lemon wedges on the side.

Both kids loved it. Nick scraped most of the sauce off of his but ate the fish happily. My friend says it works with all kinds of fish: best if all your pieces are roughly the same thickness, but after that all bets are off.

4 comments:

Library Mama said...

I've never seen such a simple fish recipe. I will try it this weekend. Thanks.

Anonymous said...

Just don't try it on Salmon.... it will destroy it!

Susan said...

thanks mom! The only fish our family really eats is ... salmon. But this sounds yummy, and I think we will try it. Halibut!

Libby said...

Well, Mom says salmon won't work, but it was actually the fish I was served this way on my birthday, so I say go ahead and try it!