Saturday, January 23, 2010

Rockfish with veggies and supremes of orange


I only recently learned that it's ok again to eat rockfish, as they are again plentiful. Hurray! A lovely fish. My store had them tonight, so that's what I cooked. The veggies were frozen, which I'm OK with -- it's like having a sous-chef to do the prep work! Plus, I don't end up with a lot of veggies spoiling in the fridge, which is probably what would happen if I bought all the individual items in this "Asparagus Stir-Fry Blend." Also, it makes this meal faster than ordering a pizza, which is a definite plus for many of us.

Total ingredient list:
  • 1 rockfish fillet (the one I bought was about 12 oz., what is on the plate is about 6 oz. and I didn't eat it all!
  • white wine
  • 2-3 T butter, most of which stays in the pan. If you really have to, you can substitute canola oil or something, but this is one of those places where I think the flavor of the butter is worth it!
  • salt
  • pepper
  • dill weed
  • frozen veggie blend -- the kind that lets you take what you want from the bag and put the rest back in the freezer
  • 1 T canola oil
  • one orange

Step 1: Open the wine. Seriously, this cooks so fast that you don't want to have to stop and do that. Go ahead and cut the orange supremes, which means cutting the sections out of the membranes, or if you aren't fussy, just peel and section the orange. I do prefer to have taken the orange out of the fridge earlier so it is room temp instead of chilled, but that's up to you.

Heat one skillet over medium high heat and add 1 T canola oil. Dump in the veggies, stirring occasionally. Being frozen, they will take longer than the fish! Just watch them and be ready to turn the heat down or off so they don't get soggy.

Heat another skillet over medium high heat and melt the butter in it. Meanwhile, salt and pepper the fish and sprinkle with dill weed.
When the butter is foaming, add the fish, skin side down first. Cook 2-3 minutes. Turn. Add about 1/4 cup of white wine. Cook 2 minutes. Lower heat and put a lid on the pan for another minute. Unless the fillets are very thick, that should be enough. Check with a fork. People have different ideas of what is "done," but you don't want it to be dry. I like to stop cooking it when it is no longer pink or translucent, just milky white but still moist. (Using the lid helps this because the last minute or so is steaming, so it stays moist.)

The white wine and butter will have turned into a flavorful little pan sauce, so you can serve the fish with a drizzle of that and still feel fairly self-righteous.

10 minutes, tops.

This would also be good with shallots and/or almonds cooked in the butter along with the fish, the way I do orange roughy.

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This is me enjoying a limoncello in Rome on the last night of our trip to Italy. Funny thing is, I don't really like limoncello that much, but thought it would be great in a dessert. And wouldn't you know, The Barefoot Contessa just did a great fruit salad with limoncello. So now I can't. Oh, well.