fish halp

[brigid]

I'm a pretty decent cook (and baker) but have no experience with fish other than "buy fish frozen, cook according to directions" or "open can of tuna, mix with mayo etc."

Do you have any helpful fish tips, advice, or instruction? Any favorite fish recipes, the simpler the better?

Comments

[kelaino_kalos]

When I was in college, this was my "I need to eat more fish" recipe:

1. Buy a white-fleshed fish filet (e.g., tilapia) and a bottle of lemon vinaigrette salad dressing.
2. Put fish filet in 8x8 glass/Pyrex pan.
3. Pour salad dressing over the fish filet until it is covered.
4. Marinate for 20 minutes or so.
5. Bake in oven until done. I think this might have been at 400 degrees, but I honestly don't remember.

I think this recipe was included on the side of the vinaigrette bottle, because I would never have come up with it on my own. I mean -- salad dressing? As marinade?

It is not the healthiest thing; in fact, it probably counters the effect of the fish pretty thoroughly. But it was easy and fast and cheap. One salad dressing bottle and one bag of fish filets probably fed me 6 times.

[brigid]

I've done that with chicken, actually.

How are your fish eating habits now? Did this help you eat more fish as a long term thing?

[kelaino_kalos]

I don't eat fish all that often now, no. Some of that was in pure reaction to eating this particular recipe as often as I did in college, as I got very tired of it. And some of it's just not having much experience with cooking fish. But sometimes my body wants fish in particular, and on those occasions I tend to make tuna salad or buy sushi, depending on whether I'm at home or not.

[shadowspar]

Most fish is really easy to oven-poach. Seal individual fillets in aluminum foil packets with any desired seasonings (herbs, black pepper, a bit of lemon juice) and then into the oven they go -- 400F for about 12 minutes.

An even more awesome way of doing essentially the same thing is cooking salmon in the dishwasher. The dill sauce in that recipe takes a bit of work, and it's fantastic, but you can leave it out or substitute it with something ready made. The actual fish-cooking part is very straightforward; best of all, after you're confident of the seal on your aluminum foil packets, you can wash dishes for dinner and cook dinner at the same time. =)