Saturday, February 20, 2010

Blissful Hawaiian Butter Fish

This was, according to my family, one of the, if not THE best fish I've ever prepared. I think that's largely due to the fact that it was in incredible piece of fish, but I thought I'd write down the preparation in case such a choice fillet comes my way again--or yours.

The fish was a 1.5 lb. fillet of Hawaiian Butter Fish (or escolar to be more technical). It was a thick and fairly even piece, about an inch thick at the center. Here's what I did with it:

Ingredients
1.l5 fillet Hawaiian Butter Fish
1 T olive oil
about 2 oz. salted butter (local cultured)
1/2 t dried lemon
2 shakes cinnamon (maybe 1/8 t)
three grinds smoked salt (maybe 1/8 t)
two or three grinds black pepper
about 1.5 c shredded cabbage--mix of green and red
fresh marjoram--about 2T of leaves

Directions
  1. Preheat oven to 400F
  2. Place butter in glass brown and melt in microwave for 30 sec.
  3. Add dried lemon, cinnamon, salt, and pepper to butter and whisk. Set aside. Let sit for at least five minutes
  4. Brush oil on the bottom of a large rectangular pan-I used a glass lasagna pan.
  5. Place fish on pan and brush butter mixture across it. Cover it completely.
  6. Sprinkle cabbage in a ring around the fish.
  7. Brush the rest of the butter mixture on the fish if any remains.
  8. Place in 400 oven for about seven minutes.
  9. Turn oven to broil; move fish to broiler until well browned--about 4 or 5 minutes.
  10. Return pan to oven and lower to 400. Finish for another 3 to 4 minutes or until opaque throughout.

Serve immediately. I served it with roasted sweet potatoes (They shared the oven.) along with seared and steamed Brussels sprouts tossed with Parmesan cheese. A great February meal.