Fish Box 2a: Sablefish - Baked with Lemon, Basil & Tomatoes

Well despite or perhaps because of the disappointment of our last fish box being cancelled, we were very excited to get this weeks box. Our email said that it was the same fisherman as last time. They also said that some of the orders would be Black Gill Rock Cod and that others would be Sablefish again. It was fun not knowing which one we'd get. Jerome picked it up and it was Sablefish again! While it is a bit sad that we didn't get to try our hand at a new type of fish, we both really liked the sablefish and had noted several other recipes to try, so overall things worked out. We based our process on this recipe we found online. 

 Once again, it was really nice fish, filleted, but with skin on and bones in. We rinsed and patted it dry. It seemed like we got more this time. In addition to these pieces, there was a full length fillet which we're saving for another recipe. 

We were thinking ahead and went to the Los Altos Farmer's Market on Thursday to stock up on fresh vegetables that would go with any kind of fish. We got a giant bag of green beans, a bag of awesome and giant heirloom tomatoes and some really nice basil. 

Heirloom tomatoes are so tasty and awesome looking! If you haven't tried them, go out and find some. They are often interesting colours, and not always firm like generic tomatoes. 

To start this recipe we put olive oil and lemon juice in a baking dish. We then put the fillets in and turned them so they were coated. We put them skin side down then sprinkled them with salt and pepper. 

Next we covered it with a layer of our fresh basil. 

Followed by a layer of heirloom tomatoes. 

Then seasoned the top with lemon salt, pepper, and Parmesan cheese. 

We then covered it with tin foil and put them in a 400 degree oven for about 20-25 minutes, checking every 8-10 minutes - until the fish was flaky. 

Jerome took charge of the green beans and pan fried them. He raided our spice drawer and seasoned them with garlic powder, salt, sage, chili powder, harissa oil, and olive oil.

When we took it out of the oven the cheese had melted and the fish was flaky and nicely cooked. 

Overall this dinner was really awesome. The tomatoes were very flavourful and juicy, the fish was really rich and buttery despite just being baked - I guess that's why they also call it Butterfish sometimes! Jerome's spiced green beans were great with a bit of a kick to them. It was also nice that it was so easy to prepare, and all done in one dish - well and the skillet for the beans. All in all we were both very happy once again with the end result and would make it this way again for sure!

Meat Box 1a: New York Steak

The first thing we cooked from our Meat Box were the two aged new york steaks. They were each about 1/3 of a pound, grass fed, free range etc. They were very evenly sized and had a bit of marbling in them. 

We brought them to room temperature, patted them dry and seasoned them with salt and pepper. 

To go with it, we cut some tomatoes into thick slices and drizzled with olive oil and balsamic vinegar. Ground some salt and pepper on the top and broiled them. 

We flipped them once the top started cooking, and sprinkled some parmesan cheese over the top and put back until they started to brown on that side. 

Jerome was in charge of cooking the steaks while I worried about the sides. Because they were pretty thin steaks we had to cook it at pretty high heat to get a nice sear on the sides without overcooking the middle. A bit of a challenge, but Jerome did a great job. He got a nice colour on both sides and then added a tiny bit of butter to the pan to finish them off while keeping them medium rare. 

We also made some mashed potatoes to round everything out. It was all pretty tasty! We wanted to keep it very simple this time to be able to taste the meat itself. Next time we may try a saucier approach!

Fish Box #1B: Sablefish

When we were looking up recipes for Sablefish, there were two main preperations: Asian Style and Lemon Butter Sauce. Since Jerome did a great job on the first, I decided to try my hand at the second. 

You start with melting a bit of butter in a saucepan with lemon juice, lemon pepper, a pinch of salt and some green onions and bring it to a boil. 

You then take your rinsed and dried fish - bones and skin still on. And pour the sauce over top of it in an oven proof dish. We then baked it for 8ish minutes until it was flaky and fell apart. 

We then served it simply with nice fresh green beans and grape tomatoes. A nice refreshing summer's dinner. The lemon gave a nice tartness to the fish, and it was a success! Despite never having cooked Sablefish, both of our cooking methods turned out very well which was a relief! I think we'll be more confident with the next round of fish. Sadly though we heard yesterday that we will not be getting a fish box this week, due to bad weather having stopped the fishermen from going out all week.