How to season fish.

Seafood is a healthy and flavorful cornerstone to any meal. With so many fish in the sea, there’s a near endless
selection of flavor profiles and textures.

Let’s discuss a few ways to season your favorite fish.

Basic Seafood Marinade

Ingredients:

• 2 fillets of your favorite fish
• Juice 3 lemons
• 1/4 cup olive oil
• 2 tb Dijon mustard
• 1/4 cup fresh snipped dill
• 1/4 tea spoon salt
• Fresh ground pepper ( to taste)
• 1 clove garlic, minced

Preparation:

1. Mix all ingredients well.
2. Marinate fish 2 hours in refrigerator.
3. Cook as desired.

Fresh Herb Marinade

Ingredients:

• 2-4 filets of your favorite fish
• 1/4 cup of fresh chopped herbs
• 1 lemon or lime
• Salt and fresh ground pepper (to taste)
• 2 cloves garlic, minced

At the risk of sounding like a broken record, broken record, broken… Always try to use the freshest ingredients you can. In this case, a home herb garden would be epic. The flavors of home grown herbs are more intense since they take a trip from the garden direct to the kitchen vs. the trip from the farm to the truck to the store to the kitchen.

Preparation:

1. Simply chop your herb of choice.
2. Chop 2 cloves of garlic.
3. Juice one lemon or lime.
4. Mix all of these ingredients together.
5. Place your fish in a Pyrex dish
6. Salt and pepper each fillet to taste
7. Pour a tablespoon or more marinade on each fish to coat evenly.
8. Let marinate for 20-30 minutes.
9. Cook as desired.
10. While the fish is resting, pour a tablespoon of the reserved marinade onto each fillet. This will add moisture and enhance the fish appearance.

Note: Never reuse marinade that has been used on any raw meat. Marinades must be discarded after they are used.

Lemon Ginger Marinade

Ingredients:

• 2 fillets of your favorite fish
• 1 ginger root
• 1 lemon
• Olive oil
• Salt and fresh ground pepper (to taste)

Preparation:

1. Salt and pepper both sides of a fish fillet to your taste.
2. Peel and thinly slice ginger root and cover both sides of the fish with it.
3. Thinly slice a lemon and cover both sides just like the ginger.
4. Place the fillets in a rectangular Pyrex dish and drizzle with olive oil.
5. Let the fish marinate for 15 minutes while the grill is getting hot.
6. With your spatula scoop the fish out of the dish lemons, ginger and all and place it on a hot, well-oiled grill.
7. Cook for 5-7 minutes per side with the lid of the grill closed.
8. Be sure to keep the lemons and ginger on the fish as it rests. The juices from the fish, lemon and ginger will make a delicious sauce.
9. The lemons and ginger will not look appetizing. Remove them before serving. They’ve done their job.

Dry rubs

Dry rubs are great for grilling fish. A rub puts a protective coating on the fish, deterring sticking and adding concentrated flavor.

Most spice rubs have a long list of ingredients in them. I won’t bore you with that. Instead I am going to direct you to the spice masters:

Chef Paul Prudhomme. He has a line of Magic Seasoning Blends. These rubs are time tested and widely used by professional chefs across America.

Chef Emeril’s line of Essence Spices are also well received.

Now here’s the secret. When serving a fish that has a dry rub, make sure to have a cooling condiment to serve with the fish since dry rubs are often spicy and intense. Think along the lines of fruit, cucumber, tomato salsa or a greek-style yogurt or sour cream sauce. Anything cooling will play nicely with the spiciness.

Best,

Chef