Thursday, February 27, 2014

Fish and Potatoes

It's been several weeks since I've put a recipe on the blog, my time having been consumed with medical topics, and so I'm returning today with a recipe, a simple one that reveals the natural goodness of the ingredients used. Simplicity is undervalued in cooking, especially in modern American with its fetish for complicated flavors and heavily spiced foods. Simple foods, prepared well are often the most delicious because they allow us to really pay attention to what we are eating.

As is well documented, fish can be a tough sell. We know we should eat more, but we don't know how to prepare it. I've offered recipes in the past, but it's been a while since then, so I'm returning with a guaranteed sell. If the prior recipes were strongly flavored, this one is far, far from it. It's simple and allows the natural flavors of the fish to be presented - I recommend a mild, meaty white fish for this, like mahi mahi or corvina.

2 medium onions, sliced thin
3 tbsp olive oil
2 lbs waxy potatoes (such as Yukon gold), peeled and sliced in thin rounds
1/4 cup water
1 tsp salt
1 lb white fish fillets
1 tbsp lemon juice

Use a large, oven-worthy pan for this. Saute the onions in 2 tbsp olive oil until very soft and caramelized. Add the potatoes, the water, 1/2 tsp salt and gently stir to mix. Cover and cook at medium low temperature for 10 minutes, until the potatoes begin to soften.
Meanwhile, drizzle the fish with the remaining 1 tbsp olive oil and sprinkle on 1/2 tsp salt.
Add the fish to the cooking potato/onion mixture, along with the lemon juice - don't mix, just place it on top. Cook covered for at least 20 minutes, until the fish is fully cooked.
Finish the dish by putting the pan in the oven to broil for 3-4 minutes. The broiler will put a nice brown on the fish and potatoes.

Delicioso!