Fish Thursday! Poaching

So basically, you might think a poached fish is technically hard to do.  It is actually super duper easy peezy, and comes out frigging fantastic!

Here’s what I did tonight in the OTC kitchen:

Started with a small glass of Balvenie 12 year old aged double cask.  But this is totally optional.  I prefer a little bit of ‘inspiration’ to get the juices flowing.  Because on nights like this, I didn’t have a real plan of how to make a complete dinner.  A lot of times it just comes one step at a time as it’s going.  If you know flavoring, and seasoning, you can do anything.  Really, trust your instincts.  If they aren’t so hot, just relax and let the magic happen….

So here it goes, and again, Scotch optional, get yourself a gorgeous nice fresh piece of Halibut.  One of my favorite.  Make sure it’s a thicker more center cut piece, about 2″ thick, or at least inch and half.  And a smaller total piece, for two people, about inch wide and about 6″ long.

I prefer one of my perfectly seasoned cast iron skillets. Depending the weather, mood, alcohol involved, I change up the oil mixture for the poaching. Tonight it was a little extra virgin olive oil, a wee bit of walnut oil, and some regular old vegetable oil.  Turn the heat on looooowwwwwww.  I mean on my gas range, there is barely a blue flame.  With gas you need to keep an eye on it, and adjust to the gas flow.

Season the top with some really really, I mean top notch salt and pepper. That’s it. Total. Done. Let the fish speak. If you get a good piece of fish, you want it to be the star.

Add oil to skillet till it will be half way up fish.  And that’s it.  Let it cook low and slow.  Let all those flavors mingle and say ‘What up’. Let the oils relax each other out and slowly introduce themselves into the fish.

I let my fish on for about 90 minutes.  You can press on the top of it to check it’s status. You want to make sure there is a firmness, but it still has a little spring to it.  After a couple times you will be a pro.

I will give a great rice and veggie compote side dish for this later!!!

ENJOY!