Opah with a buttery garlic tomato sauce

Opah...Moonfish. Sounds pretty cool, doesn't it? Well it is a beautiful looking filet, that's for sure! Thick, meaty and pink. It looks like it will be delicious. We even googled a picture of "Moonfish" just to see what they look like, and they are huge! It's nice to have a resource in Slofreshcatch, because it not only provides recipes, but also detailed information about the fish, where it comes from, and a rockin' recipe for "Seared Opah with a Vine-ripe Tomato Garlic Butter." We made it tonight and it was AWEsome!

http://www.slofreshcatch.com/category/blog/ 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Opah

My plate with seared opah and sauce, quinoa and roasted vegies. I am digging in!

The funny part about tonight was that Taylor and his girlfriend were hungry well before I started frying fish, so they heated up some leftover chili. I was about to talk them out of it, but then I thought, "Don't be silly! This way they won't each so much of the sure-to-be-delicious fish!" It was one pound of fish cut into seven pieces. Probably enough for four people, but not four ravenous peoples.

First I seasoned the fish with some lemon pepper and a pink Himalayan salt. I just got the salt for our grinder at New Frontiers Foods and thought this fish definately deserved the pink salt. I let the fish sit with the seasonings while I prepared the tomato sauce. I varied from the SLO Fresh Catch recipe by using a whole basket of cherry tomatoes that came in our SLO Veg box, and I simply halved the tomatoes and sliced up a couple of large green onions. I just don't have the patience to peel tomatoes. Then I skipped right down to the point where you sweat the tomatoes and onion in butter. During this time I also had some cauliflower and carrots roasting in the oven and some quinoa steaming on the cooktop. I put the tomato mixture aside and concentrated on searing the fish. The meaty pieces held up well in the oil and butter mixture as I cooked the pieces for about 5 minutes on each side since they were pretty thick. When they had a nice brown starting, I deemed them cooked and put the pieces on a serving platter.

Garlic went into the saute pan and mingled with the oil and butter left from searing the fish. Then I poured in the tomato and onions and added lemon juice and white wine. I checked on my quinoa and it was plumping up just fine, so I felt I would have all the dinner components done at the same time...perfect! I gave the vegies a turn on the roasting sheet and turned the heat on the oven way down, just to keep them warm. While I was doing this, Lee stepped in and took over with the sauce. I think he was getting hungry, too. He topped the fish with the finished tomato sauce and gave it a sprinkling of Parmesan cheese. At that point, I grabbed a plate and served myself up first. No sense being polite here! I was hungry too!

Seared Opah

Recipe from the SLO Fresh Catch website:

Seared Opah (Moonfish) With Vine-Ripe Tomato Garlic Butter

• 1 lb opah fillet, cut into 3-ounce fillets
• olive oil and butter, 2 tablespoons each
• 2 tablespoons garlic, finely minced
• 1 tablespoon lemon juice
• 3 tablespoons white wine
• 2 tablespoons parsley, chopped
• 1/2 lb unsalted butter, cut into cubes, room temperature
• salt and pepper, to taste
• parmesan cheese, shredded

Tomato Concasse

• 1 lb Tomato, vine-ripened
• 2 shallots, minced
• 4 tablespoons unsalted butter

Make the Tomato Concasse: (The French word means to roughly chop).Remove the core of the tomato with the tip of a small knife. At the other end, lightly score (just break the skin) of the tomato by cutting an X. Plunge the tomatoes into a pot of rapidly boiling water for 10 seconds (blanch).Remove the tomatoes with a slotted spoon and place into a bowl of ice water or under cold running water to halt the cooking process (this process is called ‘refreshing’). The peel should now just slip off; if the tomatoes are not quite ripe, they may need to be blanched and refreshed again.Place the tomatoes on a cutting board with the core side down and cut in half.Remove the seeds with a teaspoon and discard. Roughly chop the tomatoes to the desired size.

(This is where I really began) Gently cook the shallots and the tomatoes in butter without coloring them (this is called sweating) for 5 minutes and set aside until required.

Heat the saute pan on medium heat until hot. Add in oil and butter; season both sides of fillets with salt and pepper. Sear on both sides until medium done, approximately 4 – 5 minutes total depending on thickness of fish. Remove from pan; add garlic; stir consistently. Add tomato concasse, lemon juice and white wine on medium heat; let reduce until most liquid is gone. On low heat, add in butter a little at a time. Remove from heat; add in chopped parsley and season.

 

The finished fish dish, complete with sauce and cheese