Fish Recipes

Photo by Holly A. Heyser

These are recipes for the typical sort of fish you will see in a market or go out and catch yourself. “Normal” fish, meaning fish without extra sets of bones, that don’t have common food prejudices against them, are unusually ugly, slimy or otherwise visually disadvantaged. Recipes for these more unusual fish can be found here.

This list of recipes is far more idiosyncratic than comprehensive. What’s more, they are in two places: Here, on Hunter Angler Gardener Cook, and on my old website, the About.com Fish & Seafood cooking pages. I ran that site until 2009, but many of my recipes are still online over there.

Basics

Some baseline techniques you will find useful as you come across various fish and seafood. Many of these apply to so many different kinds of seafood it’s worth compiling them here.

Classic Fish and Chips

This is a basic fish and chips recipe you can use with any firm fish. Halibut, cod, haddock, redfish, walleye, perch, catfish, lingcod, shark… you get the picture.

Simple Grilled Fish with Basil

Grilling a whole fish is an important skill to know. It requires a clean, hot grill, some oil, and lots of finesse.

How to Butterfly a Fish

This is how I butterfly and debone small fish like trout and small bass. You can either prep them for the pan, or for stuffing.

Perfect Seared Fish

How to pan-sear fish fillets, skin on or skinless, perfectly every time. It’s not hard, but there are a few tricks to it.

And here is my video on how to sear fish:

Some Techniques on my About.com page

• How to Gut & Scale a Fish
• Filleting Flatfish (sole, flounder, fluke, etc)
• Simple Fish Stock
• Pan-Dressing a Small Flounder, such as a sand dab
• A Simple Tempura Batter

SALMON and TROUT RECIPES

How to Smoke Salmon

My method for smoking salmon is very simple, but I’ve perfected it over many years. It’s a wet-brine with a maple glaze, although I prefer Alaskan birch syrup when I can get it.

Grilled Salmon Salad

Salmon salad made from the racks of salmon or large trout that are grilled. Once you get a nice crispy crust, you pick all the meat off the bones. Best salmon salad you’ve ever eaten.

Smoked Salmon Deviled Eggs

Smoked salmon, mixed into a rich, spicy deviled egg? Yes, please.

Salmon Rillettes

The key here is the combination of both smoked and freshly poached salmon or trout. A great, easy canape for a party… or for watching the game.

Salmon Chowder

Salmon, steelhead or other trout made into a lovely light Pacific Northwest-style chowder.

Salmon with Peas and Cranberries

A Swedish-inspired dish with spring salmon, peas, pickled cranberries and spruce tips. It’s sooo goood…

Grilled Salmon Collars with Ponzu Sauce

Meaty, rich and fun to eat, salmon collars are my favorite part of the fish, and they are made for grilling. Marinate it, grill it, then eat with your fingers. Super fun!

Salmon Tartare

A fancy, classy salmon tartare: Horseradish, dill and a little roasted pumpkinseed oil give it a Northern European flair.

Pine Nut Crusted Trout and Trout Risotto

A dish dedicated to the Paiute Indians of Nevada, where I caught these Lahontan cutthroat trout.

Salmon Head Soup

This is what you do when you have a whole salmon head. There is a lot of meat on one, and by gently stewing it and the picking off all that meat, you get a rich salmon broth and plenty of salmon bits for the soup. Don’t worry, no eyeballs in this recipe…

Fried Trout with Peas

Boneless, butterflied trout dusted in flour and served with peas and a lemon-butter sauce.

Trout with Morels and Wild Onions

A springtime classic, Sierra Nevada style. You can use any morels or any wild onions you want, though.

Steelhead with Sorrel Sauce and Salsify

Fresh steelhead seared and served with a tangy sorrel sauce. My version of a springtime classic.

Seared Steelhead with Double ‘Caviar’

A fancy dish for a fancy fish. It isn’t often I catch a steelhead I can eat, so when I do I make the most of it. The double “caviar” here is steelhead roe and Beluga lentils.

Trout or Salmon Omelet

Another great way to use leftover bits of salmon or trout. This omelet is even better with smoked salmon or trout.

Salmon Recipes from My About.com Pages

• Salmon Cutlets with Rouille Sauce 
• Broiled Sockeye Salmon with Cilantro Sauce
• Broiled Salmon with Green Onion
• Salmon with Walnut-Parsley Pesto
• Japanese Sake-Simmered Salmon

HALIBUT RECIPES

Thai Green Curry with Fish

A classic Thai green curry, good with any firm fish. I designed this recipe for halibut, but I’ve used a lot of other firm fish here, too.

Oil-Poached Halibut with Chervil

A springtime dish that pairs halibut’s delicate flavor with the slightly anise taste of chervil. You could also use fennel, too.

Halibut Recipes from my About.com Pages

• Tempura Halibut with Garlic Aioli
• Fried Halibut Cheeks with a Chickpea Flour Crus
• Saffron Halibut with Italian Salsa Verde
• Sauteed Halibut with Simmered Tomatoes
• Confit of Halibut with Spicy Tomato Jam
• Halibut Ceviche
• Halibut Tartare with Sungold Tomatoes

STRIPED BASS or WHITE SEABASS

Seabass with Honey and Ouzo

Quite possibly my favorite fish recipe ever. Sweet, salty and fried. I could eat this every week.

Fish Risotto

I do this dish with any white fish, but striped bass is especially good. The secret to this dish is the broth you cook the rice in.

Mushroom Stuffed Striped Bass

Another example of how wonderful the combination of mushrooms and fish can be. The only tricky part to this recipe is sewing up the cavity of the fish.

Bass Recipes from my About.com Pages

• Striped Bass with Summer Veggies
• Striped Bass with Greek Tomato Sauce
• White Seabass with Roasted Red Peppers

TUNA

Tuna, Canary Islands Style

While you could use any tuna — or any firm fish — with this recipe, I designed it for bonito, a dark, rich tuna that can handle this spicy sauce from the Portuguese islands.

Sicilian Tuna Meatballs

Another Sicilian tuna recipe, this one is perfect for the tail ends of the tuna, which are pretty tough. Grind the trim off a tuna and you will not waste anything. And fear not: These meatballs are not “fishy” at all — they are shockingly meaty.

Tuna Recipes from my About.com Pages

• Italian Tuna Crudo
• Tuna Carpaccio

CATFISH

Blackened Catfish

A modern, sustainable take on the 1980s classic, blackened redfish. Of course if you catch your own redfish, you can use this recipe, too.

Sichuan Catfish with Garlic

An awesome sweet-spicy way to serve catfish. And yes, this dish is loaded with garlic, so beware.

Vietnamese Claypot Catfish

One of the most iconic catfish recipes in the world, this Vietnamese classic is especially good with smaller catfish like bullheads or little channel cats.

OTHER FISH

Lake Erie Perch Chowder

A classic fish chowder with a Great Lakes flair: Sour cream, dill and Polish kielbasa. It is fantastic with any firm, white fish.

Dorado a La Paz

I designed this dish after I got back from Mexico. It highlights some of the best ingredients from Baja California: Dorado (mahi mahi), avocado, nopalitos and masa harina — all with a prickly pear sauce.

Fried Asian Fish Balls

Sometimes, when you catch fish in warm water, they can be mushy. This happened to me with some crappies. So I decided to chop up the fillets and make them into Asian-style meatballs — deep-fried, of course.

Grilled Rock Cod with Basil

Oftentimes rock cod, perch or black seabass are too small to really fillet properly without losing too much meat. My answer, especially in summer, is to grill them whole with an herby dressing.

The Nor'easter

A special dish to celebrate fall in New England. It’s swordfish, cod or haddock, wild mushrooms and greens.

Other Fish Recipes from my About.com Pages

• Oil-Poached Tilapia with Salsa
• Flounder, plaice, fluke or sole with parsley sauce
• Sablefish with Ouzo Sauce
• French Provencal Seafood Bisque (hosted on Simply Recipes)

More Fish & Seafood Recipes

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