Olive Oil Poached Fish With Pasta Recipes

OLIVE-OIL-POACHED FISH WITH PASTA

Steps:

• Steam the oysters in a little water, 1/4 inch or less, just until they're easy to open. When they're cool enough to handle, open them and cut the meats in half. Meanwhile, cook the squids in the same liquid just until opaque, less than 2 minutes. Take them out with a slotted spoon and reserve the liquid. Turn off the heat.
• Set a big pot of water to boil for the pasta and salt it. In a broad skillet, add the olive oil, garlic and thyme and turn the heat to medium-low. Gently cook all the fish and scallops in the oil, in batches if necessary, flipping and turning as needed. Don't rush and don't worry about browning anything; just cook until each piece is tender, which will be different for each fish, but not more than 10 minutes for any. Do not overcook. Remove with a slotted spoon, leaving the garlic behind. (Discard the thyme.) Season with salt and pepper and put on a platter with the lemon wedges and chopped parsley. Drizzle with oil.
• Add the tomatoes and cayenne to the oil and cook at a lively pace, stirring occasionally, until saucy, 10 to 12 minutes. Start the pasta in the meantime. When the tomatoes are ready, stir in the reserved cooking liquid, oysters and squid and cook a bit longer, another 3 or 4 minutes. Taste and season as needed.
• When the pasta is almost tender, drain it and toss it with the sauce and the basil; cook another minute or so until the pasta is ready. Serve the pasta in bowls, and pass plates on the side for the fish.

OVEN-POACHED FISH IN OLIVE OIL

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 250°F.
• Chop half of capers and pat fish dry. Sprinkle fish with 1 1/2 teaspoons salt and 1/2 teaspoon pepper and let stand 10 minutes at room temperature. Arrange half of lemon slices in 1 layer in an 8-inch square glass baking dish and arrange fish in 1 layer over lemon. Top with all of capers, remaining lemon slices, and 3 tablespoons parsley, then pour oil over fish. Bake in middle of oven, uncovered, until fish just flakes and is cooked through, about 1 to 1 1/4 hours.
• Serve fish with some of lemon slices, capers, and oil spooned over. Sprinkle with remaining tablespoon parsley.

OLIVE OIL POACHED SALMON

Steps:

• Place the aromatics-the garlic, thyme, lemon zest, coriander, and bay leaves-in cheesecloth. Tie into a sachet. Add the oil to a large straight-sided saute pan and toss in the sachet. Bring the pan to a medium heat and let simmer for 15 minutes.
• Let the salmon come to room temperature and season generously with salt. Add the salmon fillets to the pan with the olive oil. Let the fish cook in the oil for 15 to 17 minutes. Remove from the oil with a fish spatula to a plate before serving.

FISH WITH TOMATOES, OLIVES AND CAPERS

Steps:

• In a large nonstick skillet, heat 2 teaspoons of oil over a medium-high heat. Add fish and cook until opaque in the center, about 2 1/2 minutes per side. Transfer the fish to a platter and tent with foil to keep the fish warm.
• Heat the remaining 2 teaspoons of oil in the same skillet; add onion and saute for 2 minutes. Add the wine and cook until reduced by half, about 2 minutes. Add the tomatoes, olives and capers and crushed red pepper, if using, and cook for 3 minutes more. Stir in the spinach and cook until it is wilted, about 3 minutes. Season with salt and pepper. Spoon the sauce over the fish and serve.

HALIBUT POACHED IN OLIVE OIL WITH BROCCOLI RABE PESTO

Steps:

• Bring a small pot of salted water to a boil over high heat. Add the broccoli rabe and cook until tender, about 5 minutes. Transfer the cooked broccoli rabe to an ice bath and let cool, about 3 minutes. Shake off the excess water and transfer to a food processor. Add the garlic, walnuts, honey, salt, and pepper process until smooth. With the machine running gradually pour in the extra-virgin olive oil. Transfer the pesto to a small bowl and stir in the Parmesan. Cover and set aside.;
• In a medium, heavy skillet, heat the olive oil and vegetable oil over medium-low heat. Using a deep-fry thermometer, heat the oil to 200 degrees F. Reduce the heat to low to sustain the 200 degree F temperature. Season the fish with salt and pepper. Gently place the fish in the oil making sure it is submerged beneath the surface. Poach the fish until just cooked through, about 6 to 7 minutes.;
• Place about 1/2 cup of Broccoli Rabe Pesto on a serving plate and gently smooth out to make a bed for the fish. Using a slotted fish spatula gently transfer the cooked fish from the poaching oil to the serving plate, placing the fish on top of the bed of pesto. Serve immediately.;

SPAGHETTI WITH OLIVE-OIL-POACHED TUNA IN TOMATO-FENNEL SAUCE

Steps:

• FOR THE TUNA
• Add the fennel seeds to a small sauté pan and bring to medium-high heat. (You need toasted fennel seeds for both the tuna and the sauce, so toss 2 tablespoons in the pan now and save a step later!) Toast the fennel seeds, shaking the pan frequently, until they are very aromatic and start to turn a brighter shade of green, 3 to 4 minutes. Remove from the heat and grind the seeds in a spice grinder or crush with a mortar and pestle.
• Season the tuna belly with salt, red pepper, and half the ground fennel seeds (you're saving the other half for the sauce).
• Preheat the oven to 200°F.
• Put the tuna in a medium ovenproof saucepan and cover with olive oil. Toss in the garlic, bay leaves, and thyme bundle. Cover and put in the oven; cook for 1 hour. Remove and let cool to room temperature. Use immediately or refrigerate in an airtight container.
• FOR THE SAUCE AND PASTA
• Coat a large wide saucepan with olive oil and add the onions and fennel; season with salt and red pepper and bring to medium heat. Cook the veggies until soft and aromatic, 8 to 10 minutes. Add the garlic and cook for another 2 to 3 minutes.
• Add the tomatoes, the reserved tablespoon of toasted fennel seeds, and 1 cup water to the pan and season with salt. Bring to a boil (BTB) and reduce to a simmer (RTS); simmer for 30 minutes.
• Bring a large pot of well-salted water to a boil. Add the pasta and cook for 1 minute less than the instructions on the package suggest. Taste it: It should be toothsome with just a little nugget of hard pasta still in the center-this is al dente.
• Remove the tuna from the olive oil, break it up, and add it to the sauce.
• Drain the pasta and add it to the sauce; stir vigorously to combine. Add a drizzle of big fat finishing oil and serve garnished with fennel fronds.
• YOU SAY TOMATO, I SAY SAN MARZANO
• San Marzano tomatoes are, as the name suggests, from San Marzano, Italy, outside of Naples. Sweet and delicious, these canned tomatoes are naturally very low in acid. Sometimes you'll notice people add a pinch of sugar to tomatoes when making sauce-this is not to sweeten the sauce so much as to offset the acid in the tomatoes. When you're using San Marzano tomatoes, this isn't necessary because they're naturally super-sweet and low in acid. However, for this same reason, they need a lot of salt to bring out their best flavor . . . accept it and move on.
• San Marzano tomatoes are perfect for sauce, and they work beautifully with my favorite piece of kitchen equipment: the food mill. It's super-old school but I love using a food mill to purée tomatoes because it lets the seeds slip through, leaving all the big-money stuff up top. Remember, when you put your tomatoes through a food mill, be sure to scrape the pulp off the bottom to get every last bit of tomato-y goodness! This is the stuff that will help thicken the sauce, so you don't want to leave it behind. Got it?