Pescado a la Parilla (Grilled Fish)
How a dish is visually attractive is so connected to how it tastes. This recipe demonstrates that principal of cuisine. This dish is sure to impress your guests and it’s easy to prepare ahead the time of receiving your guests. Buy your fish from a reliable fish monger and you can’t go wrong as long as you don’t over cook an expensive piece of fish.
Frozen fish my be inexpensive but you get what you pay in terms of taste and surely supermarkets generally don’t have truly fresh seafood. Having said that, I do prepare frozen only because I need a healthy alternative to meat and I need to stay on budget for the month. I prefer to stick to canned tuna, now that’s a bargain and I know how to doctor it up. But as often as I can I go for truly fresh seafood.
Fresh fish from a reliable fish monger may be expensive but compared to restaurant prices it’s worth the money. Truly fresh fish doesn’t need a lot of help from fancy sauces; all you need is salt and pepper and a hot grill and you will have the best meal consistently. If you have never grilled a whole fish, take the plunge and break out of your glass cage of seafood phobia. Let’s get started
Ingredients
Serves
1 cup onion, thinly sliced
5-9 slices (rajas) of canned pickled (escabeche) jalapeño chiles (Rajas en Escabeche)
1 tablespoon olive oil plus extra for brushing fish and grates
1 ½ lbs whole fish, gutted, cleaned, skin on and scales removed.
2 lemons cut in ¼ inch circles
Cilantro
½ cup cilantro finely diced
½ cup cilantro roughly chopped
Salt and pepper
Preparation
In a small bowl, salt and pepper the onion, and mix in 1 tablespoon of olive oil. Set aside.
Rinse the fish well under cold water and pat dry with paper towels. Make 1 inch diagonal cuts on the sides of the fish, spaced about 1 ½ inches apart. Generously salt and pepper the fish and stuff the cuts full with cilantro and a slice of lemon. Brush olive oil over the fish to keep it from sticking to the grill or fish basket. I prefer to use a grilling basket for fish. Stuff any remaining lemon slices inside the fish.
Set your grill to about 375 to 425°F with the dial on medium heat. When the grill is hot, oil the grill grates and/or fish basket if you are using one. Grill directly over the burners for approximately 6-7 minutes each side or until the fish is nicely browned to a golden shade. You only want to turn the fish once. If you aren’t using a fish basket, use two large spatulas to cradle the fish on either side, then gently flip the fish over.
While the fish is grilling, sauté the onions in a vegetable grilling basket or ceramic stone for about 5 minutes or until the onions begin to caramelize. Add the jalapeño and cook for 2 minutes. Fold in the cilantro and cook for 1 minute. Remove from heat and set aside until the fish is done.
Plating
Serve the fish on a platter, garnished with grilled onions and a few sprinkles of cilantro. and let guests help themselves. After removing the top filet, you can easily pull off the exposed spine bone structure and serve the remaining filet.
Notes
Red snapper (Huachinango), branzino / seabass or trout are all suitable to grilling. In this case, the weekly fish truck at my local farmers market had Orata. It’s a mediterranean fish popular in Italy. It was super delicious and juicy.
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