Simply Sizzling: A Sunday grilled fish fest
Posted on May 01 in cooking, Fish, Food Pornby NikaPrint
[Like me, you may not have known that the merry month of May is actually National BBQ Month! While it is apropos to this post, it was not planned. Let the grilling commence!]
Now that it is warming up, I have been thinking about grilling but the thought of another dried out chicken breast made me weep. No, I had a hankering for something completely different.
This meant using the fish grilling basket for the first time and that meant whole fish!
My husband and I both telecommute so that means we generally stay close to home. While that saves quite a lot on the commuting expenses, it also means that we tend to stay local for our food shopping. Unfortunately, this limits what we eat, especially when it comes to fish. Our local grocery store does not carry whole fish because customers complained (amazing huh? I think it went like this – “Ewwww, look, a dead fish head”). People really do NOT want to be in touch with food origins. Personally, I think this sort of person should stay away from the fish counter and stick to the twinkies, but, hey, I don’t run the store.
To get fish that is fresh, delicious, prepared to order, and handled with love and attention, what we have to do is visit Whole Foods when we DO make it in to Boston, an hour and a half away.
So this last Sunday, my husband brought home a selection of whole fish (also wild caught shrimp and salmon from Norway – I travel vicariously through my salmon) and I set to the task of grilling a red snapper and two trout.
I stuffed each with some grapefruit slices, key lime slices, bit of minced garlic, fresh chives, fresh dill, and fresh cilantro. The bigger red snapper was slashed on the outside to help the heat penetrate into the thicker meat. I used a single-fish basket for the red snapper and a larger one for the two trout. I threw in some ruby red grapefruit, white and green asparagus, snugging the trout, perfuming the whole batch.
We used real hardwood charcoal from Whole Foods, its chemical free and burns clean from the start so you do not have to wait until the petrochemical stench of the briquets burns off.
The larger red snapper was put on with some sliced yellow squash. I grilled it until it looked done but I had to give it a bit more heat later to finish off the cooking.
The trout took less time because they were little guys.
I served the fish with the grilled vegetables and some boiled new potatoes that had been sprinkled with Greek olive oil, sea salt, and fresh dill.
Technorati Tags: National BBQ Month, grilling, fish, grilling basket, whole fish, food origins, Boston, wild caught, shrimp, salmon, Norway, red snapper, trout, grapefruit, ruby red, asparagus, hardwood charcoal, Whole Foods, new potato
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Wonderful grilled fresh fish! It’s difficult and expensive to get really fresh fish here in Central TX! I remember eating all fresh seafood while living on the East Coast! I too, live vicariously through this particular blog…
Remember the fresh shrimp off the trucks along the side of the roads in SAT? Do they not do that anymore?
This post just convinced me to buy a fish basket. I’ve grilled whole fish without one before, but it doesn’t work great. I have a feeling that I’ll be grilling a lot more trout now because of these pictures.
Oh that’s gorgeous! Unfortunately I don’t have access to a grill, but I’m going to try this recipe en papillote.
Nick: Yeah, I would be afraid to put a whole fish right onto my grill. I know I would lose all sorts of parts of the fish
Spray or oil the fish on the outside and the inside of the basket so that the wire doesnt stick. I found very LITTLE sticking at all. When you are opening the basket, do it slowly and nudge any stuck skin off so that you do not rip all the skin off in one fell swoop 
Let me know how your fish turns out!
Lisa: Thanks ma’am! You cant grab a mini-hibachi or something and do it in Central Park? Make sure to remove the rind of your grapefruit.. it can give off a bitter flavor. The papillote method, you know, will just steam the fish but its still darn delish.
Last night we had salmon wrapped in phyllo (didnt use butter, sprayed layers with olive oil.. it worked!.. its a bit more crunchy than the butter phyllo).
Well, how did it taste?
Jane: I am a goof for leaving that out
It was delicious. Even the picky 10 year old was nibbling the meat off the bones. Thats the only draw back .. hard to feed a 3 year old bony fish.. had to pick through it extremely closely. Other than that, awesome flavor, so light. We will do this again but with the larger fish mostly.
Your photos and presentation are amazing. I am literally eating that fish with my eyes! Bravo! Your step by step instructions are great! I will be a regular on your site now!
Cheers!
Lily Rodriguez
San Jose, CA
Lily: thanks so much for stopping by! Sorry it took so long to reply, not sure how your comment slipped by me.