Pan Seared Turbot with Zucchini - A Lovely Fish Dish for any Weeknight

 

We've been featuring a lot of pasta dishes lately, and truthfully, we do eat a lot of pasta because we love it, can't live without it, and really, what in life is better than pasta? (aside from, of course, steak?) Lest you think we're practicing some form of reverse Atkins diet, we bring you today a lovely carb-free entrée based on a recipe recently featured in La Cucina Italiana magazine.

Allright! Play time!

Another special aspect of this particular dish is that YiRan took the drivers seat this time around, affording Bryan the opportunity to relax and play with Herbie and Pepper while she put together this culinary masterpiece.

Making the Dish
What You'll Need
(Serves: 2)
2 turbot fillets
1/2 cup chopped fennel fronds
3 tbsp olive oil
2 zucchini
1/2 sweet onion
2 tbsp fresh chopped parsley
1 tsp black pepper
1/4 cup slivered fennel (optional)



This is a very simple dish, maximizing the flavors of just a few ingredients to create a satisfying and delicious experience. The star of the show is turbot, a firm whitefish with a decidedly unfishy flavor and nice texture that holds up well to the heat. It's marinated with fennel to give it a luscious flavor and then seared over high heat to give it a nice crispy exterior.

Marinating the turbot

To marinate the fish, chop of some fennel fronds and combine them with the fish, a touch of olive oil, and a sprinkle of salt in a bowl, and let rest for 30 minutes to an hour. The flavors will penetrate the fish fairly quickly, so you can do this ahead of time while you chop up the rest of your ingredients.

Chopped zucchini

To create the bed of delicious zucchini, chop up the zucchini and the onion into a small dice. Then in a non-stick pan, heat up a tablespoon of olive oil and saute everything together, cooking until the zucchini is tender and the onions have caramelized.

Sautéing the zucchini and onions

Remove them from heat and stir in fresh chopped parsley. The veggie bed is complete!

Adding in the parsley

At this point, the fish should be ready, so heat up a non-stick pan to a very high heat with a touch of olive oil. To get the nice crispy exterior you'll want the pan to be very hot. Once ready, carefully slip the fish into the pan and sear it on both sides, turning only once about half way through. Total cooking time should be about 7 - 8 minutes.

Searing the turbot over high heat to get a nice crispy exterior

Spoon out the zucchini mixture onto a plate and gently place the turbot on top. If you'd like, drizzle over a touch of olive oil, and enjoy!

The Wine
We recently joined Lot18, a Gilt-esque service for purchasing unique wines at a discount. This Portalupi Zinfandel from the Dry Creek Valley in California was one of the first wines we ordered from there, and was a real treat.

Portalupi Zinfandel, brought to us by Lot18

It had a big, peppery flavor with a strong finish, yet was quite smooth and easily drinkable. We really enjoyed it!

The Result
We found this dish to be fantastic. The fennel gave the fish a delicious flavor and the crispy exterior heightened the eating experience. The zucchini salad underneath was an excellent compliment to the fish. We spiced it up a tad heavily with crushed red pepper which gave it quite a kick. If you don't like the spice, you can omit that step and substitute with fennel black pepper, which we did below.

Give this dish a try if you're in need of something quick and delicious on a week night, and let us know what you think!