I am always boring when it comes to fish. I always make salmon or tilapia, and don’t often vary the recipes. Well, the first time I saw Ina make this fish, I knew I had to try it. But I didn’t. And then I saw the episode again, and I remembered how badly I wanted to try it last time. And then I saw it yet another time, and still I hadn’t made it. Well, come one random Wednesday night, when I just didn’t know what to make for dinner. And Stephanie wasn’t helping, but she knew she didn’t want anything with tomato sauce (she had red sauce two nights in a row) or meat (since she had meat the night before). Fish it was! And I racked my brain trying to think of some easy (I was cooking in my mom’s kitchen with limited resources) yet delicious fish recipes I heard of recently, and immediately looked this one up.
I ran to the fish store to see that striped bass was 12.99/lb. Not bad, except they only sold it whole. And I needed 4 filets. I almost bought a different type of fish, but now I’m glad I didn’t. I rationalize: if you ordered this dish at a restaurant, you would probably pay $35. The fish for this dish was about $10/person. So I bought 2 fish and watched the fishmonger filet them for me (mmm, fish guts). Walking home, I thought to myself that this better be an amazing dinner.
I guess what makes this caesary is the lemon and anchovy paste. I didn’t have any paste, but I did have a can of anchovies. I almost opened it up just to add one measly little fish to the recipe, but decided last minute that the rest would probably just go to waste. So I skipped it, and I really don’t think that we missed it.
Caesar Roasted Striped Bass, adapted from Ina Garten:
Serves 4
Ingredients:
- 2 garlic cloves
- 1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley
- 2 teaspoons Dijon mustard
- 3/4 cup mayonnaise
- The zest of 2 lemons
- 3 tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon juice
- Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
- 4 filets of striped bass
- 4 scallions, chopped (I used the white and most of the green, too)
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
Directions:
1. Preheat your oven to 500 degrees (hot!)
2. Line a baking sheet with aluminum foil and lightly coat with oil.
3. Make the sauce: Place the garlic, parsley, and mustard in the bowl of a food processor and pulse until the garlic is finely minced
4. Add the mayonnaise, lemon zest, lemon juice, 1 teaspoon salt, and 1/2 teaspoon pepper.
5. Pulse until the sauce is smooth.
6. Set aside 1/3 of the sauce.
7. Generously sprinkle the fish with salt and pepper.
8. Coat both sides of the fish with the remaining 2/3 of the sauce.
9. Sprinkle with scallions.
10. Let sit for 10 minutes.
11. Roast for 10 minutes.
12. Cover with foil and let rest for 10 minutes.
13. Serve with the remaining caesar sauce. Enjoy!
