Grilled Fish Food

GRILLED FISH ON THE 'HALF SHELL'

Steps:

• Mix the salt and water until the salt dissolves, then add the ice. Brine the fish for 1 hour. Remove, pat dry with paper towels and put on a rack in a cool, breezy place for 30 minutes. While you are doing this, get your grill nice and hot.
• When you grill is ready, coat the fish with the vegetable oil, then sprinkle the meat side of the fish with the Cajun seasoning. Lay the fish on the grill with the fat side of the fillet over the hottest part of the fire, and the tail sections out toward the edge where the fire is a bit cooler. Let the fish grill undisturbed until the meat is fully cooked; it will just begin to flake when that happens. This can be done in an uncovered grill if it's a) not too windy, and b) the fillet is less than 2 inches thick. If you are worried about timing, cover the grill, or tent the fish with some heavy-duty foil.
• When the fish is done, gently remove it with a large spatula, or two spatulas if you need to. Move it to a platter and dot the top of it with the butter. Serve when the butter melts alongside rice, potato salad, maque choux, etc.

SPICY GRILLED FISH

Steps:

• Combine lemon juice, soy sauce, vegetable oil, ginger, garlic, green onions, minced onion, paprika and cayenne pepper and stir to mix well.
• Place fish in a zipper seal bag and pour liquid mixture over it. Seal and marinate in the refrigerate for about 1 to 2 hours.
• Oil grill grate or fish basket really well and preheat grill to medium high. Grill fish for 4 minutes on each side. Flip the fish only once and brush with reserved marinade when flipped.
• NOTE: Fish is completely cooked when the color turns from translucent to opaque (white) or has reached a 150 degree F internal temperature. Resist the temptation to over-cook fish until it "flakes," which indicates the fish is becoming dry.

GRILLED FISH

Steps:

• Combine all the ingredients except fish and lemon wedges and mix well. Using a pastry brush, paint the fish steaks liberally on both sides and set them aside, lightly covered with a piece of aluminum foil, to marinate for at least 30 minutes.
• Build up a fire, using good hardwoods if you're cooking in a fireplace or the best hardwood charcoal (not fake-wood briquettes) if you're using a grill. Let the fire burn brightly and die down until you have a nice bed of hot coals or embers. Large pieces of fish can be set directly on the grill, but to prevent smaller ones from falling through and burning up, you may want to use a special grid made for fish.
• When you're ready to cook, brush a little plain olive oil on the cooking surface and set it 4 to 6 inches from the source of heat.Arrange the fish steaks so that they have equal access to the heat source. Cook for about 4 to 5 minutes on each side, turning once. Test for doneness-fish should be opaque all the way through-by inserting the tip of a sharp knife near the bone or in the center of a boneless piece of fish. Remove immediately to a hot platter.
• The remaining marinade should be heated just to the boiling point and either poured over the cooked fish or passed at the table along with lemon wedges.

THAI GRILLED FISH RECIPE (PLA PAO ปลาเผา)

Steps:

• When you buy your whole fish, ask the vendor (or yourself) to do two things: One, try to remove the guts from the gills of the fish, without slicing the fish open on the belly, and two, leave the scales on the fish (if you have the choice).
• Probably the first thing you want to do (if you're using charcoal, which I would recommend), is to get the charcoal going first, so it's ready when the fish is prepared.
• Make sure you rinse your fish with water and then pat them dry with a paper towel.
• Take your lemongrass stalks and beat and bruise them with something hard, like a mortar, or a rolling pin or something like that. This is going to bring out the lovely flavor of the lemongrass. Also prepare a small handful of kaffir lime leaves.
• Fold the lemongrass in half and begin to stuff the fish with a stalk of lemongrass and about 10 kaffir lime leaves. Depending on how big your fish is will determine how many stalks of lemongrass you can fit. I put 2 - 3 lemongrass stalks in each fish in the video. Make sure it's tight, but also make sure not to push so hard that you break the flesh of the fish.
• In a large mixing bowl or pan add ½ kilo bag of salt, sprinkle in 2 tablespoons of all purpose flour, and add about 1 tablespoon of water. Mix it up thoroughly, massaging the mixture with your hand, until it's fully mixed. You want the salt to be a little moist so it sticks to the fish easily.
• Add the fish to the pan and start plastering it with the salt mixture. Pat and rub the fish with the salt, making sure to cover the entire fish, and all over the head and tail. Do the same to both fish.
• For grilling the fish, you want to have a steady, yet quite low heat. Make sure you have a bed of coals, and if they are too hot you can either tone them down with a scoop of ashes, or push the really hot coals to one side of the grill and put the fish on the other side (using a little indirect heat). You can also add more coals as you keep on cooking. You want to slow cook the fish without them burning on the outside. My fish took almost 1 hour to grill. So aim for low heat for slow cooking.
• Once your fish is on the grill, it's time to get started on the seafood sauce (below).
• Try to wait for about 15 minutes before you flip the fish. If you flip it too early, when the salt hasn't dried out completely yet, the fish skin might get stuck onto the griddle. Flip the fish as little as possible.
• Keep roasting until the fish feels firm and the white salted skin has turned crusty and golden. It should take about 45 minutes to 1 hour.
• Take the fish off the grill, and set it on a platter.
• To eat the fish, you can either use a knife or scissors, and from the top of the fish, cut through the skin. The skin should cleanly lift off the fish revealing moist and beautiful meat.
• Thai grille fish (pla pao) is delicious with both sticky rice and white rice, and lots of seafood sauce!
• Peel about 15 cloves of garlic and grab about 20 Thai bird chilies (prik kee noo suan พริกขี้หนูสวน). Normal Thai chilies will work too. Pound ½ teaspoon of salt, the garlic, and chilies using a mortar and pestle. Doesn't need to be super fine, but make sure there are no big chunks.
• In a bowl, add the pounded garlic and chilies, 6 tablespoons of fresh squeezed lime juice, 3 tablespoons of water, 2.5 tablespoons of fish sauce, and 1 tablespoon of sugar. Mix everything together until the sugar is dissolved.
• Taste the seafood sauce. Really, it's up to you how it tastes, but you want it to be slightly salty, sour, and slightly sweet.
• If you need to add a little more of anything, go for it!

GRILLED FISH

Steps:

• In a large bowl, marinate fillets in salad dressing in refrigerator fo 30 minutes.
• Preheat BBQ grill; place fillets in a hinged grill basket that has been coated with cooking spray, or oil the grill grates and place fish right on grill.
• Grill for about 10 minutes per inch-thickness of fish or until fish flakes easily with a fork.
• To broil; preheat the broiler and brush the broiler pan with oil.
• Place fish about 4 inches from the broiler unit and broil for 10 minutes per inch-thickness of fish or until fish flakes easily with a fork.

GRILLED FISH TACOS

Steps:

• Directions for slaw:
• Combine apple cider vinegar, cilantro, lime zest, lime juice, sugar, salt and pepper in a medium bowl; mix until smooth and creamy. Add cabbage and toss to combine. Refrigerate until ready to use.
• Directions for tacos:
• Combine ingredients for the basting sauce into bowl and mix. Set aside. Oil the grill rack and Preheat grill to medium high. Grill Mahi filets until they are cooked through approximately 3 minutes per side. Continuously baste Mahi- Mahi, turning fish over only once.
• While Mahi is on the grill, heat tortillas until soft in the microwave or in the oven. Option 1: In the Microwave, wrap stacks of up to 12 tortillas in barely damp paper towels; microwave on High for 30 to 45 seconds. Wrap tortillas in a clean towel to keep warm. Option 2: In the Oven, wrap stacks of 6 tortillas in foil; place in a 375 degrees F oven for 10 to 15 minutes. Wrap tortillas in a clean towel to keep warm.
• When Fish is white and flakey, remove from heat. Carefully cut fish into large chunks. Place fish into tortillas and build your taco, starting with fish, and slaw and toppings of your choice.
• Combine all ingredients. Season with salt and pepper.
• Mix diced tomatoes, onions and cilantro in a large bowl. Add the lime juice and salt stir.
• Combine all ingredients in a bowl and mix well. Set aside and refrigerate for 30 minutes.