Arctic Char is a wonderful fish. With a taste and texture similar to both trout and salmon, it’s also delicious. Besides it’s rated a “Best Choice” by Seafood Watch. Arctic Char with Asian Braised Fennel.
Ingredients
- 2 ounce oranges, zest only
- 1 whole stalk lemongrass, trimmed and chopped
- 1 piece (3″ size) ginger, peeled and thinly sliced
- ½ cup chopped fennel stems and fronds
- ½ cup canola oil
- 1 head fresh fennel quartered lengthwise
- water
- 4 tablespoon infused oil, from this recipe
- 1 tablespoon butter
- 6 whole black peppercorns
- 18 pink peppercorns, lightly crushed
- ½ teaspoon sugar
- 1 pinch salt
- 1 ounce fresh orange juice
- 1 tablespoon lime zest
- 1 ounce lime juice
- 1 ounce rice vinegar
- 1 teaspoon ginger, peeled and grated
- 1 tablespoon vegetable oil
- 2 (6 ounce) fillets of artic char (skin on)
- salt and pepper
Directions
Infused Oil
1. Combine half of orange zest, lemongrass, ginger, chopped fennel, and oil in a small microwave safe bowl
2. Heat the oil to a near boil in the microwave. Approximately 3 minutes. Remove from microwave cover, and steep overnight. Strain and reserve oil the next day.
Braised Fennel
1 Trim the fennel bulb and quarter it lengthwise. If the bulb is large you may need to cut it 6 or 8 pieces. Each about 1″ across at widest point
2. Place the fennel in a skillet just big enough to hold the fennel in one layer. Barely cover the pieces with water about 3/4 of a cup. Add the 1 tablespoon of the infused oil, butter, peppercorns, pink peppercorn or bay leaf, sugar and a pinch of salt. There is a delicate balance between pan size, vegetable size and cooking times. You want it all to reduce to a glaze about the same time the fennel is cooked to perfection.
3. Bring the liquid and fennel to a boil, then lower the heat and gently simmer about 20 minutes. The liquid should reduce down to a shiny glaze in this amount of time. Try and work the timing out so this happens with out overcooking the fennel. You may have to remove the fennel and continue reducing the glaze to get the timing just right. When finished glazing, remove the fennel from pan and set it aside. You will return the fennel to the pan and gently reheat it when you are ready to plate.
Citrus Emulsion
1. For citrus emulsion combine all the ingredients in a blender or mini food processor. Blend on high for 2 minutes. You may substitute any combination of citrus you have handy.
Arctic Char
1. Heat 1 tbsp. vegetable oil in a sloped sided skillet large enough to hold the fish with out crowding. Bring the oil to near smoking.
2. Then add the rest of the orange zest, orange juice, lime zest & juice, rice wine vinegar, ginger and remaining 3 tablespoons infused oil. Cook undisturbed, skin side down for about 2 minutes. The skin will release itself from the pan when it is ready. Do not attempt to turn it over before that. You will see a nice golden crust forming around the edges.
3. Flip the fillets and cook an additional 1 ½ to 2 minutes until almost medium rare (it will continue to cook after it leaves the pan).
4. Drizzle some of the citrus emulsion onto a plate in an attractive manner. Lay one fillet in the center of each plate and top with 2 slices of the reheated braised fennel.
5. You may garnish with any combination of extra pink peppercorns, fresh fennel fronds and fried shallots. Add a drizzle of the infused oil over the top. Serve warm.
So I’m pretty much a novice in the kitchen, but I absolutely love Tilapia. I just have a few questions… How hot should the pan be? and to make a sauce could I substitute anything non-alcoholic for the white wine?
I’ll immediately snatch your rss feed as I can not find your e‑mail subscription link or newsletter service. Do you’ve any?
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I have not tried this dish yet..however, would the jalaeno flavor over influence the natural flavor and added spice to the fish?
In fact a bit of heat heat makes my taste buds more active. But you got like spicy and I do… GREG
The pan should be hot enough that you can only hold your hand over the pan about 3 seconds when you hold it about 3 inches above the surface. Any liquid is fine. Wine has enough fruit and acidity to be perfect though. The alcohol burns off if that is the issue. GREG
Hi Greg‑I wrote you a nice little comment yeterday but it does not appear to have stuck. I wrote about how much i love your dish and its simplicity. I have a little tilapia recipe to post but best of all Greg: NEW CHALLENGE at my blog so head over and see ifthis one also gets your creaive juices flowing. You set the bar high you know.
I’ll look into it. Sorry, it’s not like you are banned or anything. GREG
I just got done making and eating this, goooood dinner. A note for those who don’t like it spicy, take out the jalapeño seeds.
I wish I knew who you were! You ned not post anonymous in fear I will attack non-spicy eaters. I admit it’s a personality fluke, but they have a right to live too! GREG
I’ve already commented on your post, however I realized that I am writing to people I know very little about. So I thought instead of painting, cleaning and doing general catch up (I am on spring break)I would read about my fellow bloggers. What an interesting person you are! ( my husband and I grew up in michigan, actually he lived most of his young life in farmington hills, what a coincidence) I wish you the best of luck in future pursuits, and I LOVE the movies! ( It takes a very interesting person to get me to sit and view anything for longer than 2 seconds 🙂
I assume you are speaking of my newly minted “100 things About Greg”. I stressed about whther to post that list. It is highly personal.
But when Sapuche at The World Tastes good gave me an “Honest Scrap” meme that comes with the challenge of listing 10 honest things about yourself. Well, 10 lead to 20 and so on. So I shot the moon and went for 100.
I always intended this blog to be more than a list of recipes, so I figured. Why not. I may shock a few people. I may even loose readers… But life is short, and this is me. GREG
There’s tilapia on sale only a ten-minute walk from here, and I’m thinking that I ought to make the short hike to get some. (There’s also tilapia in the Ala Wai canal behind my apartment, but if I ate them I’d probably wake up with a second head starting to grow between my shoulders.) I love how clear your directions are, and I, for one, appreciate the alternatives you suggest to jalapeño peppers. I like fire in my food, but my tongue cries for me to steer clear of it. That first photo really made me hungry, by the way. That’s about as perfect a tilapia as can be cooked!
You couldn’t have said it any better with this dish. Looks good, and what time should I be coming over?
I think you chased everyone’s fear away. You are so good at that. This is a lovely preparation, all I could think of was Orzo. It would be lovely on my Parmesan Orzo.
One of my favorites to cook with but a pretty hard find here in Seattle. Time to move!
Eric
What a lovely simple flavors, I rarely prepare fish outside the commercial kitchens. I might have to try this, it looks yummy!
The color looks perfect! I think I crowd my fish in the pan so that they end up simmering rather than searing. I do have some mild brown-nosing tendencies so I will probably make this as prepared here.
…how it goes. GREG
… but I strayed somewhat (perhaps I have a more independent streak than I realized). I forgot my jalapenos so I used a red bell pepper (weak, I know). Although it totally lacked heat, it tasted great. Still, it didn’t look anywhere near as nice as yours — I think I let the pan get too hot and the butter browned. [Sigh] I will try again.
We are actually having Tilapia tonight. Now I am getting excited for dinner 🙂
GREG
Great preparation with jalapeno and lemon — simple and delicious!
…especially coming from you. The more I read the review section at 5 Star, the more I appreciate your taste buds. GREG