Quick Sauces for Fish

From left to right, chipotle mayonnaise, teriyaki sauce and wasabi mayonnaise.

We mostly grill our fish — unless it is blizzarding outside. And we don't sauce it up too much, because good fish is, well, good fish, and you don't need to smother the taste.

When we grill, we usually just top it with a squeeze of lemon and a tiny bit of olive oil, which keeps it moist on the hot grill. See our earlier post about prepping fish for the grill.

But sometimes we want to add just a touch of taste, particularly when we have guests who might not see heaven in a piece of unadorned fish the way we do.

So here are three great sauces — or toppings — to serve with any fish, whether grilled, broiled or pan fried. Two are spicy and one is on the slightly sweet side.

Wasabi Mayonnaise. Wasabi mayonnaise is available at Trader Joes, but you can make it quickly and very inexpensively by merely adding wasabi powder or wasabi paste to mayonnaise. Wasabi is often available in the Asian aisle at supermarkets. We start with 3 Tablespoons of mayonnaise and add 3 teaspoons of wasabi. If you like it really hot, add more wasabi. But be careful. This is not tartar sauce. A little goes a long way, and so it accompanies the fish rather than masking it.

Chipotle Mayonnaise. For those who like a southwestern taste rather than an Asian flavor, chipotle mayonnaise is made by adding 3 teaspoons of the adobo sauce that comes in a can of chipotle peppers. If you want it really hot, add a chopped up pepper from the can, but only add a small one and be careful, because these canned peppers are really hot.

Teriyaki Sauce. Not everybody likes spicy food, even a little sauce on the side, so serve a little teriyaki sauce on the side for those who like just a hint of sweet. You can buy it in bottles at the supermarket, or you can make it at home. Mix 1/3 cup soy sauce, 1/3 cup Mirin or rice wine, 1/3 cup sake and 2-1/4 teaspoons of sugar. This makes a very liquidy sauce that you would use if you were to glaze the fish while it was on the grill, but it's not thick enough to serve as an accompanying sauce.

We add 2 teaspoons of arrowroot and heat it in a small pan on the stovetop. It will quickly thicken to a syrupy consistency.

Your guests are sure to love one of these little sauces with their fish.

Chimichurri: Fun to Say, Even More Fun to Taste

For us, grilling season never ends. We fire up the grill in snowstorms, thunderstorms, and even pitch blackness, armed with our trusty snake light. As far as we're concerned, almost everything tastes good on the grill, from pizza to freshly shucked corn. But sometimes grilled fish and meat get a little monotonous. That's where chimichurri sauce comes in.

This Argentinean green sauce peps up fish, chicken, pork, beef, and, yes, tofu. Here's Ro Ann Redlin's recipe, which she says she may copyright, it's so good.

Chimichurri Sauce:

1 bunch parsley
1 small white onion
2 T. capers
2 cloves garlic
1 cup olive oil
1/4 cup white vinegar
1 T. lemon juice
1 T smoked Spanish paprika
1 t. dried oregano


Combine all ingredients in food processor, and process. Store overnight. 

Prepping Fish for the Grill

Prep your fish for the grill with citrus and olive oil.

Some people are afraid to grill fish.

True, this can be hazardous. Leave the fish on too long, and it dries out or burns. Take it off too early, and the raw, mushy middle creeps out you and your guests. There's also the problem of flipping fish; sometimes it falls apart before it ever gets to the table.

But we find that grilling fish and other seafood can be as easy as cooking a great steak on the grill— if you follow a couple of easy guidelines:

• Buy filets. You can leave the skin side on the grill grate, so you don't have to flip the fish. Few people will eat the skin anyway, so if it gets a little dark or burned, so what? You can even slide the filet off the burned skin before serving it.
• Prep the fish. Up to an hour before grilling, we squeeze a lot of lemon on the filet or steak (cut across the fish rather than lengthwise) to help keep it moist and to start it "cooking" much like lime works in ceviche. Then, just as we do with beef steaks, we drizzle olive oil over the fish to give it a bit more flavor and moistness. This lemon-oil prep is the most important step.
• Salt the fish somewhat liberally, and pepper it lightly.
• If you follow the preceding steps, you can place your fish on a very hot grill. Then, if you're using a gas grill, turn the heat down to medium. If you're using charcoal, cut off some air to lower the heat.
• Cover the grill and try not to open it too often or for too long a time. Let the fish cook until it loses its translucency. Plan about ten minutes per inch of thickness, maybe a bit more if you don't like rare fish.

There's a way to poke the fish to tell whether it's ready to serve, but we can't think of a good way to describe the technique — and we don't always rely on it, anyway. So find a discreet corner of one of the pieces (the one you're serving yourself), cut it off, and taste to see if it's ready.

If you pulled the fish off the grill too early, and you find it's not done, put it back on the grill or (don't tell anybody) put it in the microwave for about 15 to 30 seconds. But be careful: even an extra second or two in the microwave can dry out a beautiful piece of seafood.

Adobo Cream Sauce for Fish, Tofu, Game, or Anything You Like

In February we spent a week in Mexico, determined to relax, soak up the warm shade, swim, read, and eat cheap. One evening we had dinner at a little fish house near our hotel, and Tim ordered snapper that arrived covered with a lightly creamy adobo sauce (adobo is one of our favorite ingredients) and wrapped up in tinfoil. It was subtle and delicious, and we knew that we could duplicate it at home. After two tries, we think we’ve nailed it:

Recipe

1 large shallot (⅓ cup) chopped/minced
1 T olive oil

1 cup white wine
2 cups veggie broth

⅓ cup liquid from canned tomatoes or 1 t. tomato paste (optional)

1–3 T. adobo sauce from canned chipotle peppers
1 t. Braggs Liquid Aminos (optional)
⅓–⅔ cup light cream (heated but not boiled)
1 egg, beaten
½ cup fine cornmeal
cilantro, chopped coarsely

1. Brown shallots in large skillet in olive oil over medium to medium-high heat.

2. Add wine, stock, and tomato liquid, and reduce by half. Add liquid aminos.

3. Add 3 to 5 tablespoons of the warm sauce to the cream to temper it.
Add cream to sauce and stir.

4. Drag protein (fish, tofu, meat) through beaten egg, then cover with fine cornmeal.
Brown protein in skillet over med-high heat but don't cook through.

5. Place protein in casserole dish and cover with adobo sauce.

6. Bake in oven at 350° for 30 minutes.

Serve over rice with side vegetable or black beans (sprinkled with cilantro), and with red or white wine.

We've made the dish with tofu and pheasant, sautéing the slices separately before covering them with sauce and baking the casserole in the oven.* This sauce is great for cooking any non-fatty meats, such as rabbit, that require a cooking liquid. Rice makes a wonderfully absorbent accompaniment.

* A lot of vegetarians don’t like their food hanging out with animal protein, but Ruth figures that if she can kiss Tim’s meat-eating mouth, her tofu can touch his pheasant. If you prefer, though, it’s easy to put together separate casseroles.

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