Arctic Char In Salt Crust With Saffron Aioli Recipes

SOY-HONEY-GLAZED ARCTIC CHAR

Steps:

• Season fish with salt and pepper. Whisk together soy sauce, honey, and lime juice.
• Heat oil in a large skillet over medium-high. Add fish, skin-sides down, and cook, undisturbed, until skin is crisp and fish are opaque halfway up sides, about 2 minutes. Flip, reduce heat to medium-low, and cook until just cooked through but still pink in centers, about 1 1/2 minutes more. Transfer to a plate, skin-sides up.
• Wipe skillet clean; return to medium-high heat. Add soy mixture and boil until darkened slightly and reduced to a glaze, about 1 minute. Remove from heat and immediately return fish to skillet, gently flipping several times to evenly coat in glaze. Place fish over rice and drizzle with remaining glaze from skillet. Sprinkle with scallions and sesame seeds and serve, with bok choy.

SCALLION CRUSTED ARTIC CHAR

Steps:

• Preheat broiler. Line rack of broiler pan with foil.
• Finely chop scallions and stir together with mayonnaise. Pat fillets dry. Place fillets, skin sides down, on broiler pan and season each fillet with a generous pinch of salt and pepper. Spread scallion mixture evenly over tops of fillets.
• Broil 3 to 4 inches from heat until scallions are slightly charred and fish is just cooked through, about 8 minutes.

SAFFRON AIOLI

Steps:

• Steep the saffron threads in warm water for about 10 minutes. Drain water, but don't allow threads to dry out.
• Combine mayonnaise, and lemon juice with a wire whisk, mixing together until uniform.
• Add pressed garlic, only 1/2 of saffron threads, 1 teaspoon of saffron powder, and 1/2 teaspoon of cayenne pepper and continue to mix once again until uniform in texture.
• Use remaining saffron threads to garnish aioli in a small ramekin, bowl, or directly on top of food. Serve cool to slightly below room temperature.

OH MY ARCTIC CHAR!

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C). Line a baking dish with aluminum foil.
• Season arctic char with salt, place in prepared baking dish, and sprinkle with lime zest.
• Combine lime juice, olive oil, sherry, rosemary, and garlic in a food processor; pulse until garlic is finely chopped. Spread mixture over fish and season with black pepper and cayenne pepper.
• Bake in the preheated oven until fish flakes easily with a fork, 12 to 15 minutes, basting with pan juices about halfway through. When the fish is close to being cooked, switch the oven to broil for remaining two minutes or until browned.

AIOLI

Steps:

• Smash the garlic cloves with the side of a chef's knife and sprinkle with 1/2 teaspoon salt. Finely chop the garlic, using the side of the knife to periodically mash it against the cutting board, until it becomes a smooth paste. (You can also do this in a mortar and pestle.)
• To make the aioli in a mini food processor, put the garlic paste in a mini food processor, add the lemon juice and egg yolks and pulse to combine. With the machine running, add the neutral oil a few drops at a time, making sure it incorporates into the yolks and the mixture emulsifies. Once all of the neutral oil is added, scrape down the sides of the work bowl and add the olive oil in the same manner. (If the machine seems like it is working too hard or straining while adding the oil, add the tablespoon of water at this point to loosen the mixture a bit; otherwise, add the tablespoon of water once all of the oil has been added.) Mix in the cayenne. The aioli should be thick, shiny and smooth, with a spreadable consistency similar to jarred mayonnaise. If you want a slightly thinner sauce, add 1 to 2 tablespoons additional water slowly, with the machine running, until you reach the desired consistency. Serve chilled or at room temperature.
• To make the aioli by hand, dampen a kitchen towel and roll up. Form the towel roll into a circle and anchor a bowl in the center. Whisk together the garlic paste, lemon juice and egg yolks in the bowl. Whisk the oils into the mixture as directed above, using one hand to add the oil drop by drop and the other to whisk constantly. Add the oil very slowly at first. Once the mixture has formed a thick emulsification, you can stream the oil in a little faster. If it gets too thick, add the water to loosen it up and continue. Mix in the cayenne.

PISTACHIO-CRUSTED ARCTIC CHAR

Steps:

• Coarsely chop pistachios in a food processor, then add basil, shallot, salt, pepper, and 6 tablespoons butter and purée until mixture forms a paste.
• Preheat oven to 400°F.
• Remove any bones from fish with tweezers and pat fish dry.
• Heat oil and remaining 1/2 tablespoon butter in a 12-inch nonstick skillet over moderately high heat until foam subsides, then brown skin sides of fillets in 2 batches, 3 to 4 minutes per batch. Transfer fillets as browned, skin sides down, to a lightly oiled shallow baking pan (1 inch deep).
• Divide pistachio paste among fillet pieces and spread evenly in a 1/8-inch-thick layer over top of each.
• Bake fillets in middle of oven until just cooked through, 9 to 11 minutes.

SAFFRON AïOLI

Steps:

• Put the saffron in a small bowl with 1 tbsp boiling water. Leave for 10 mins to cool and for the water to turn a golden colour.
• Meanwhile, put the egg yolks, garlic, mustard and lemon juice in a jug or a tall container with a pinch of salt and blitz with a stick blender (or in a food processor) until smooth. Slowly add the olive oil, a small drizzle at a time, keeping the blender on, until you get a thick, glossy mayonnaise. Season with black pepper, then stir in the saffron water to loosen the aïoli and turn it a golden hue. Cover the surface and chill until ready to serve. Add a splash of water or lemon juice, to serve, if your aïoli thickens up too much in the fridge.

SALT-BAKED ARCTIC CHAR

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Prepare a large ice-water bath. Working in two batches, blanch leek in a pot of boiling water until just tender, about 2 minutes a batch. Transfer to ice bath to cool, then let drain on a kitchen towel.
• In a large bowl, combine salt, peppercorns, and orange zest. Stir in egg whites until combined.
• Stuff fish cavity with thyme sprigs. Starting just below head, wrap leek leaves around fish to completely cover, ending just above tail.
• Spread half of salt mixture on a parchment-lined rimmed baking sheet about 1 inch larger than fish. Place fish on salt bed; top with remaining salt mixture, pressing to cover all but head and tail.
• Bake until salt is golden and firm and the tip of a thin, sharp knife pierced through crust into center of fish is hot, 40 to 45 minutes. Using a knife and spoon, break salt crust and remove in sections. Remove excess salt with a pastry brush. With knife, cut fish into 8 even pieces along spine, then transfer to a plate. Remove and discard spine, then cut and transfer 8 pieces of fish from other side. Drizzle with hollandaise and serve, with remaining hollandaise on the side.