Friday Mitchell's tries to bring in fresh fish. It's local so it's usually snapper, which we both like. I simply salt and season the snapper with Cajun spice mix then put it in hot oil in a frying pan. The potatoes were boiled, drained, mashed, buttered, milked, salted and stirred with a fork. The broccoli is steamed, cooled under cold water and reheated in olive oil. It sounds complicated but you steam the broccoli early when you have time then leave it cold till the fish is on it's second side, then put the broccoli into the pot with olive oil.
Cooking fish seems a bit daunting when you've never done it. The first thing to do is pull the bones out. They are mostly near the head end in the centre inside of the fillet. You have to feel up the whole piece of fish to find them all. When you find one, grab with pliers and hold your fingers around the bone so you scrape the meat off as the bone comes out. Next, cut off any bits of skin still on the fish and there might be a strip of white fat along the top edge, I cut this off too as I find it unpleasantly fishy tasting.
I tried using my smart watch to take videos while the fish was cooking. It's a bit wobbly but shows how the fish turns from translucent when raw to opaque when it's cooked. In the video I say it's turning translucent but I meant to say it's turning from translucent to opaque. As the fish cooks the meat becomes opaque on the bottom, moving up through the fish to the centre. When it reaches the centre, turn the fist over.
Then I turn the fish over and watch the meat turn opaque up to the centre and it's done.
That leaves the butter sauce. Squeeze juice from half a lemon into a small pot. Add a teaspoon or two of water, a pinch of salt and bring to a boil briefly. Remove from heat and add 2 tablespoons of butter. Once it's melted, whisk it into an emulsion. Pour the sauce over the fish and broccoli.
Fern loved the fish tonight, I got it just right.
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