Baked Fish with Potatoes and Onions

Recipe by Damon Lee Fowler, featuring

Salt Table’s All Round Good Grinder Blend (or Tybee Island Coastal Blend, or Southern Italian Blend, or Spanish Moss Blend)

Based on a classic dish from the traditional cooking of Genoa, Italy and a strikingly similar dish that my mother made often during my childhood, this is so easy to put together and the All Round Good Grinder Blend is a perfect seasoning to enhance its earthy character.

Other Salt Table Seasonings that are perfect for this dish are Tybee Island Coastal Blend, Spanish Moss Blend, and Southern Italian Blend.

Serves 4

1½ pounds small, waxy boiling potatoes
6 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
2 medium yellow onions, trimmed, split, peeled, and sliced as thinly as possible
Salt Table All Round Good Grinder Blend
1 tablespoons minced flat leaf parsley, optional
4 fresh fish fillets (catfish, cod, perch, snapper, or even shad), about 8 ounces each

How To Make It:

  1. Position a rack in the upper third of the oven and preheat to 450° F. Scrub the potatoes under cold running water. Peel and slice as thinly as you can—no more than 1/8-inch-thick.
  2. Lightly rub a 9 x 13-inch bake-and-serve dish with butter or oil and put in the potatoes. Scatter half the onions over the potatoes and drizzle them with 4 tablespoons of oil. Toss gently to coat and then season liberally with All Round Good Grinder Blend. Toss, and spread them so that all the potatoes are lying flat. Bake in the upper third of the oven until the onions wilt and begin to brown and the potatoes are beginning to get tender, about 15-20 minutes.
  3. Remove the dish from the oven, toss the potatoes again, and lay the fish fillets over the top in a single layer. Season them well with All Round Good Grinder Blend, then scatter the remaining onions over the fish, drizzle with the remaining oil, and bake until the potatoes and fish is just cooked through and the onions are lightly browned, basting occasionally with the oil in the dish, about 15-20 minutes more, depending on the thickness of the fillets. Serve hot from the baking dish.

 

Suggested Seasonings

All ‘Round Good Grinder Blend

This recipe also works well with Tybee Island Coastal Blend, or Southern Italian Blend, or Spanish Moss Blend

Baked Fish with Lemon and Crumbs

 Recipe by Damon Lee Fowler, featuring

Salt Table’s All Round Good Grinder Blend or Tybee Island Coastal Blend, or Southern Italian Blend

Equally perfect for busy weeknight dinners as well as weekend entertaining, these crumb-topped fillets are simple to put together, even more-so when they’re seasoned with All Round Good Grinder Blend. They would also be delightful with Tybee Island Coastal Blend or Southern Italian Blend.

Serves 4

Ingredients:

  • Extra virgin olive oil
  • 2 tablespoons dry breadcrumbs, preferably homemade (see method)
  • 4 fresh fish fillets (preferably locally caught flounder, snapper, grouper, or shad)
  • Salt Table All Round Good Grinder Blend 
  • 1 tablespoon chopped flat leaf parsley, optional
  • 1 lemons cut in wedges

How to Make It:

  1. Position a rack in the upper third of the oven and preheat to 450° F. Put 1 teaspoon of olive oil in a small skillet over medium heat. When the oil is warm, sprinkle in the crumbs and toss until they’re coated evenly. Turn off the heat.
  2. Rub the bottom of a baking dish that will snugly hold the fish in one layer with olive oil. Pat the fish dry, put them into baking dish, skin-side down, and season well All Round Good Grinder Blend. Sprinkle them with the parsley if using and then the oiled crumbs.
  3. Bake until the fish is cooked through and the crumbs are toasted, about 8-15 minutes, depending on thickness of fillets. Serve at once with lemon wedges.

Homemade Dry Breadcrumbs

Even if the ready-made boxed crumbs were from good bread (they aren’t), their texture and flavor is never as good as those that are homemade, and making your own is not enough trouble to justify taking the short cut. Here is my method.

Preheat the oven to 250 degrees F. Trim the crust from stale, unflavored (without sugar, herbs, garlic, cheese, olives, etc.) European-style bread and cut into 1-inch cubes. Spread the cubes on a rimmed baking sheet in one layer. Bake, stirring occasionally, until dry and crisp and just barely golden. Let them cool completely. In batches, transfer to a sealed freezer bag and crush to crumbs with a rolling pin. You may also process in a food processor fitted with a steel blade until evenly ground. Keep in mind that the dry, crisp bread is likely to scratch the sides of the plastic work bowl over time. If you want to keep that from happening, go to the trouble of crushing them by hand. Dry crumbs keep indefinitely when stored in airtight tins.

 

Suggested Seasonings

All ‘Round Good Grinder Blend

This recipe also works well with or Tybee Island Coastal Blend or Southern Italian Blend

Baked Fish Fillets with Orange-Ginger Sherry Butter

 Recipe by Damon Lee Fowler, featuring

Salt Table’s All Round Good Grinder Blend (or Tybee Island Coastal Blend)

Adapted from my book Essentials of Southern Cooking (Lyons Press/2013), the recipe was originally intended for grouper, but it also works well with sea trout (photographed), sea bass, snapper, pompano, and cod.

The Salt Table’s All Round Good Grinder Blend not only simplifies the seasoning but actually enhances the orange, ginger, and sherry combination better than the original seasonings. Another great Salt Table Seasoning for it would be Tybee Island Coastal Blend.

Serves 4

INGREDIENTS:

  • 4 thick grouper, sea trout, sea bass, snapper, or cod fillets (about 2 pounds, or 8-ounces each)
  • Salt Table’s All Round Good Grinder Blend (or Tybee Island Coastal Blend)
  • 4 small or 2 large scallions or other green onions, thinly sliced, white and green parts separated
  • 1 large lemon
  • 1 medium orange
  • ½ cup dry sherry
  • 1 tablespoon finely minced fresh ginger
  • 5 tablespoons cold unsalted butter, cut into teaspoon-size bits

How to Make It:

  1. Position a rack in the center of the oven and preheat to 450° F. Rinse the fish under cold running water and pat dry with paper towels. Butter a flameproof casserole that will hold fish in one layer. Season the fish well on both sides with All Round Good Grinder Blend and put in dish, skin-side down. Sprinkle the scallions over it, reserving 2 tablespoons of the greens. Remove the zest from the lemon and half of orange with a bar zester (or vegetable peeler and cut into julienne with a sharp knife). Sprinkle these over the fish. Cut the lemon and orange in half.
  2. Juice the lemon and one half of the orange through strainer set over a glass or stainless-steel bowl. You should have equal parts orange and lemon juice—about 2 tablespoons of each. Stir them together and stir in the sherry and ginger. Pour it over fish. Bake in center of oven, basting several times, until it’s just cooked through (it will flake slightly and be opaque in the center), about 15–18 minutes, depending on thickness.
  3. Remove the fish to a warm platter. Put the casserole over direct medium-high heat (or if it’s not flameproof, transfer the cooking liquid to a saucepan). Bring it to a boil, and boil, stirring and scraping the pan occasionally, until the liquid is reduced by half. Turn off heat, and whisk in the butter by bits. Spoon a little of the sauce over the fish and pour remainder into a sauceboat. Sprinkle the fish with reserved green onion tops and serve, passing the sauce separately.

 

Suggested Seasonings

All ‘Round Good Grinder Blend

 

Fresh Fish Tacos

Recipe by Damon Lee Fowler, featuring

Salt Table Savannah Summer Salt Seasoning, Chipotle Chili Powder, and Fine Himalayan Pink Salt

Fish Tacos have long been a specialty of the Mexican resorts on the Baja Peninsula, and in recent years have become a summer favorite in The United States, especially in the balmy, humid South. Savannah Summer Seasoning Salt gives them a nice southern zip.

Serves 4

INGREDIENTS

  • 1/4 cup mayonnaise
  • 1/2 cup sour cream or Greek yogurt
  • 3 limes
  • 1 medium clove garlic, peeled
  • 2 tablespoons chopped cilantro or oregano
  • Salt Table Chipotle Chili Powder
  • Salt Table Fine Himalayan Pink Salt
  • 1 tablespoon olive or vegetable oil
  • 1½ pounds firm, white-fleshed fish fillets such as cod, halibut, grouper, or snapper cut 1-inch thick
  • Salt Table Savannah Summer Salt Blend, to taste
  • 8 large flour tortillas
  • 1 large, ripe tomato, cored, seeded, and diced
  • 1-1½ cups shredded Romaine or Iceberg lettuce
  • ½ medium Vidalia Sweet Onion, peeled and thinly sliced
  • 1 medium avocado, halved, pitted, peeled, and cut into bite-sized dice

HOW TO MAKE

  1. To make the lime cream, blend together the mayonnaise and sour cream or yogurt. With a microplane grater, grate the zest from 1 lime into the sauce then grate half the garlic clove into it. Set aside the other half of the clove for another use. Blend in 1 tablespoon of lime juice and 1 tablespoon of cilantro or oregano. Season it to taste with chipotle powder and pink salt (if needed). Taste and adjust lime juice. Let stand 15 minutes, then taste and adjust seasonings.
  2. Cut remaining limes into wedges. Cut the fish into bite-sized cubes. Sprinkle it generously with about a tablespoon (or to taste) of Summer Salt and gently toss to coat. Warm the oil in a large non-stick or seasoned iron skillet or sauté pan over medium heat. Add the fish and raise heat to medium-high. Sauté, gently tossing occasionally, until the fish is just cooked through, about 3-4 minutes. Remove it from the heat.
  3. Meanwhile, warm a griddle or a large non-stick pan over medium-low heat. When the fish is ready, lay a tortilla on the griddle and let it get hot, turning it once (about half a minute) and remove it to serving plate. Spoon 1/8 of the fish down center and top it with tomato, lettuce, onion, and avocado. Lightly sprinkle with Summer Salt, drizzle with a spoonful of lime cream, and sprinkle on a little of the remaining chopped cilantro.
  4. There are two options for presenting them: you may simply leave them open-faced and let your guests roll them up themselves, or roll them first as follows: 1/4 of tortilla at the bottom over edge of filling, then fold the left side all way over. Roll the taco over on itself to fully wrap the tortilla around its filling in a neat package. Serve immediately with lime wedges on the side.

 

Suggested Seasonings

Brown Chipotle Powder

Savannah Summer Salt