Like most any fish, if properly taken care of after the catch rockfish is delicious; it is delicate and soaks up flavors really well. I treat my rockfish just like I treat a prize yellowtail. I bleed them immediately, keep them out of the sun and ice them for at least 24 hours before I filet them. You might think this is overkill for rockfish, but trust me if you give it a try, you will be surprised by the results. Plus you get cleaner filets with no blood.
Anyway, this load of reds and flag fish was winched up during the Rockfish Derby. My on the water shot is not very good, but since it is required for the submission, here it is…
For the most part, fishing was slow but eventually I found the right honey hole and limited out with some decent sized fish. Enough to donate some for the fish fry and still take home enough for 3 good meals with family and friends.
First was baked filets topped with avocado and tomatoes with a side of Mexican green beans.
*Sprinkle some good sea salt, fresh ground pepper and chili powder on the filets. I put the filets on a grilling rack on a cookie sheet and bake it at 450 for about 10 minutes.
*For the tomatoes, slice up some grape tomatoes, cilantro, sweet onion, jalapenos and squeeze in some lime juice. Add seasoning to taste and mix.
*Cut the green beans into 1.5” segments and sauté with diced onions, and garlic. Remove from pan and combine with cilantro, sea salt and lime juice.
*Lay the baked filets on a plate, top with sliced avocado and tomatoes, toss some green beans next to the fish, some rice if you want and there you have it!
Second was grilled filets topped with lemon, rosemary and shallots with broccoli and rice.
*Lay the filets out on tin foil (if you left the skin on, you don’t need the tin foil), sprinkle with some good sea salt, fresh ground pepper, then add thinly sliced shallots, lemons and rosemary. Get the grill really hot and place the fish off the flames and cook using indirect heat.
*Get some nice broccoli florets from the farmers market and sauté with shallots.
* I like to remove the lemons and rosemary that was on the grill before I serve it.
And finally, the grilled whole flag fish; no matter how you prepare it, this is so damn good it is not even funny. If you have never grilled whole rockfish, you have to give it a try, especially the flag fish.
*Melt butter and stir in fresh chopped parsley, lemon zest and salt.
*Heat the grill up really hot.
*Score the fish, scale it if you want and then spread butter mixture inside the fish and put olive oil on the skin so it doesn’t stick to the grill. I like to add salt and pepper to the skin as well.
*Cook fish on indirect heat, turning once. It takes about 15-25 minutes depending on the size of the fish.
*If by chance you have some Hamachi Kama lying around, you can prepare it the same way.
*I like to grill some garlic bread to go along with this as well.
Well, that's it, the fish is gone. Rockfish three ways and no tacos!