Pan-Roasted Orange Maple Sablefish

Oct 07, 2022

Our resident Chef, Robert Clark, created this gorgeous recipe for sablefish. “It’s a great ‘starter’ fish: rich, buttery, lovely,” says Clark. “And it’s hard to overcook.” For this reason sablefish is enormously popular with Organic Ocean customers... known for it's luxurious feel in your mouth, it's an absolute treasure of a fish!

The recipe:

Sablefish:

4 sablefish (black cod) fillets (5 oz. each), skin on
2 tablespoons fine sea salt
2 teaspoons sugar
1/4 cup maple syrup
Zest of 1 orange (about 1 1/2 tsp.)
About 1 tbsp. vegetable oil

Side Vegetables:

1 large orange-fleshed sweet potato, peeled and cut into 1/2-in. cubes
About 1 tsp. olive oil
Fine sea salt and pepper
1/2 pound green beans
About 20 blackberries

Fresh Herb Sauce:

1 tablespoon lemon juice
1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
1/2 medium shallot
1/2 teaspoon Dijon mustard
1/2 teaspoon honey
2 tablespoons chopped fresh basil
2 tablespoons chopped fresh tarragon
1 tablespoon chopped fresh dill
1/4 teaspoon fine sea salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper

Method:

Preheat your oven to 400°. Prepare fish: Put sablefish into a deep baking dish. Dissolve salt and sugar in 2 qts. cold water and pour enough over fish to cover. Brine, chilled, 20 to 30 minutes. "Brining seasons the fillet all the way through," says Clark. Remove from brine then pat dry with paper towels. With a sharp knife, score skin several times to keep it from shrinking and thereby buckling the fillet as it cooks.
Combine orange zest and maple syrup and pour into a shallow dish just large enough to hold fish. Arrange sablefish skin side up in glaze and allow to marinate 20 minutes at room temperature.
While fish is marinating, prepare your vegetables: Toss sweet-potato cubes with olive oil, season with a little pepper and salt, and roast in a single layer on a baking pan, turning once, until browned and tender, 15 to 20 minutes. Set pan of potatoes aside (keep oven on).
Meanwhile, blanch beans in boiling salted water just until tender-crisp, for approximately 3 minutes. Drain, then submerge in a bowl of ice water to stop cooking. Drain again and add to pan of potatoes.
To make the herb sauce: Purée ingredients in a blender.
Finish fish: Blot excess glaze with paper towels and lightly oil skin sides. Place large cast-iron or other pan (don't use nonstick) over medium-high heat on stovetop until very hot, 2 to 4 minutes. Add fish, glaze side down, and cook just until the glaze has browned and created a thin crust, 15 to 30 seconds. Immediately turn fish skin side down and sear until sizzling and crisp, 3 to 4 minutes.
Put in oven to roast until opaque in the center, for about 3 to 4 minutes. While the sablefish is roasting, slide pan of sweet potatoes and beans into oven to reheat.
For each serving, make a small, tight stack of green beans in center of plate and add in some sweet-potato cubes and blackberries. Finish with fish and drizzle the herb sauce around it. Season with salt to taste.