Asian Marinated Bluefish with Crispy Sweet Potatoes

I must confess a slight bit of frugalness when doing some grocery shopping recently.  I was trying to pick out some fish, other than shrimp to purchase, and saw that bluefish was one of the least expensive choices.  I had never cooked bluefish, though I recall watching Top Chef a few weeks ago, when they caught some fresh fish and then served them for their challenge.

I thought about trying to make the dish they did with the bluefish, for about half a second.  I was searching around online for a nice way to cook it and came across a link from Chowhound.  The recipe called for cooking some red or yukon gold potatoes in a baking dish and then adding the fish on top while they finished cooking.  Having only sweet potatoes around, I knew that garlic, oil and parsley wouldn’t work.  I figured something with Asian flavors would work, so I just made up a quick marinade for the fish and cooked the dish along side some Brussels Sprouts.  It ended up being a nicely composed dish and the flavors did work well together.

Here is what I did…

Ingredients:
Serves 4 (I am made this as a single serving, with the amounts quartered, approximately)

1 1/2 pound bluefish, cut into 4 filets, skin on
4 sweet potatoes, cut into 1/8″ slices with a mandolin or knife
1/2 tablespoon butter
4 tablespoons light soy sauce
1 1/2 tablespoons oyster sauce
~2 teaspoons ground ginger
1 tablespoon fish sauce
2 tablespoons rice vinegar
2 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
1 pound Brussels Sprouts, stem cut and sliced in half lengthwise (removing any bad leaves)
2 tablespoons honey
2 tablespoons champagne vinegar

Preheat oven to 425 degrees and arrange oven rack to bottom third.

Using buter, grease the inside of a baking dish (about 10″x16″, lasagna pan works well). Take sliced sweet potatoes and too pan, topping with 1 tablespoon olive oil. Mix to coat and then arrange in an overlapping single layer.

Bake for about 20 minutes, or until potatoes begin to soften and brown. Meanwhile add soy sauce, oyster sauce, fish sauce and rice vinegar to a bowl and mix. Pour over fish in a shallow baking dish, and coat both side. Rub the ginger into the flesh side and let marinate while the potatoes.

While the fish marinates, prepare Brussels Sprouts for cooking. Heat a saute pan, large enough to cook sprouts without much crowding, with one tablespoon olive oil over medium-low heat.

After the potatoes have cooked for about 20 minutes, remove from oven and top with the bluefish, skin side down on top of the potatoes. Move oven rack to the center and cook for about 10 minutes, or until fish is opaque (about 10 minutes per 1″ of thickness.”

While the fish is cooking, add sprouts to pan with heated oil and cook, flat side down, to caramelize. After about 2-3 minutes, add honey and cook an additional 5 minutes. Deglaze the pan with the vinegar and stir. You can cover the pan for 1-2 minutes after this to help them soften faster. Continue to cook until the fish is ready or until the sprouts are a nice golden color.

Serve fish along side crispy potatoes and Brussel Sprouts. Enjoy!!