Broiled Tile Fish With Brown Sugar and Old Bay

For the last week I have been vacationing with my family in the Outer Banks of North Carolina. Each and every day has been spent relaxing on the beach, riding bikes and catching up with my cousins. 

In our usual form we talk and plan and discuss all of our meals in the mornings and then everyone pitches in on the preparation and clean up.  We have this dance we do in the kitchen and while one is busy chopping and slicing another is working diligently at the stove.  It all comes together seamlessly and is always delicious. 

On Wednesday a team of people headed out to go deep sea fishing.  They caught quite a bit of fish, about 30 altogether.  Many of these were tilefish. Tilefish is a flaky whitefish with delicious flavor.  They are good fried, pan-seared, broiled or grilled. With all of the fish we had we decided to prepare them a number of way. 

My absolute favorite was the broiled variety with brown sugar and Old Bay, the classic seafood seasoning.  The fish was broiled under very high heat and the brown sugar and Old Bay ended up being  a delicious combination of sweet and spicy.

This recipe would work well with just about any delicious whitefish.  It would also taste good with salmon.

- 1 large tilefish filet (our was about 2 pounds)
- 1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
- 2 tbsp brown sugar
- 1 tbsp Old Bay
- 1 tsp Kosher salt
- A few shakes of freshly ground black pepper

Clean the filet and pat it dry. Rub it with the extra virgin olive oil. Mix the brown sugar, Old Bay, salt and pepper in a small bowl and then rub the side of the filet that will be under the broiler with the mixture. Place into a Pyrex dish, turn the broiler on high and set the fish underneath about 2 inches away.

Do not let the oven close all of the way and watch the fish as it cooks.  It should take about 8-10 minutes to cook the fish.  Make sure you watch as it cooks.  The sugar will caramelize and brown forming a nice crust on the top of the fish.  You can take it out while it is cooking and cut into the thickest part to check the doneness.  Note that the fish will continue to cook when you take it out of the oven, so let it rest for 5 minutes or so when it comes out.

Enjoy your fish with a delicious selection of white wine.

Comments

[Dan]

Thank you for the recipe. I will pass this recipe along to my wife. It sounds great!