Sunday, July 10, 2011

Seasoning for Fish

Recently I had some ahi tuna steaks to cook but I didn't want to use teriyaki sauce on them. I'd felt that these steaks deserved something more or at least different. So in rummaging through my cabinates, I stumbled across some dried lemon peal or zest. Since lemon and dill often go well with fish, I'd thought I might use them to flavor my tuna steaks. So after spraying the pan with cooking spray and rinsing the fish, I began by sprinkling the tops of the tuna with the dried lemon peal, followed by the dill. That should have been it but I got the feeling that there should have been more to it. Remembering that I had two limes, I dug them out and squeezed their juice over the fish. Finally, I added a pat of butter and baked the steaks according to the cooking notes on the package. The result was wonderful and tasty with a tanginess from the citrus. It will require a bit of adjustment to fine tune the flavors but I'm willing to experiment.

Ingredients Used:
Dried lemon peal (you may have go to a specialty spice shop to find this. Once I've finished with my initial 3 ounces I'm gonna have to go looking for it as the place I initially got it from doesn't carry spices any more)
Dried Dill - easily available in your local supermarkets usually in bulk.
Fresh limes - about 1 lime per steak
Butter - just a pat per steak

That's it. I have found that my dried dill seems a bit tasteless, perhaps grinding some in my spice grinder will release the flavors or I can try fresh dill, if available the next time I cook this.

I did try this on salmon filets but it didn't seem to work as well as with the tuna. That said, perhaps stick to using this on white or light colored fish.