Baked Pollock

This week’s fish share catch was a 30 inch, 4 lb pollock. I’m not a huge fan of filleting fish because it’s a lot of work for a bland result. Like meats, fish cooked bone-in has far more flavor than a boneless fillet. It’s like comparing a piece of whole roasted chicken to a boneless, skinless chicken breast prepared the same way. Meat cooked with the bone in always has more flavor and moisture than boneless meat and the same is true for fish.

I don’t think I’d ever had fish cooked whole until I traveled to Corsica, where I ordered sea bream. It came to the table whole, and the owner of the restaurant kindly demonstrated how to fillet the fish. Filleting a cooked fish is far easier than filleting a raw fish because the meat pulls away from the bone.

This dish is light and delicious without being boring. The pollock takes on the flavors of the basil, garlic and tomato nicely without overpowering the delicate fish.

Baked Pollock - serves 4 – 6

1 – 4 lb Pollock, gutted and scaled
6-7 cloves of garlic, peeled and halved lenthwise
1 C red onion, sliced
3 – 4 medium tomatoes, sliced
1/4 basil, chiffonaded
3 T butter, sliced thinly

Pre-heat the oven to 400 degrees.

Remove head behind the large gill. Reserve and freeze for making fish stock later.

Place fish on a large piece of aluminum foil or parchment paper (I used foil this time, but I much prefer parchment). Stuff with one quarter of the onion, tomato, basil and butter. Arrange butter and vegetables around the fish on the aluminum foil. Wrap the fish in the aluminum foil and fold to seal.

Bake on a baking sheet for 1 hour. Remove from oven. Place fish on serving platter and fillet to serve.

Ingredient origins: Pollock – freshly caught from nearby waters; Organic garlic – California; Red onion and tomatoes – Massachusetts; Basil – my kitchen; Butter – Maine.