Grilled fish with fennel and lemon

One of the benefits of living in Texas is that the weather in late October is still pleasant enough for evening outdoor activities (unlike, for example, the Northeast which is now under many inches of snow). We made use of this fact and spent this past Sunday grilling at a friend's house, where I experimented with a slightly different approach of grilling fish. Nothing presented here is at all original, so this post is mostly documentation of what worked and what could be improved.

The motivation for this experiment is to find a way to introduce complementary flavors to grilled fish without resorting to wrapping in aluminum foil, which in the presence of ingredients with quite a bit of water in them, tends to steam the fish as much as grill it. The key device that makes it all work is the grill basket, which keeps all the little bits together while cooking with dry heat only. In theory, forgoing the grill basket and directly placing everything on the grill grate is possible, but I don't imagine that would work out well; e.g., plenty of seared fingers while trying to place everything on a hot grill.

Adding complementary flavors to the fish is done by grilling on a bed of other ingredients. For this trial run, I chose a fairly traditional mix of fennel and lemon. Create a base layer of thinly sliced fennel bulb, a second layer of fennel fronds, and a top layer of lemon slices.

One thing I learned from this experiment is that each of these layers should be cut quite thin. For this method to work well, I think each layer of ingredients has to char slightly, so that the resulting smoke can help flavor the fish just that little bit more. So, the slices of fennel bulb and lemon pictured here are far thicker than optimal.

Fish of choice on Sunday was Pacific sockeye salmon, though any firm, fatty fish like sea bass would have worked as well. I would avoid thick cuts of fish (hard to get flavors all the way through without drying out) and things like tuna or swordfish (very strongly flavored to begin with). Prep by removing any pin bones, bringing to room temperature, and seasoning with salt and pepper.

Place the fish meat-side down on the other ingredients and close the grill basket. Grill with the skin-side up until almost done (~90%), then turn over to finish crisping the skin.

Unfortunately, the power went out while we were cooking, so this image of the final product isn't of the best quality. Still, the nice char on the fennel bulb is visible, and all in all, the fish turned out well with the right hints of anise (from the fennel) and lemon. Obviously, some room from improvement (e.g., thinner slices of the fennel and lemon as I mentioned above) but definitely on the right track.