Image provided by Hank Shaw.
Tripletail is a meaty fish with a firm flake that lends itself to searing and serving in salads, like a steak salad. The underlying salad can be anything you want, but I find that a crunchy salad, not a leafy salad, works best.
No tripletail? Use any firm fish: Bass, snapper, redfish, puppy drum, catfish, tuna, amberjack, grouper… you get the point.
I take my inspiration from the Mediterranean, so you’ll see a nice mix of pantry staples like olives and capers along with fresh vegetables like tomatoes and cucumbers. Don’t like a particular ingredient? Skip it and replace it with something you like.
Salt the tripletail well and set on the counter while you chop all the vegetables.
Get a frying pan hot over medium-high heat. When it’s hot, add the cheap olive oil and as this is getting hot, pat the fish dry with paper towels and set in the hot oil. Shake the pan a bit as the fish go in so they don’t stick.
Let the fish sear undisturbed for at least 90 seconds and more like 3 minutes. You want a good browned crust to form. You’ll know the fish is ready to flip when it come up off the bottom of the pan easily.
Flip the fish and sear for 1 to 2 minutes. Use a metal spatula to remove the fish from the pan. Do this by really scraping it off the steel or cast iron – it may want to stick still. Wy not sear until it releases? Because you’d overcook the fish.
Set the fish on a cutting board and flake it into large chunks.
Mix with all the remaining ingredients, add salt and black pepper to taste and have at it!
Interested in learning more? Make sure to join Great Days Outdoors and I at the Noble South in Mobile, AL on May 31st. The Noble South will be featuring recipes from my newest cookbook Pheasant, Quail, Cottontail. Tickets are $75 each and includes heavy hors-d’oeuvres, beer, wine, and a signed cookbook.
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