Poached Fish Steaks or Fillets with Vegetables

The vegetables here provide a bed for cooking the fish, leaving you with a built-in garnish. Serve this hot in a shallow bowl with lots of good bread, boiled potatoes, or plain rice to soak up the cooking liquid. Or cool in the liquid and serve just the fish, chilled, with Herbed Mayonnaise or Lemon Vinaigrette.This is also an excellent way to cook fish for salads. Any fish steaks will work for poaching (as will sturdy fillets, for that matter) but I think it’s best with mildflavored ones like halibut, cod, grouper, monkfish, and tilefish. That said, poaching is also one of the best ways to cook salmon.

3 tablespoons butter, more or less as you like

2 carrots, diced

2 onions, diced

2 celery stalks, diced

1 clove garlic, minced

Salt and freshly ground black pepper

2 fish steaks or sturdy fillets, 3/4 to 1 pound each

About 2 cups fish, chicken, or mild vegetable stock (to make your own, see mild vegetable stock
)

• Melt the butter over medium heat in the smallest skillet with a lid or Dutch oven that will later hold the fish. Turn the heat down to low, add the vegetables and garlic, sprinkle with some salt and pepper, and cook, stirring, until the vegetables soften, 5 to 10 minutes.
• Put the fish on top of the vegetables and add enough stock to come just up to the top, not over it. Bring to a boil, then cover and remove from the heat. The fish will be done in about 10 minutes (a thin-bladed knife inserted between bone and flesh should reveal little or no translucence). Remove the fish with a slotted spoon and serve, topped with vegetables and a little of the broth.
  Poached Whole Fish.
  • You will need a large, deep skillet or a roasting pan set over 2 burners, depending on the size of your fish: Double or triple the recipe ingredients as necessary, in proportion to the size of the fish.
  • Follow the recipe through Step 1, cooking the vegetables just until soft. Put the fish on top, cover with the stock, and bring to a boil. If the pan you’re using doesn’t have a lid, cover with aluminum foil.
  • Large whole fish will take up to 30 minutes to cook; smaller ones will take 15 to 20 minutes. Remove the fish from the liquid and serve as directed.
    4 Other Liquids for Poaching Fish Water will work too, but all of these are more flavorful:
    • Red or white wine or sake
    • A mixture of 1/2 cup soy sauce and 11/2 cups water
    • Half orange juice and half water
    • Half coconut milk and half water
  • MAKES: 4 servings
  • TIME: 30 minutes