Low and slow is what makes this dish absolute perfection. So take your time with it! Get the music on, pour a glass, and enjoy the labor as you develop the flavors and perfect texture of the fish over about 20 minutes of slow poaching. Delicate, herbaceous, flaky, tender…all the things you’d need to impress a dinner guest, or just treat yourself! It’s so easy (only four ingredients!) yet so impressive on the plate.
Olive Oil Poached Whitefish with Tarragon & Sweet Onions
Ingredients
- 2 pieces nice quality whitefish, one that will hold together well such as cod, haddock, or sole
- 1 bunch of fresh tarragon with stems
- 3/4 cup good quality olive oil
- 1/2 sweet onion, diced
Instructions
- Begin by prepping your onion, I like to chop mine into a larger dice because I love the texture and making it a present ingredient in this dish.
- Wash the tarragon, setting aside three full stems, and taking the leaves off of the others so you have a small handful of separated leaves.
- Warm 2 tbsp of the olive oil in a sautè pan, add the onions and gently cook. Be careful not to brown them, they should be just warmed on the way to translucent. Season with a little salt and pepper.
- Carefully slide in each piece of fish, gently making room by clearing the onions so the fish can reach the bottom of the pan. Nestle the stems of tarragon around the pieces of fish
- Begin to spoon the olive oil over the fish a few times before letting it gently simmer. When the top is looking opaque, flip both pieces and repeat, spooning the oil and herbs over a few times. Remove the stems and add in the loose tarragon leaves (you may season again here with salt and pepper). Continue until fish is cooked through.
- Ready to plate! It’s a lot of oil in the pan, so I remove the fish to a platter with a slotted spoon or spatula, then using the same slotted spoon, gather the onions and herbs to top the fish, adding just a bit of the oil as a beautiful drizzle to finish.
