Catch of the Day: Trout in Orange Sauce

I hate orange in sauces. So why did I make this recipe? Some yoga-induced state of insanity? Nope.

I made it because I wanted to make a fish recipe from Josée di Stasio's A la di Stasio, of which there are only two, and I'd already made the other one twice. I didn't feel like shrimp or a salmon burger and there's something really beautiful about a simple fillet. I also felt like this might not be an orange disaster since US navel oranges are just on the end of their season now (by the time they ship to Newfoundland, that is. Everywhere else, the season is done apparently). They're so sweet and not very acidic. Simply put, they don't taste like tropicana.

Add butter, and you're golden. If I'd been in Toronto I would have bought black cod (aka sable fish or omble chevalier), since the flesh of the fish already tastes like butter, so you wouldn't actually need to add very much of the stuff to feel very French and fat. And happy.

4 150g trout fillets (or black cod if you can find it. Really, you can use any fish. Definitely any firm white fleshed fish, but salmon, trout or char are all good. Butter goes with everything. Maybe not the tuna you can get in Newfoundland, but a good fillet of a fattier tuna might be nice. Who knows?)
olive oil
salt and pepper
zest of 1 orange (or 2 if you use navel oranges and they don't give up much zest)
Juice of 3 oranges (1/2 cup. Mine were many pulpy, so it took quite a few)
2 tbsp fresh lemon juice
4 tbsp butter, in cubes

If you use a good quality butter you won't need more than this, but if your butter isn't the best, you may end up using more to try to salvage some flavour. Unsalted butter works well since you season with salt and pepper at the end.

Oven went to 425 Fahrenheit, and a baking sheet got lined with parchment paper (easy clean-up. No scrubbing fish bits off baking sheets. Kind of wasteful, but what you waste in paper you make up for in water so I figured I'd come out even).

Zest and juice oranges and juice lemon. Wash the fish in cold water and pat it dry with paper towels.

I used a brush to coat the fish in olive oil, but you can just drizzle it if you prefer. Painting it spreads the oil more easily without hurting the flesh of the fish with your hands. Then I sprinkled both sides with salt and freshly ground pepper. Skin on or off??? I went with on to keep the fish moister in the oven.

Then into the oven for 10 minutes. In the meantime, the citrus juices and zest got brought to a boil in a saucepan on high heat, and cooked for 1 minute (still on high heat to reduce the sauce). Then a little bit of salt and pepper to taste. Whisk in the butter. That was honestly all you had to do with the sauce. Orange juice, lemon juice, orange zest, boiled for 1 minute, add salt, pepper and butter. Genious.

These were thick fillets that didn't want to cook evenly, so after 10 minutes the ends were done, but the rest wasn't. I hate over-cooked fish, so I served the ends right away and put the rest of the fish back in for an extra 2 minutes. The hot sauce gets ladled over a fillet on each plate.

I even served the dish almost exactly as di Stasio recommended, mostly by accident. Basmati rice and bok choy. Well, pak choi. Close enough. The rice soaks up the extra sauce, so don't you dare add butter or salt to your rice. Plain is what the recipe needs. Same for the pak choi. In fact, the next night I steamed more pak choi and tossed it with the leftover orange butter sauce. It was perfect. It also made for a beautiful (un-photographed, sorry) plate, with the green of the vegetable leaves contrasting with the orange sauce. The freshly ground pepper made all the difference in the world, adding visual texture to the fish. So simple, so fresh. Just enough butter to taste rich, while being careful not to give too much sauce per plate. Rice should not swim in orange, and the trout had done enough swimming for its lifetime.