Fish and Tomatoes, by Chaim Soutine, 1924.
Recipe below: Sautéed Hake with Butter, Ginger, and Pine Nuts
Fish fillets sautéed in lots of butter. I get pleasure just writing that. Fish with butter is perfect. It isn’t something I grew up with. Fish was always cooked in olive oil then, unless my mother was making her Gourmet magazine version of trout amandine, which I loved. But I seem to have been eating fish cooked in tons of butter in restaurants forever. Much butter, a little salt, a shot of acid. It’s easy to do at home, too. You just continuously spoon bubbling hot butter over fish fillets until they’re cooked. The fish gets infused with butter, and thus with richness and tenderness. It is extremely good.
I used hake for my version here because that was what looked freshest at my market. Mild white fillets work best, and you could use sea bass or halibut. The natural oils from salmon or mackerel would overwhelm the butter. And for this particular technique you’ll want skinless fillets, so the butter can easily infuse the fish, soaking in for an opulent taste.
The butter left over from this cooking technique is often a bit strong-tasting, so I usually make a little sauce or condimento separately. This time I seared grape tomatoes with fresh ginger and rosemary. Ginger might seem a weird spice to pair with tomatoes, but as you’ll see, it works well, adding depth and a spiky sweetness. And rosemary is surprisingly good mixed with ginger. I never knew that before I tried it here.
Sautéed Hake with Butter, Ginger, and Pine Nuts
(Serves 2)
2 skinless fillets of hake or another white fish such as sea bass, bronzino, halibut, or cod
Salt
Black pepper
½ teaspoon ground ginger
A pinch of sugar
5 tablespoons unsalted butter
Extra-virgin olive oil
1 shallot, minced
1 tablespoon freshly grated ginger
½ teaspoon allspice
1 pint grape tomatoes
A splash of white or rosé wine
A handful of pine nuts, lightly toasted
A few large rosemary sprigs, the leaves chopped, plus a bit more to garnish the fish
Piment d’Espelette to taste
The juice from 1 lemon
Dry off the fish fillets, and season them with salt, black pepper, ground ginger, and a pinch of sugar. Let them sit while you prepare the sauce.
In a medium sauté pan, heat a tablespoon of the butter and a drizzle of olive oil over medium high heat. Add the shallot and the ginger and the allspice. Sauté until the shallot is softened a bit, about a minute or so. Add the tomatoes and the rosemary, season with salt, and cook until they just start to crack their skins but are still holding their shape, about 4 minutes. Add the wine, and let it bubble for a few seconds. Turn off the heat. Add the pine nuts and a little Espelette.
In a wide sauté pan, heat 2 tablespoons of butter over medium high heat until it’s bubbling. Place the fish fillets in the pan, presentation side down, and cook them, without moving them at all, until you can see that their edges are browning nicely. This should take about 4 minutes. Shake the pan a bit. If the fillets move around and aren’t sticking, they’re ready to be flipped. Give them a turn with a spatula. Add the rest of the butter and the lemon juice, saving a squeeze for the tomatoes. Continue cooking the fillets, spooning the lemon butter over the top repeatedly, for a few minutes more until the fish is just tender. Season the top of the fish with a little more salt, a sprinkling of Espelette, and the rest of the rosemary. Lift the fish out of the pan and onto plates with a slotted spatula.
Turn on the heat under the tomatoes to reheat it a touch. Add a squeeze of lemon juice and a splash of water if it seems dry.
Give the tomatoes a taste to check for seasoning, and then serve them out next to and slightly over the fish. Serve right away.