Sweet and Savory Cherry-Glazed Sablefish

Sablefish, also known as Black Cod, is one of my favorite fishies. And I’ve never met a variety of fish that I didn’t like.

This relatively inexpensive white fish is flaky but firm, with a silky mouth feel and a buttery flavor that comes from its natural high fat content. Because of that fat content, it’s pretty forgiving in that, unlike salmon, doesn’t over-cook easily.

The most famous way to prepare sablefish is the one developed by Chef Nobu Matsuhisa for his NYC restaurant, Nobu. I (as I’m always wont to do) played with his fabulous Miso-Marinated Black Cod and put my own twist on that recipe, and I will post that one soon.

Most of the recipes you’ll find for sablefish have an Asian slant to them, and when I prepare it, I usually go that route. But today I’m taking a different tack and making this sticky, sweet, and savory fruit glaze.

Got some vegetarians in the mix? With very little extra effort, the same glaze can be used with cauliflower, which means everyone can enjoy this fabulous dish. You’ll find instructions for this variation after the recipe.

There are a few steps of note: First, we’ll heat (most of) the ingredients for the marinade so that the sugar dissolves. Then we’ll wait for it to cool, add the wine, and pour the marinade over the fish. We’ll let the fish marinate for a minimum of two hours, and up to six hours. Then we’ll remove the fish from the marinade, pour the marinade into a saucepan, and use paper towels to dry the fish. The marinade will be cooked down until it becomes a thick, syrup-y glaze and then we’ll stir in the reserved cherries and set it aside. The fish gets pan roasted in an oven-safe, preferably cast iron, skillet over medium high heat, giving us a nice, crackly crispy skin and tender, delicate flesh. Then we’ll pour the glaze over the fish and run it under the broiler briefly, so that the sugars in the glaze caramelize and some charred bits appear on the fillets.

The Sweet and Savory Cherry-Glazed Sablefish can be served hot off the pan, at room temperature, or even chilled. The choice is yours.

Ingredients:

6 (preferably thick) sablefish portions (3 to 4 ounces each for an appetizer, 6 to 8 ounces each for an entrée)

a glug of olive oil for roasting the fish

1 14.5-ounce can of tart pitted red cherries in water

2 tablespoons sweet butter

2 cloves garlic, minced

1 shallot, minced

⅓ cup brown sugar

⅓ cup raspberry balsamic vinegar

1 sprig fresh rosemary

a few sprigs of fresh thyme

½ teaspoon Diamond Crystal kosher salt, or to taste

Several twists of the pepper mill

¼ cup fruity red wine

Method:

• Melt the butter in a medium sized saucepan and sauté the shallot until its soft and translucent. Add the garlic and sauté for about another minute.

• Pour in the liquid from the can of cherries, holding the fruit aside.

• Add the brown sugar, the raspberry balsamic, the rosemary and thyme sprigs, and the salt and pepper and heat, stirring, just until the sugar is dissolved. Then remove the pot from the heat and let it stand until it’s completely cool. Then stir in the wine.

• Set the fish portions in a glass or ceramic dish, skin side up, and pour the marinade over the fish. Refrigerate the fish and let it marinate for at least two, and up to eight, hours, occasionally moving the fillets about to make sure the marinade is doing its job.

• When you’re ready to cook the fish, drain the marinade and return it to the saucepan. Wipe the fish dry with paper towels.

• Now we’ll turn the marinade into a rich, sticky glaze. Bring it to a boil, then turn the heat down and let it simmer until you have a thick glaze. This should take about 5 to 7 minutes.

• Stir in the reserved cherries, remove the rosemary and thyme sprigs, and taste for salt and pepper. Set the glaze aside while you cook the fish.

• Heat a glug of olive oil in a cast iron, or other oven-safe skillet until very hot but not smoking. Add the fish portions, skin side down, and let them cook undisturbed over medium/high heat for three minutes. Using a thin fish spatula, carefully turn the fillets over and cook on the other side for another three minutes, until the fish is almost cooked through. The time this will take depends upon the thickness of your fillets.

• Heat the broiler to high.

• When the fish is almost done, spoon the glaze over the tops of the fillets. Slide the pan under the broiler, spooning the glaze up from the pan and onto the fish every 30 seconds or so, until the sugars in the glaze caramelize and some charred bits appear on the fillets.

• Transfer the fish to a family-style platter or to individual plates, and spoon any remaining glaze and cherries evenly over the fillets.

For the Cauliflower Version

Ingredients:

1 medium/large head cauliflower, broken into 1 ½ inch florets

1½ cups all-purpose flour

1½ teaspoons paprika

½ teaspoon smoked paprika

¾ teaspoon garlic powder

freshly ground black pepper

1 ½ cups buttermilk (or vegan yogurt)

Kosher salt to taste

Method:

• Preheat the oven to 425°.

• Arrange two oven racks in the top and bottom positions. Line two baking sheets with parchment.

• Whisk together all the ingredients—but not the cauliflower—in a large bowl to make a smooth, thick batter.  Taste for salt and add more if needed.

• Add the cauliflower, a few pieces at time, and toss them well in the batter to coat.

• Transfer the cauliflower, one piece at a time, to the baking sheets, shaking the excess batter back into the bowl.

• Arrange the florets on the baking sheets so they don't touch. It should take about 12 minutes for the batter to be set, 20 minutes for the florets to be cooked through and crispy.

• While the cauliflower is baking, make the glaze.

For the glaze

Ingredients:

1 14.5-ounce can of tart pitted red cherries in water

2 tablespoons sweet butter

2 cloves garlic, minced

1 shallot, minced

⅓ cup brown sugar

⅓ cup raspberry balsamic vinegar

1 sprig fresh rosemary

a few sprigs of fresh thyme

½ teaspoon Diamond Crystal kosher salt, or to taste

Several twists of the pepper mill

¼ cup fruity red wine

To glaze the cauliflower

Method:

• Combine all the ingredients for the marinade/glaze in a saucepan and bring it to a boil. Then turn down the heat and let it simmer until the mixture becomes a thick, sticky, shiny glaze.

• Stir in the cherries and allow the glaze to cool. Remove the herb sprigs.

• Pour the glaze and the cherries over the roasted cauliflower and use your hands to toss them, making sure every floret is coated with the glaze. If all the florets can fit on one tray at this point you can do that; otherwise use two trays again.

• Heat the broiler and run the tray(s) under the element. Watch carefully. You want the glaze to be baked onto the cauliflower, with a few blackened spots. It can go from perfect to burned to a crisp (not the good kind of crisp) in seconds.

• Turn the glazed cauliflower onto a serving dish and scatter the cherries all around. Or, place a few florets on each individual plate and add a few cherries to each one. Serve hot or warm.

Did you make it?

Was it fabulous?