Fish for Dinner – Steelhead Baked with Maple Glaze

Image: Hollywood Branded

Fish for Dinner is a recurring feature chronicling my education in the ways of fish-cookery. I grew up avoiding any fish other than sticks and was well into adulthood before slowly adding the real deal into my diet (but usually at a restaurant). The impetus to cook more fish at home comes from joining a sustainable fish program through Hooked on Fish, like a CSA that delivers boxes of farm-fresh produce but with fishies instead. I’ll tell you what we made and how we liked it, plus a few tips and fishin’ tunes too.

I can’t say the name of this fish – steelhead – without thinking about Ben Stiller’s Derek Zoolander/Blue Steel modeling pose – all hollow cheeks and piercing yet vacant stare. Did you know that Zoolander 2 is due out in mid-February 2016? I’m sure it will be stupid, and I’m sure I can’t wait!

None of this has anything to do with this week’s featured fish. We’re big fans of trout around this dinner table, and the steelhead was no exception even though it shares more characteristics with salmon than with regular ol’ trout.

Continue reading for more of the story including the recipe, plenty of pictures, a Catch.com profile of our male model the steelhead, and a fishin’ tune for your listening pleasure. (Click Read More below.)

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Image: Peter Lee

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How We Prepared It:

• Steelhead Trout Baked with Maple Glaze – recipe from Epicurious
• Green salad
• Baked potatoes​

Click on the photos below to enlarge them and read the captions.

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Printable Recipe- Steelhead Trout Baked with Maple Glaze
File Size:	492 kb
File Type:	pdf

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Steelhead Trout Baked with Maple Glaze
Slightly adapted from recipe by Epicurious

INGREDIENTS:

• 3-4 individual fish fillets (@ 4-5 oz each) or 1 large fillet at least 1-inch thick
• ¼ cup butter
• 2 garlic cloves
• 2 tablespoons maple syrup or honey
• 2 tablespoons brown sugar
• 2 tablespoons rice vinegar (cider vinegar may be substituted)
• 2 tablespoons Dijon mustard
• 2 tablespoons soy sauce

 
DIRECTIONS:

• Season fish fillets with salt and pepper. Place each fillet on a large sheet of foil. Set aside.
• Melt the butter in a small pan over low heat. Whisk in the remaining ingredients. Cook together until the glaze thickens somewhat, about 5 minutes.
• Pour a few spoonfuls of the glaze over the fish and fold the foil into a packet around the fish.
• Preheat the oven to 400° F. (The fish will marinate in the glaze in the packets while the oven comes to temperature.)
• Bake for 10 minutes + 10 minutes for each inch of thickness. So a one inch thick fillet would take for 20 minutes. A fillet that is 1-1/2 inches thick would cook for 25 minutes, and so on. Conversely, if your fillets are thin, as mine were, only about ½-inch thick, then cook the fish for approximately 15 minutes.
• If any glaze is left over, return the pan to low heat on the stove and reduce the glaze to thicken. This will become a finishing sauce for the fish.
• Once fish is done, remove from foil packet, plate and drizzle with the thickened glaze.

This recipe makes enough glaze for a little more than two pounds of fish. 

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The Verdict: Easy and delicious! This is a tasty preparation that would work well with any number of other fishes – salmon, cod, maybe halibut or even swordfish. It would also be good on pork tenderloin or duck breast.

​So feel free to go wild, experiment a little. Just be prepared with your best ‘Blue Steel’ pose when and if the occasion calls for a little attitude and fabulosity.