It's been bananas around here lately and sometimes a good and quick dinner is just what the doctor ordered. We were headed out to meet friends for drinks on the deck at the Bayfield Inn last week and I had about 30 minutes to pull dinner out of my hat. A magic trick made considerably easier thanks to my CSA box from Bayfield Foods.
I went to the freezer, pulled out a whitefish fillet from Bodin Fisheries, quickly thawed it in a bowl of cold water (in the original wrapper), wrapped it in some prosciutto with red onion, and tossed a handful of scapes and preserved lemons in a small saucepan with some melted butter. The fillets cook up in less than 10 minutes and the crispy prosciutto is a nice compliment to the flaky whitefish. Quick, easy, and delicious -- the unicorn of meal-planning -- but who's to say unicorns don't come to dinner every now and then??!!
Prosciutto Wrapped Whitefish with a Preserved Lemon and Scape Butter
1 fillet of Bodin Fisheries whitefish
2 slices of prosciutto
2 or 3 slices of red onion, thinly sliced
Salt and pepper, to taste
1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, divided
3 garlic scapes, minced
1 tablespoon preserved lemon, minced (substitute 1 teaspoon lemon zest)
1 1/2 teaspoon freshly squeezed lemon juice
2 or three slices of lemon, for serving
Preparation
Place 6 tablespoons of butter in a small saucepan with the garlic scapes, lemon juice, and preserved lemon/lemon zest and heat over medium heat until melted. Set aside.
Rinse and dry the whitefish fillet, cut in half. Sprinkle salt and pepper over each fillet and place red onion slices on top. Wrap each fillet in prosciutto and set aside.
Melt 2 tablespoons of butter in a cast iron skillet over medium-high heat until melted and foamy. Add prosciutto-wrapped fish fillets and cook for 3-4 minutes per side, until prosciutto is crispy and fish is starting to brown. Reduce heat to medium after a few minutes if the prosciutto starts to crisp up too quickly. Remove from heat, spoon scape butter over top, and serve immediately with lemon slices on the side.
