Stuff Your Fish

because it’s as impressive as you are

things you’ll need: a whole fish (like Rainbow Trout or other sustainable mild fish) that someone else cleans for you unless you have those (boss) skills, fresh herbs (dill, thyme, and/or parsley), lemon (or some other citrus or acidic something), olive oil, your special addition (like shallot, fennel, garlic, leeks, capers, etc), salt and pepper.

everyone thinks it’s a good idea so there are many ways to do it, proving my long-held belief that recipes with the most variations are the hardest to do wrong.

incidentally gluten-free, for vegetarian or vegan make Mushroom and Wild Rice Soup it’s still impressive and also easy.

Chapter 207

You are very impressive. You don’t always feel impressive, but there are things that come easily to you that do not come easily to other people. Maybe you draw your own birthday cards, do fractions in your head, or know stuff about joists and stud finders. You have skills that other people do not and that’s makes you impressive even when you are trying to be humble or making a minimal effort. You can’t control it. Sometimes you just have to be great regardless of how mediocre you feel.

Baking a whole fish with a lemon-herby filling is not hard, but it sure does look impressive. Maybe it’s the shiny skin, the leafy peek-a-boo, or the novelty of serving a fish that still looks like a fish. Whatever the reason, you can pass it off as fancy, be very impressive, and get the whole thing done in 15-20 minutes (just because you are impressive, that doesn’t mean you have a lot of extra time).

You can dress it up or dress it down. Serve it with rice or asparagus with beurre blanc. Make a green herby sauce, a lemony yogurt sauce with dill, chop up a bunch of pickles for tartar, or squeeze a little lemon and call it a day.

Preheat your oven to 400. Line a tray with parchment paper drizzled in oil, make a well-oiled aluminum envelope, or grease up a glass baking dish. Salt the skin side of your fish. Salt and pepper the inside (meat side). Grab some parsley, dill, and/or thyme and lay it on the meat side. Top with some lemon slices, drizzle with olive oil, then fold the fish up like a taco. If your whole fish is two halves, then you can make it into a sandwich or cook it open-faced.

It goes in the oven for about 10-15 minutes until the fish flakes. If temperatures make you more comfortable, then it should be about 140.

That’s it. It’s beautiful and looks very impressive while remaining humble, like you. This is another impressive thing you can do now, and you don’t even have to mention how easy it is (like when you tell people the sale price of anything that receives a compliment). Every day you try and sometimes you even believe that you succeed. Take a break from all that exhausting humility and impress yourself.

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