Seared Opah over Asian Greens

Okay I’m just really excited about this one.  And have been telling everyone in earshot about Opah.  Have you ever had it??  Me neither!  It’s like opening brand new exciting toy at Christmas when I find a new food I haven’t cooked with before.  And it’s even more exciting when I take it and make a recipe that turns out totally ahhhhmazing!

Get excited guys!

Okay, so, Opah…  Let’s talk trivia.  It’s the only known warm blooded fish.  That’s cool, right?  It’s also known as moonfish because of it’s rounded shape and circular pattern on it’s scales.  They can be incredibly large – according to wikipedia they can grow to be up to 600lbs.  They’re not particularly common in San Diego, but are definitely a Pacific Ocean fish.. probably more common near Hawaii.  With the El Niño weather patterns and San Diego water temperatures being way higher than they should be, we are getting all sorts of interesting fish around these parts.So if you think about that, it might not be so shocking that my favorite fishmonger said they caught 25,000 lbs of local Opah just outside San Diego. And as a result they were trying to get rid of it and selling it for $7.99/lb!

That was enough to get this little food-blogger pretty darn excited. I want to buy ALL the Opah! 

(Or maybe I’ll just settle for a meager 2lbs)For anyone that might be interested, Catalina Offshore Products is where I get most of my seafood and that is where I got this great price on Opah.  It’s one of the best suppliers of fresh seafood in the area and they sell to many of the local restaurants, but also sell to individual home cooks too.  Such as me!Regarding the flavor- Opah is a dense, meaty, and somewhat fatty fish.  It holds up well to cooking at a high temperature.  It has a mild flavor, but due to the dense texture would hold up to a marinade.  However, I did not use any extra flavoring for the fish and just seared it with salt and pepper to let the true flavor shine through.

If you do not have access to Opah, but also want to make this recipe, I’d recommend using Tuna or Swordfish.  Tuna you can sear exactly the same amount of time as the Opah.  For swordfish you might want to give it another minute per side.

The salad goes very well with the Opah and is a mixture of hearty baby-greens, snow peas, and edamame.  It is all tossed with a sesame-scallion vinaigrette that is to die for.

Opa! for Opah!
 

Seared Opah with Asian Greens

Adapted from Momofuku for 2

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Prep Time 10 mins

Cook Time 15 mins

Ingredients

  

• 2 lbs Opah filets cut into 4 pieces
• 3 large handfuls hearty greens such as baby spinach or baby kale.
• 1 cup snow peas
• 1 cup cooked edamame I bought mine pre-cooked, pre-shelled from Trader Joes
• 1/3 cup vegetable oil or other neutral oil- NOT olive oil plus 1-2 teaspoons
• 1 bunch scallions about 8 individual, finely chopped
• 1 tablespoons grated ginger about 2 inches
• 1 tablespoon grated garlic about 2 large garlic cloves
• 2 tablespoons minced shallot about 1 small shallot
• 2 teaspoons sesame oil
• 3 teaspoons red wine vinegar
• Sea salt and pepper

Instructions

 

• Bring Opah to room temperature and pat dry with paper towel.
• Meanwhile prepare snow peas- boil on high for about 2 minutes. Immediately transfer to ice bath.
• Heat a large skillet over high heat. Rub opah fillets with 1-2 teaspoons of vegetable oil and sprinkle with salt and pepper.
• Sear opah fillets about 1.5 minutes per side. Remove to plate to rest.
• Meanwhile heat 1/3 cup vegetable oil over high heat in a small saucepan. When oil comes to temperature, add green onions, ginger, garlic and shallot. Stir briefly and then quickly remove from heat. Add sesame oil and red wine vinegar. Season with salt to taste.
• In a large bowl combine greens, snow peas, and edamame. Toss with green onion dressing- start with 2-3 tablespoons and add more to taste.
• Serve the greens topped with slices of seared opah. Drizzle a little more green onion dressing over the Opah.
• Crack some sea salt and black pepper over the entire salad to finish.