Rosemary Garlic Arctic Char with Tahini Sauce
Rosemary Garlic Arctic Char with Tahini Sauce
A delicious Arctic char preparation, paired with one of my favorite condiments - tahini sauce! The char can easily be substituted for salmon and this recipe works just as well.
Ingredients
- Fish:
- 1 1/2 to 2 pounds arctic char
- 2 TBSP olive oil
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1/2 tsp pepper
- 3-4 garlic cloves, chopped finely
- 3 fresh rosemary sprigs (~2 TBSP chopped)
- Tahini Sauce:
- 3 TBSP tahini (sesame seed paste)
- 3 TBSP freshly squeezed lemon juice
- 2 TBSP extra-virgin olive oil
- 2 minced garlic cloves
- 1 tsp garlic salt
- 2 or more TBSP water
Directions
- Step 1 Preheat your oven to 350°. Place fish skin side down on a parchment or tin foil lined baking sheet, sprayed lightly with cooking spray.
- Step 2 Brush your Arctic char with the olive oil and season with salt and pepper generously. Then coat the fish evenly with the chopped rosemary and garlic. Place in the oven and roast for 18-20 minutes or until the fish is flaky.
- Step 3 Prep your tahini sauce while the fish is cooking. Whisk the first 5 ingredients in a small bowl. Slowly add the water until you reach the desired consistency, a creamy paste. 2 TBSP was perfect for mine. You don’t want it to be too runny.
- Step 4 Remove the char from the oven, slice into portions, and top with the tahini sauce before serving. Serve with my pesto fingerling potatoes, see recipe below!
These days, fast and easy recipes have become absolutely essential for us. We just haven’t been able to cook big elaborate meals like we used to; in fact, some nights we’re so pooped from juggling the two little ones that we’re lucky to get anything on the table. Thank goodness for Trader Joes pre-cooked meals! But we can’t survive on those every night, so I’ve tried to make it a priority to plan as many simple meals ahead of time as I can. But, even with these quick meals, I don’t like to sacrifice creativity or nutrition – I like my meals to be both as inspired and well-rounded as they can be!
In a pinch, roasting a delicious filet of fish is one of those go-to meals that always pulls through for me. Whether it’s marinated, crusted, seasoned, or just simply prepped with salt, pepper and EVOO, you really can’t go wrong as long as you have a beautiful piece of fish to work with. We eat salmon in our house at least one night a week, so I truly have an arsenal of salmon recipes up my sleeve. You may be saying, wait, I thought this is an arctic char recipe…. well for me, arctic char and salmon are almost interchangeable. Pretty much any dish I can do with salmon, I can also do with char – well, except for my crispy skin salmon that is. Can’t mess with that!
For those who don’t know much about char, this freshwater fish is related both to trout and salmon and shares many characteristics of both. It has a pink flesh like salmon and cooks up similarly, but has a slightly more trout-like taste and texture. On the nutrition side, char also still boasts both carotenoids and omega-3 fatty acids, just like salmon.
This dish came together so simply, mainly because I had tons of rosemary in the fridge that I needed to use up (is it sad that I already can’t remember the meal I bought it for… ugh MOM BRAIN!) and tahini, because I just can’t get enough! The fingerling potatoes were another on-the-fly use-up-whatever’s-in-the-fridge dish. I had created this incredible mint and basil pesto (had those with some fresh lamb chops last week and my caprese meatball sub – see my Instafeed) so I figured let’s roast up some potatoes and toss them in the pesto. Super simple and so flavorful, what’s not to love?! I figured I’d separate out the fingerling recipe below since it’s honestly stand alone and can be paired with almost any protein.
The flavors and textures pair together brilliantly in this dish and is one I’m super thrilled to be sharing, especially for all those other frazzled parents out there. It makes me so happy when I can essentially wing a dish and still get all the ingredients to come together and impress my family. Can’t wait to hear what you think, comment below and let us know!
Pesto Fingerling Potatoes
Roasted fingerling potatoes get a flavorful punch when tossed with a fresh homemade mint and basil pesto.
Ingredients
- 1 lb fingerling potatoes, cut in half lengthwise
- 2 TBSP olive oil
- 1 TBSP kosher salt
- 1 TBSP ground black pepper
- Pesto:
- 2 medium garlic cloves
- Zest of one lemon
- 2 cups lightly packed mint leaves
- 1 cup lightly packed basil leaves
- 1/4 cup almonds
- 1/4 cup EVOO
- 2 TSBP freshly grated Parmesan
- 1 tsp salt
- 1 tsp pepper
Directions
- Step 1 Preheat your oven to 425. In large bowl, toss potatoes with olive oil salt and pepper. Arrange potatoes in single layer, on a baking sheet. Roast for 30 minutes, until golden and crispy, flipping potatoes & rotate pan every 10 minutes so browning is even.
- Step 2 Prepare the pesto while the potatoes are roasting. Garlic, lemon zest and almonds to a food processor and grind to small mealy texture. Add the cheese and process to combine. Stream in the olive oil and process until smooth. Lastly add the mint and basil leaves along with the salt and pepper and process until smooth. Add more seasoning if desired. Adding the herbs last ensures the flavors are fresher since they’re not beaten to pulp!
- Step 3 Remove potatoes from oven and allow to cool for a few minutes before tossing in a bowl with the fresh pesto. I start by tossing with 2 TBSP, adding more to coat if necessary. Serve warm.
