If you love the taste of fish on the grill, this recipe’s got your name on it. That’s because big-scaled fish like mutton snapper are ideal for cooking on the half shell. Cooking on the half shell is another way of saying cooking with the skin and scales still on the fillet. Doing so creates a barrier between the heat and flames of the grill and the meat of the fish. By cooking the fish in this way, there’s no need to use a pan or even foil. And when it’s time to pull your fish off the grill, you’ll have moist and flaky fillets that practically slide right off the skin.
For this Cook Your Catch installment, Capt. Rush Maltz of Local Knowledge TV demonstrates how he prepares mutton snapper using this technique. If mutton snapper isn’t available, you can also use mangrove snapper, red snapper or any other big-scaled fish.
Ingredients
- 2 mutton snapper fillets (skin on)
- Olive oil
- Old Bay® Seasoning
- Garlic powder
- Black pepper
- Seasoning salt
- 1 white onion, sliced
- 1 lemon, sliced
Preparation
Get started by preheating your grill to 375 degrees. Then, remove the pin bones from your snapper fillets, unless they’ve already been removed. Interesting fact: Pin bones aren’t actually bones at all, but calcified ligaments found in fish like salmon and snapper. Pin bones go from the edge of the fillet toward the center. The best way to remove them is to cut along each side of the row of bones and underneath and then simply pull them out with your hands.
The next step is to pat the fillets dry with paper towels. Then, evenly coat the fillets with olive oil. Sprinkle the top with a little bit of Old Bay Seasoning, garlic powder, black pepper and seasoning salt. Use a brush to distribute the seasonings evenly across the top of your fillets.
Next, lay your fillets, skin side down, onto the grill with the thickest part of the fillet in the center of the grill, and put the lid back on. At 375 degrees, it should take somewhere between 10 and 15 minutes to cook.
While your fish is cooking on the grill, sauté your onions in a pan with a little olive oil over medium-high heat. If you like your onions on the crunchier side like Capt. Maltz, this won’t take more than a couple of minutes.
With your onions prepared, now is a good time to check on your snapper. You’ll know your fish is ready when you can easily push a spatula through the fish in the thickest part of the fillet. Once they’re done, remove the fillets from the grill and top with the sautéed onions and a squeeze of lemon.
It’s a simple but absolutely delicious dish that can be served alongside rice and a salad for a well-balanced, healthy meal.
For more great recipes by some of the world’s foremost anglers and outdoor enthusiasts, search “Cook Your Catch” in the Mercury Dockline Blog.
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