I am a meat lover and enjoy trying it out by cooking a new meat recipe I come across. By now, maybe cooking fish fillet should be easy for me, but not with a thick cut fish fillet. That’s why I’m always willing to try something new. Heard about pan roasting that could make fish moist and more flavorful when it comes to thick steaks, I didn’t stop until I learned the steps to getting that perfectly seared thick steak. Thanks to my brother-in-law, the following very quick and easy techniques made me enjoy pan roasting as well.
Thaw the fish fillets. After drying all sides, sprinkle with a little salt and pepper coating all sides of the fish. Preheat oven to 400°F. Bring a large heavy skillet over high heat until reasonably hot. For canola, or any flavor-neutral vegetable oil in the pan, spread it adequately to coat the bottom surface of the pan. Heat the oil. The skillet is ready when it starts to simmer or starts to smoke. Add fish fillets individually, leaving enough room so they do not crowd together during cooking. You can cook them in batches to ensure they brown well. Keep in mind that crowding the steaks will cause them to steam and not brown.
After 3 minutes, flip each steak and sear an additional 3 minutes. Take it off the heat. Carefully remove the fish fillets from the pan. If you use a nonstick pan, they won’t stick. Place pan directly in oven and bake until steaks reach preferred doneness. When done, remove from oven and transfer steaks to a platter. To double check that it’s done, make a small cut in the fish fillet to make sure it’s done the way you want it.
Typically, a naturally thick fish browns well for only 4 minutes. This will give you a juicy and tender medium cooked fish steak. To cook steaks 1-1/2 or thicker to medium rare, cook 6 minutes on one side, flip steak and cook other side for another 6 minutes. At this time, the meat should be well browned on both sides. Like a pro, deglaze the pan with some of your favorite white wine and stir in a few tablespoons of butter, then season. This will give you a simple but fabulous sauce that you can pour over the fish fillets. Serve with green garnish. I like mine with steamed green beans.
With the easy-to-make techniques and the best spices, I seem to have been able to cook meat and fish steaks better than some restaurants, for less money. If you love steaks, then it’s your turn to try it yourself and enjoy fantastically browned fish steaks in an outrageous sauce from pan fat.