If You Can’t Stand The Heat…
by John Weckerle
…Eat your food raw.
There are of us, though, who do eat our food cooked from time to time. Your editor, who does not eat terrestrial meat and occasionally does eat seafood, is one of them – and he does also occasionally cook it in person. An important part of cooking is having an appropriate appliance in which to heat the food, especially if one is baking or broiling. We picked up such an appliance – the Cuisinart Convection/Broiler Toaster Oven currently on sale at Costco for $99.99 – this weekend, and gave it a run for its money. Not that much money, given the nature of the appliance, but it ran well on its first test – Pine Nut Crusted Halibut (yeah, right…like we’re giving you that recipe).
Now, there are probably a few things we should get out of the way, here. In previous occupations, your editor had the good fortune to be able to use convection ovens. On the home front, though, I have never owned one – until now, at least, and this is definitely a small one, as ovens go, but a big one as compared to most toaster ovens. The advertising boasts that it will fit a 12-inch pizza. Several user-reviewers boast of baking chickens, one of which was reportedly 4 1/2 pounds. We understand that a circus in Peoria had 53 clowns come out of one. Any way you look at it, the Cuisinart takes up noticeably more counter space than the old Black and Decker unit it replaced. If tonight’s test was any indication – and we caution our readers that this is the absolute FIRST test of the unit – the spatial investment is far from a waste of real estate.
Let’s talk for a moment about pine nut crusts (or nut crusts in general) for fish. These are typically soft-crumb (or moist-crumb) crusts using crumbs from fresh or day-old bread. The challenge is to a) get the crust to brown without burning, while b) getting the fish to cook through without becoming dry. At our elevation, baking can be a tricky enterprise at best. Now, while we’ve pine-nut crusted lots of fish here successfully, we’ve never tried it with halibut before, and halibut’s a fish you don’t want to overcook (especially the fillets); it’s best served cooked through but still moist. A balance between sealing in the moisture and not overdoing the crust usually involves a bit of watching. We generally find that we get the best results at some higher temperatures than those with which some people would be comfortable. In the case of pine-nut crusted fish (wait for it…), we’ve found it best to cook at between 425o and 450o in a conventional oven, and we’ve seen it go anywhere from 16 (shorter for really thin fillets) to 24 minutes to get it done. We’ve had variable results with browning the crust, which is pretty important with crusted fish, and have found ourselves “finishing” things under the broiler.
Not this evening, though. Our fish came through properly cooked – moist on the inside, with the crust browned just right. Unlike cooking in a conventional (non-convection) oven, we found our fish perfectly cooked just under ten minutes. We think we’re going to enjoy this unit. However, we’ll warn our readers of two common complaints about this appliance. First: there is a metal strip that runs along the top of the glass door, close to the handle, which represents a burn hazard. Our old unit had this problem, as well. Second: some user-reviewers have also indicated that the baking/broiler-drip pan tends to warp over time. This did not happen this evening – but we’ll be keeping an eye on it.
Now, as to cooking your fish with a pine nut (or any other nutted, soft bread crumb crust), it has worked out pretty well for us. Here’s a general overview:
Ingredients
- About 1 lb halibut fillets (don’t get too hung up on precision in the weighing; anything up to a pound and a quarter will be well within the capabilities of your crust. And if halibut’s not on sale: we’ve done this with lots of other fish, so go with what you have available.)
- About 1/2 cup of pine nuts (standard pinole; we haven’t tried this with pinon yet, but you can bet we will)
- 4 lb butter (okay, 2 tablespoons, but we bet that got you thinking)
- 3 large slices of bread (this evening, we used three slices of Oroweat Double Fiber bread, also available at Costco as well as in the local grocery stores)
- 2 ostrich eggs (substitute 2 large plain old chicken eggs if you do not have gigantic, murderous, feathered avians stalking around your back yard), more or less as needed
- Light olive oil to oil the baking pan (light olive oil has a higher “smoke point” than the standard “extra virgin” variety, which means it doesn’t burn as easily. We’re baking at relatively high temperatures, here.)
Now, let us proceed:
- Preheat a conventional oven to 425o to 450o to (individual ovens definitely vary)
- Let’s get done with the baking pan and the olive oil. Brush the pan lightly, with LIGHT olive oil.
- In a food processor, chop the pine nuts until they are very coarse. Set aside.
- In the same food processor, and process the 3 slices of bread until the crumbs are very coarse. Add the previously chopped pine nuts to the crumbs, and process until the crumb/nut mixture is more or less medium to coarse.
- Melt 2 tablespoons of the 4 lb of butter, and note that we were kidding about the 4 lb.
- In a small bowl, whisk the eggs with a fork, or, well a whisk.
- Apply the crust to the fish: Distribute some of the bread crumb/pine nut mixture onto a large dinner plate or similarly sized surface. Dip the fillets in the beaten eggs, and then press each side into the bread crumb/nut mixture. At this point, you will note that something has gone horribly, horribly wrong. There are big thick clumps sticking to the fish, and large areas of uncovered fish. Don’t Panic. You’re working with eggs and a very moist crust mixture. When all is said and done, you’re going to be placing the fish on a baking pan and hand-pressing the remaining crust mixture onto the top of the fillets.
- Er… Place the fish on a baking pan and hand-press the remaining crust mixture onto the top of the fillets.
- Drizzle the 2 tablespoons (NOT 4 lb.; we were kidding! Yeesh!) over the breaded fillets.
- Bake the fish. The time will vary depending on your oven (get to know your equipment!), the fish you’ve chosen, and your elevation. If you haven’t baked fish in your oven, keep an eye on it the first few times around. Again, you are looking for fish that is moist on the inside with a medium-brown crust. If you’re cooking in a conventional oven, and you think your fish is nearly cooked but the crust is looking soggy, consider putting it under the broiler just long enough to brown the crust.
This is very good with steamed asparagus and/or steamed broccoli sauteed with olive oil and garlic. The latter: steam up some broccoli until it’s just about done to taste. In a wok or large skillet or saute pan, gently heat some extra virgin olive oil with and some minced garlic, and toss it with the broccoli.