This is one of my favorite dinners, and probably one the most healthy entrees I’ve created so far.

Orange Roughy are a deliciously light and ‘non-fishy’ deep sea fish that’s a little pricier than the more common Tilapia… but worth every penny.

Ingredients (per filet)
Orange Roughy filets
Fresh Rosemary, 2-3 sprigs
Sweet roasted red bell peppers from jar, 2-3 strips
Butter, 1 tsp
White wine, 1/4 cup (*see pairing below)
Course salt, pinch
Black & red pepper, pinch
Panko bread crumbs, pinch
Asparagus, 5-7 spears
Olive oil, 1/2 tsp

Preparation

Fish

• Preheat over to 375 degrees.
• Tear off a large enough piece of tinfoil to form a boat-like baking dish (see photo), crimping edges up enough to hold liquid.
• Place filet in boat (be sure it’s thawed if you’re using frozen Roughy).
• Wedge a couple of rosemary sprigs under and around the filet.
• Pour wine evenly over fish. It shouldn’t cover the fish completely… only about 1/4 to 1/2 way.
• Take the tsp of butter and divide into tiny pats and place evenly throughout fish.
• Pull 2-3 strips of the sweet roasted peppers out of the jar and lay atop the filet.
• Sprinkle pinches of salt & peppers across fish
• Sprinkle Panko crumbs across fish. Make sure this is the last step so they don’t get soggy.

Asparagus

• On a non-stick baking tray, lightly drizzle olive oil over asparagus spears. Roll spears to completely cover with the small amount of olive oil
• Sprinkle with course salt

Ready To Cook?
Put tinfoil fish boat(s) on a baking tray or right on to the middle rack. Bake at 375 degrees for 20-25 minutes. The narrow end of the filet will start to brown and curl up when fish is done. Move your second rack to the very top rung. Place baking tray of asparagus spears there and bake simultaneously with the Orange Roughy. Asparagus will be done in 15-20 minutes. If you do not have a 2nd rack you can use the broiler. But only cook spears for 5 minutes under the 500 degree broiler.

When both fish and asparagus are done, place asparagus in center of plate, then place filet on top of the asparagus. Drizzle leftover juices from the tinfoil boat across both.

The Perfect Bite
Stack your fork with an inch of rich, green asparagus spear, a flaky bite of buttery roughy and be sure to include a little of the sweet roasted red pepper. Enjoy!

The Perfect Pairing
Now, I’m not against pairing red wine with fish. But… I also wear white shoes after Labor Day. So, perhaps you shouldn’t trust me. Regardless, if you have a red-wine-only policy… please, feel free. Just find a gentle red with light tannins like Washington’s Red Diamond Cabernet. However, even though I prefer reds over whites on any given day, with this particular dish… I wanted to find something crisp and fresh that wouldn’t over-power the entree’s delicate flavors… yet wouldn’t be wimpy standing all on its own. Meet<!–DOMAINE LAPORTE –> Henri Bourgeois’s Pouilly Fume La Porte de L’Abbaye 2007. The light, yet smoky French Pouilly Fume perfectly compliments the earthiness of the roasted red peppers and rosemary, all the while balancing the buttery-ness of the roughy. *I would recommend using this same wine for the 1/4 cup in the ingredients above).

Did You Know?
Fish and seafood is one of the “power foods” that have a multitude of health benefits that include inproving physical, emotional and mental health levels. And Did You Know that Rosemary, beyond being a flavouring-enhancer for certain foods and its use in cosmetics, has been used as an extract with a long history of medicinal uses too. It has been used to treat a wide range of ailments, including stomach upsets, digestive disorders and headaches.