White fish sketti ✺
Heroing fresh white fish in this simple, joyous and delicious pasta. A quick but lux recipe that impresses the pants of people. For keeping under your belt 4eva.
I grew up in a capital city and lived there until I was about 20 so I say this with firm conviction: I don’t think there is any greater privilege in life than living a few K’s from the beach, being able to go down on any given day, dig up pippies with your toes in sand, pop one on a hook, and catch yourself a delicious dinner.
Over the weekend thats what I did, and managed to catch a couple of swallowtail dart. Swallowtail dart are endemic to the east coast of Australia, they taste a little bit like whiting.
I reckon when you catch only a couple of fish and it’s not enough to fill up the family, but you still want to hero them, the best meal to make is always a simple pasta.
A little bit of garlic, good extra virgin olive oil or butter, white wine or lemon juice, and some fresh herbs and you have yourself an absolute banger of a dish.
A little bit of garlic, good extra virgin olive oil or butter, white wine or lemon juice, and some fresh herbs and you have yourself an absolute banger of a dish.
Don’t live near the beach? Don’t worry! Grab some fresh fish from your local monger (recommended types below). Or save this one for your next beach vacay!
Watch the vid on insta
White fish sketti
Feeds 4.
Use any mild white, delicate fish - whiting, dart, flathead. Heck you could even use green prawns!
INGREDIENTS
4 medium fillets of white fish (I used dart)
1 tbsp butter
A decent glug of extra virgin olive oil
6 cloves garlic, finely diced
Juice of half a lemon/ or a dash of white wine
6 tender stems of basil - leaves and stems
Salt and pepper to taste
¾ of a packet of spaghetti
Parmesan, freshly grated for the top
Crack Fox Smoked Tomato Chilli Salt for the top, or sub for ya fav Crack Fox Hot Sauce/ freshly chopped chilli
METHOD
Pop your water on for your in a pot, and add a good pinch of salt to it
Cooking your fish
Season both sides of your fish fillets with salt and pepper
Pop a pan on high heat, let it come to temp for a couple of minutes - you want it to be burning hot. Then add a little olive oil. Swirl it around so it coats the pan.
Add in your fish fillets to the pan. Then break up the butter with your hands and pop it around the fish fillets.
For thin fillets like whiting or dart I give them about 1 minute on one side before turning the heat off, flipping them, and letting them cook through on the other side with the residual heat. (Cook for longer with thicker fish). Move your pan around so they lick up the butter nicely. Then remove the fillets from the pan and pop on a plate.
Making your pasta
Pull the smaller leaves off your basil stems (to make about a handful) and pop them to the side
Pop your pasta into the boiling water
Pop the pan the fish was cooked in back on medium heat and add a good glug of olive oil (about 5 tbsp - it seems a lot but don’t worry, it makes sense at the end: this is your “sauce”)
Add in your diced garlic, move around constantly so it doesn’t burn. After about 30 seconds cooking it add in your lemon juice/ white wine to deglaze the pan and stir.
Add in your basil stems in whole with the larger leaves attached. (These are full of flavour that will be injected into your oil- you’ll pull them out later). And urn your heat down to low-low.
Keep stirring to ensure your garlic doesn’t burn. This part of the process is about essentially impregnating your oil with the yummy garlic and basil flavour. Burnt garlic will completely ruin it, so don’t take your eyes off it. Add a good pinch of salt and pepper.
Keep this infusing until your pasta is done. Drain it (minus a couple of tbsp of pasta water - this will help keep your sketti loose), and return it to the pot.
Remove your basil stems from the oil. Then pour the garlicy oil over the pasta. Give it a good stir. Taste and season. Then add in your fish (you can break it up in your hands into chunky 3cm bits - you can of course slice but this is meant to be gorgeously rustic.)
Serve up with parmesan, Smoked Tomato Chilli Salt or Hot Sauce, and fresh basil. YUM.
