Every spring Chesapeake Bay anglers look forward to trophy rockfish season, allowing them to land rockfish (striped bass) over 28 inches. Why? Not only do rockfish make great sport, they are also great for dinner. We were gifted two beautiful skinless fillets by one such fisherman ( Thank you Randy). The fillets are more delicate without skin so instead of grilling the fish we opted to poach them in lemon butter with shallots and chives. This method will work with most any white fish.
Start by brining the fillets in 1/2 cup of salt per gallon of water for 3 to 8 hours. When ready, remove the fish from the brine and place in foil – we created makeshift foil trays with the edges folded up enough to hold liquid.
Prepare the Primo to use as a convection oven (use the ceramic deflector plates) and target a temperature of 350. Fill each foil pan with the butter poaching liquid.
Butter Poaching Liquid (depending on size- enough for 1 large fillet)
- Stick of salted butter
- Juice of 1 lemon
- 1 shallot, chopped
- bunch of chives, chopped
Saute the shallot in a bit of the butter over medium heat. Once translucent add 1/2 of the lemon juice to the pan. Once it boils cut the heat and whisk in the remaining butter one tablespoon at a time. Once incorporated add the remaining lemon juice and the chives.
Cook the fish until the internal temp is around 140. We would recommend carefully sliding the foil pans off the grill onto a sheet pan.
Carefully transfer the fish to a serving tray and pour the poaching liquid over the fish. Enjoy!