Seafood & Fish
2025 recipes found
Farro With Salmon, Cucumber, Radicchio and Dill
Salmon steams right over toasty farro, saving you from having to wash an extra pan. The silky fish and chewy grains get a refreshing lemony salad of cucumbers and radicchio on top, which is prepared while the farro cooks. Each bite goes from crunchy cool to warm and comforting, though the salad is also good room temperature or cold. If you don't like the bitter edge of radicchio, try thinly sliced endive or fennel instead. For a salty, creamy hit of flavor, sprinkle the top of the salad with crumbled feta.
Salmon With Smoked Salmon Butter
Any salmon, especially the deep red wild sockeye, will benefit from a generous dollop of this smoked salmon butter. The smoky-velvet taste lends a robust character, so little other embellishment is needed. Make it in advance and keep in the freezer, and you have an uncommonly elegant dinner in no time. The butter will lift a fillet of arctic char, butterflied trout, seasonal shad or other white-fleshed fish.
Green Curry Salmon With Coconut Rice
Sweet coconut milk tempers the fiery pungency of Thai green curry paste in this easy one-pot salmon and rice meal. Fresh scallions and cilantro add herbal freshness, while chopped baby spinach makes the whole thing even greener. Note that different brands of rice absorb different amounts of water, so don’t be afraid to add more water as needed.
Greek-Style Fish With Marinated Tomatoes
In summer I want a dish that tampers with the tomato-fish formula as little as possible. So instead of cooking the tomatoes, I marinate them, and instead of braising the fish, I grill or roast it. Neither fish nor tomatoes need much help.
Pan-Seared Tilefish With Garlic, Herbs and Lemon
All cooks needs a basic sautéed fish fillet recipe in their repertory, and this one could not be much simpler. It does require a step that may intimidate on first glance: you baste the fish with the fat you’re cooking it in. Don’t worry. Just use a good amount of fat in the pan, about a tablespoon per person (you could get away with a little less if you insist, or use half white wine and half fat). Basting helps cook the fish evenly and keeps it and moist. In this recipe, the fat is butter. As the fish cooks, the butter browns, taking on a nutty scent that is classic with seafood. Tilefish is specified but any firm fillet will do, from sea bass to grouper.
Easy Fish Stew With Mediterranean Flavors
This is a typical fisherman’s stew. No need to make a fish stock; water, aromatics and anchovies will suffice. Use anchovies even if you don’t like them, as they add great depth of flavor, not to mention omega-3 fats. And don’t worry: the dish won’t taste like anchovies.
Roasted Fish With Romesco Salsa
Spanish romesco sauce is made by blending roasted red peppers, tomatoes, almonds, garlic, parsley and breadcrumbs into a smooth and smoky sauce. In this zippy weeknight recipe, the same ingredients are roughly diced to form a chunky and tangy salsa that’s spooned over simply roasted fish. Good-quality red wine vinegar can be substituted for sherry in a pinch. The bread and almonds are added to the salsa at the last minute so they retain a bit of their crunch. Serve this dish with sautéed greens drizzled with olive oil, and couscous or rice if you want more a little more heft.
Coconut-Poached Fish With Bok Choy
This one pot, Thai-influenced dish couldn’t be easier to assemble, and its beautiful presentation makes it look like you spent a lot longer on dinner than you actually did. The poaching liquid does double duty by gently cooking the fish and wilting the bok choy. If bok choy is unavailable, another sturdy green, like kale or Napa cabbage, can be substituted. Serve with steamed jasmine rice to soak up some of the fragrant coconut milk broth.
Velvet Fish With Mushrooms
Here’s a recipe that takes its flavor inspiration from a dish served at Nancy Xiao’s restaurant China Xiang, in the theater district of Manhattan: a sweet-salty rice wine sauce over velveted fish. Its preparation owes much to the teachings of the classic 1969 cookbook “Chinese Gastronomy,” by Tsuifeng Lin and Hsiang Ju Lin, and the advice of the chef Jonathan Wu. It is what the Lins call “two-passes” cooking, with the fish cooked twice, first to velvet it, then to cover it with sauce. (It’s important, Wu notes, not to think of it as stir-frying with high heat but as gentle, careful cooking that does not break up the fish.) It’s great with flounder as at China Xiang, but also with tilapia, with halibut, with whatever firm-fleshed white fish you can find at the market. You can substitute firm tofu in place of the fish, or go half and half. It’s a dish to fall in love with, to make your own.
Roasted Salmon With Miso Rice and Ginger-Scallion Vinaigrette
This simple weeknight meal makes great use of pantry staples to create complex flavors with minimal work. Miso is often used to flavor soups or sauces, and here, it is added to raw rice before cooking, which results in a delightfully sticky, savory steamed rice. Fragrant and nutty basmati is called for, but any long-grain rice will work. Shredded cabbage brings freshness and crunch to the finished dish, but use whatever crispy vegetable you have on hand: shredded brussels sprouts, carrots, snap peas, radishes and iceberg lettuce are all great options. For a heftier meal, add some canned chickpeas, white beans or black beans. To finish, the vibrant tang of the bright ginger-scallion vinaigrette balances the richness of the roasted salmon.
Sautéed Salmon With Leeks and Tomatoes
Here is a fresh and simple way to prepare salmon that is ready in about 20 minutes. Most of that time will be spent preparing the vegetables. You do have to blanch, core and chop the tomatoes, but that is quick work. (We won't tell if you use the canned, diced sort instead. Just drain them first.) Once that's done, sauté the fish and set aside. Throw tomatoes, leeks, lemon juice and freshly ground pepper into the pan and sauté for a quick minute. Spoon over the fish and serve.
Fried Fish Sandwich
This fried fish sandwich doesn’t stray far from the classic fast-food staple: breaded fish, a soft bun, a slice of cheese and tangy tartar sauce. The best part is you can put it together in just about the amount of time it would take to stand in line and order it at the counter. Capers, shallots and fresh dill make this tartar sauce feel a little fancy, but a splash of soy sauce adds the umami that takes it to a very familiar place. Flounder is an affordable choice for the recipe, but if you can’t find it, substitute with sole or any mild flat fish.
Grilled Flounder
A Montauk fishing guide named Bryan Goulart was the first person I saw brine thin fillets of porgy and sea bass, and the Brooklyn chef Josh Cohen taught me how to do it with flounder, though the recipe would work on any flat fish. A mere 10 minutes in the bath will tighten the flesh nicely, and then three or four minutes of cooking the fish need follow, over a medium flame. Cook only that one side, then flip the fish onto a serving platter or plate, and top with a little bit of butter, chopped parsley and a spray of lemon.
BBQ Shrimp
This is a no-recipe recipe, a recipe without an ingredients list or steps. It invites you to improvise in the kitchen. In New Orleans, barbecued shrimp aren’t cooked on a grill. They’re sautéed with salt and pepper, then tossed in butter-mounted Worcestershire sauce with lemon, sometimes with a splash of cream. I crank the oven to 450 degrees and make the sauce on the stovetop: diced shallots sautéed in butter, a healthy quarter-cup or so of Worcestershire, a little thyme, paprika and cayenne, some salt and then a whole lot more butter, cut into the pan a knob at a time and whisked into velvet. I add to that a splash of cream and a few more healthy cranks of black pepper. Then I roast the shrimp on a greased pan in the oven under a shower of salt and yet more pepper, and serve it on a warm platter with the sauce spooned over the top. Rice, green beans and plenty of good, crusty bread for mopping up make it an ambrosial meal. Sam Sifton features a no-recipe recipe every Wednesday in his What to Cook newsletter. Sign up to receive it. You can find more no-recipe recipes here.
Gochugaru Salmon With Crispy Rice
Gochugaru, a mild, fragrant red-pepper powder, bedazzles this quick salmon dinner. As a key ingredient in Korean home cooking, gochugaru proves that some chiles provide not only heat but fruity sweetness as well. Here, that’s especially true once it’s bloomed in maple syrup, vinegar and butter. If you like shiny things, you may find great pleasure in watching this pan sauce transform into a mirrored, crimson glaze. Try to get long center-cut salmon fillets for uniform thickness and even cooking. Their crispy skin tastes wonderful with white rice, which toasts in the rendered salmon fat. To balance the richness of the fish, serve it with fresh, crunchy things, like cucumbers or pickles, or a big green salad.
Creamy Pasta With Smoked Salmon, Arugula and Lemon
One selling point of smoked salmon is that you don't need to do much to it to get it on the table. Fold it on top of toast and dab it with sour cream and you have the lazy man's cocktail party. But take the salmon one or two steps further and you break out of the cliché. Salmon's buttery fat and smoke serve as useful flavoring elements. In this easy 15-minute meal, it's chopped up and used as a counterweight in pasta tossed with full-fat Greek yogurt, arugula, fresh dill, lemon zest and juice. It is, at once, lively and comforting.
Oven-Steamed Fish With Mixed-Nut Salsa
This recipe pairs two elements you can incorporate into many meals: a steaming method that accommodates any size of fillet and a nut salsa that’s good on more than just fish. This recipe fashions a steamer using a baking dish, boiling water and the heat of the oven (see Tip for stovetop instructions), and steaming shows off the delicate flavor of mild fish and ensures tenderness even if things end up slightly overcooked. A crunchy and bright salsa made with salted mixed nuts — the kind usually served as bar snacks — balances the lightness of the fish, but it's also great on roasted chicken, winter squash, salad greens and more.
Salmon Burgers
For this recipe, you’ll want to grind part of the salmon in a food processor: It’ll bind the rest, which can be coarsely chopped to retain moisture during cooking. Some bread crumbs keep the burger from becoming as densely packed as (bad) meatloaf. This approach, along with a few simple seasonings, produces delicious burgers in not much more time than it takes to make one from ground chuck. The only real trick is to avoid overcooking. Whether you sauté, broil or grill this burger, it's best when the center remains the color of … salmon. Two or three minutes a side usually does the trick.
Nước Chấm
A classic Vietnamese condiment with a base of fish sauce, nước chấm brings a bouquet of garlic and chile notes to everything that absorbs it. Extremely versatile, it’s served alongside a wide range of dishes, adding heat, sweetness and savor to rice, grilled meat and fish.
Smoky Fish Chowder
This chowder is a more complex and smoky interpretation of a classic New England fish chowder. Made with hot smoked paprika and a little Vermouth or white wine, it’s got more spunk than a simpler, more authentic recipe, without losing the spirit of the sea. If you can’t find fish stock, you can substitute bottled clam juice, or even a good, flavorful vegetable stock. Either way, you’ll end up with perfectly balanced bowl of soup that needs nothing more than perhaps a few crackers on the side to make it shine.
Cider-Spiked Fish Pie
This recipe for a smoky fish pie comes from the British food writer Ruby Tandoh. The filling is a simple mix of peas, cod and smoked haddock, gently poached in milk, thickened with roux and spiked with dry cider. Don't worry if the fish isn't completely cooked when you're putting together the pie; it will finish up in the oven, where it bubbles under a thick layer of mashed potato and grated cheese. The result is tender and luxuriously creamy comfort food.
Whiskey-Glazed Salmon With Salt-Crusted Potatoes
The savory snap of baby potatoes crusted in salt is just what you want with the subtle sweetness of this fish’s glaze. The fish and the potatoes cook and come together at the same time in this fast meal. To achieve silky salmon without turning on the oven, gently cook it in a shallow pool of sauce that thickens to a syrup as it simmers. The potatoes, prepared using a technique from the Canary Islands, simply boil in generously salted water, then finish cooking with a splash of the liquid. When it evaporates, the salt that remains crusts onto the spuds. Shaking the pan vigorously helps the salt coat the potatoes evenly and sheds excess crystals. Serve with a salad or, after the glaze is scraped onto the fish, throw baby spinach into the still-hot skillet and stir to just wilt.
Roasted Salmon With Toasted Sesame Slaw
Raw bean sprouts are the unexpected star in this version of coleslaw. The toasted sesame-seed vinaigrette brings out the natural earthiness in the crisp sprouts and shredded cabbage. This slaw, beaming with bright ginger, lemon and scallion, is the perfect accompaniment to silky, rich salmon. For a more filling meal, serve with white or brown rice on the side.
Fish Pepper Soup
Pepper soup is a spicy dish made from a distinct blend of ground seeds, spices and fresh herbs. A generous spoonful might make your nostrils tingle, and even make you break a sweat, as you might during the humidity of noontime Lagos. Pepper soup can be made with any type of meat or seafood, and even obscure cuts and scraps can be elevated by the bold broth. This version uses a whole fish, taking the bones to make the stock, then poaching the fillets in the flavorful liquid. Ground pepper soup spices can be found easily at markets all over Nigeria; here in the United States, you can find them at African grocers or online. For the adventurous, I’ve included a recipe using whole spices that you can toast and grind into a blend of your own. Serve the dish alongside steamed white rice, steamed plantains or Agege bread, if desired.