1. Get in your head something you want to cook and eat.

2.Read a bunch of recipes, write down all the stuff you need to buy at the grocery.

3. Say, oh hell, I’ll just roast them in olive oil and salt; what could go wrong…

I was going to make stuffed onions. All the recipes had a different method for removing the center of the onion where the stuffing would go. Cut a half inch off the tops, cut a bit from the bottom so they would sit flat, poach, boil, cook halfway..All I did was peel the skins off, cut off some of the top and bottom, then rolled them in plenty of olive oil and sprinkled with Maldon coase sea salt, put them in a 370° oven and basted them a couple of times, for about 35 minutes. Turned the oven down to 350° and turned the the onions over. Much to my surprise when I opened the oven door 25 minutes later the centers had popped up, so cute and how easy it would have been to pull the roasted centers out, put in a stuffing and put the little hat back on top or use the roasted goodness as an ingredient in the stuffing. But I ate them out of the pan standing up in my kitchen, happily.

Instead of frying or sautéing or poaching, do what chefs do.

Heat the oven to hot, like 450°.

Heat olive oil and canola oil till hot in a skillet that fits the fish.

In a plastic bag or dish mix plenty of salt and pepper and a little flour and coat the fish patting off all excess so there’s just a thin coating. Cook skin side down first until crispy and brown (the skin becomes really delicious and crunchy). Once the skin gets really crisp it’s pretty easy to flip. So flip it and brown the other side then put the skillet in the oven and cook through. (USE A METAL SKILLET, NOT TEFLON). The amount of time in the oven will depend on the thickness of the fish.

What’s great here is the simplicity, one-dish cooking, and that the flavor of the fish really comes through. This is a good thing when fish is fresh; not so good when less than fresh.

Now for some toppings.

JUST SIMPLE
I love to chop tons of parsley (lots of Vitamen K, good for bone health), a bit of garlic, coarse salt, a squeeze of lemon juice, bit of Olive Oil.

VARIATIONS ON JUST SIMPLE:
•Add a couple of anchovies (soaked in milk for 15 minutes then patted dry)

•Add capers and lemon zest

•Instead of lemon add a Tablespoon or 2 of good Balsamic Vinegar with the same  amount of Olive Oil.

•Add finely chopped walnuts.
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Other  toppings

•Saute sliced almonds in butter. Add chopped parsley a second before you pour the almonds over the fish.

•This is more work but it’s great…core and halve red peppers. Toss in a bowl with olive oil, salt, pepper (don’t wash bowl). Roast in a 450° oven on a cookie sheet until darkened and black in places. I like to line the sheet pan with parchment paper so there’s no clean up. After roasting, put peppers and accumulated juice back into the bowl and cover with foil.  Peel when cool or refrigerate and peel next day using all the roasting liquids in bowl. Purée with bit of fresh garlic, a touch of Smoked Paprika (La Chinata), and a bit of Balsamic Vinegar. (I buy Villa Manodori Balsamic Vinegar and use it like a miser. It is so delicious but exorbitantly priced. I would never cook a drop of this stuff.) Add a touch of Olive Oil and salt if you think it needs it.