A new experience for me - Paiche

Well, I went off menu tonight, deciding since I didn't have a late night at the office to make fish.  I call Jeanne and asked her to stop by the market and pick up a pound and a half of whatever caught her eye, bring it home and I'd throw something together.  Little did I know how adventurous she would be.  

Stopping at Whole Foods, she picked up a beautiful piece of Paiche.  It's a fish I had never cooked before and the only time I've heard of it or seen one for that matter was when watching Jeremy Wade on the TV program, River Monsters wrestle one out of the brown swirling muck.  I was totally pumped to give it a try (cook it that is, I'll leave the wrestling to Wade).

So, according to Wikipedia, "The arapaima, pirarucu, or paiche is a species of bonytongue native to the Amazon River in Brazil. It is the largest freshwater fish of South America."  It is considered by many to be an Amazonian superfood packed with protein and Omega-3's, low in fat and without antibiotics or mercury.  The meat tastes like a cross between Chilean sea bass, black cod or a mild swordfish. 

To prepare the Paiche, I decided to pan sear it with lime and cilantro and serve it on a bed of spaghetti squash accompanied with a jicama, carrot, and apple slaw.  

For the Paiche, I preheated the oven to 400 degrees F.  Then seasoned the fish on both sides with coriander, garlic and onion powder, chili powder, salt and fresh cracked black pepper.  I heated a sauté pan over high heat, added 2 Tbsp olive oil and let it start to smoke.  Carefully seared the fish skin side up (filet was skinless).  After a minute or two gently press fish down into pan to insure a really nice sear.  Let it go for 3-4 minutes until deep golden brown.  Turn the fish, squeeze the juice of one lime and half a lemon over fish and put pan into hot oven.  Let cook until fish is medium, I cooked it about 8 minutes.  Remove from oven and rub fish with a tablespoon of soft butter, let rest for 5-10 minutes before portioning onto plates.

For the slaw- Shred jicama, radish, and carrot in food processor.  Shred one apple (I used a sweet tango, could sub honey crisp or pink lady), add to jicama mixture.  In a small bowl combine some minced shallot, Dijon mustard, lemon juice, red wine vinegar, capers, sugar, salt and black pepper.  Drizzle olive oil into mixture and make vinaigrette.  Add to jicama mixture and adjust seasoning with salt and pepper.