Grilled Fresh Blackfish with Grilled Vegetables

I am sure that if it was up to most of us, man and woman would live on meat and potatoes alone. For me, even though Pesach is less than 3 weeks away, I still can't help but think of the 9 days and what will we eat? Thankfully not all of my friends are golfers and I do have a few that are avid fishermen. A few months back, one of them caught for me a fresh black fish that I thought about making on the grill. To do that, I would need direct heat and a multilevel fire since the fish and vegetables would cook too quickly if I put the cover on while they were cooking on the grill.

The key with this recipe is to use as large of a filet as possible and to make sure you follow the directions on how to prepare the grill so the fish doesn't stick. This recipe also uses direct heat for the entire recipe and utilizes a mutli-level fire in the grill.

Ingredients:

Marinade:
1 Lemon
1/4 cup Extra Virgin Olive Oil
Kosher Salt
Fresh Cracked Black Pepper

(2) Fillets of Fresh Fish with skin on
Eggplant
Bunch Asparagus
Sweet Potato
1/2 cup of Vegetable Oil

Step 1. In a bowl, squeeze the juice of the lemon adding the olive oil and salt and pepper to taste.

Step 2. Thoroughly clean and wash the fish and pour half of the marinade over the fish coating both sides.

Step 3: Fill 3/4 of a chimney with charcoal and light it to start getting the coals hot.

Step 4: On a cookie sheet, cut the eggplant in 1/2 inch - 3/4 inch slices and sprinkle salt on both sides to draw out some of the water. 

Step 5: Wash and slice your sweet potatoes into 1/2 inch - 3/4 inch slices on a bias. 

Step 6: Cut and prepare the asparagus. Pour the remaining marinade over the asparagus and toss to coat.

Step 7: Once the charcoal is hot, pour the charcoal in the middle of the grill to create a multi-tier fire, replace the grate on the grill and cover the grill to get it hot.

Step 8: Take a few paper towels, roll them, and fold them over to form a neat bundle. Using tongs, dip the paper towels in the vegetable oil.

Step 9: With the soaked paper towel, brush the grill grate and return the cover. After 5 minutes, using the oil soaked paper towels, brush the grates to coat them and recover the grill to bring up the internal temperature. Repeat this process 4-5 times.

Step 10: Place the fish in the middle of the grill (the hottest part of the grill) skin side down with some of the eggplant and sweet potatoes around the fish over the section of the grill that has a medium level heat. Be careful not to overcrowd the grill because if there is not enough airflow through the grates, it will cause the heat to die down inside the grill.

If the grill is not hot enough, or you have not coated the grates well enough, the fish will stick. After 6 minutes, with a spatula test on one corner of the fish to see if the skin has become crisp and if the fish releases from the grill. If it does, flip it over for another 4-5 minutes on the other side. Now would also be a good time to turn over the eggplant and sweet potatoes.

Step 11: Pull off the fish and the eggplant and place the rest of the eggplant and the asparagus in the middle of the grill over the hottest part of the grill, and the eggplant around the outside over the middle level heat.

Step 12: After a few minutes, with tongs move around the asparagus over the grate to make sure they are thoroughly roasted while keeping an eye on the eggplant and the sweet potatoes so they do not burn.

What kind of fish do you like to BBQ on your grill?