Let’s say your menu features our wonderful, locally-sourced skinless haddock fillets, whole fresh cod, or sweet, juicy scallops. With many people to feed in your facility, you need to impart flavor into your fish fast and preferably in bulk. What you need is a good, easy marinade you can whip up.
Marinades are ideal for infusing flavor as, if thawed, fish absorbs marinades quickly – often within a mere 15-20 minutes. Below are three delicious marinade recipes ideal for fish. Multiply the ratios to suit the amount of fish you’re serving up and be ready for your diners to leave with smiles on their faces.
Lemon Herb Marinade for White Fish
Lemon is a classic flavor to pair with white fish like cod and haddock, and the herbs add some zest that will really elevate your meal. This particular marinade is great because many of the herbs can be substituted and ratios played with, and it’s easy to make in bulk.
Ingredients
⅓ cup olive or vegetable oil
¼ cup lemon juice
1 tsp dried basil leaves
½ tsp dried thyme leaves
2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
¼ tsp salt
¼ tsp pepper
Mix all of the ingredients in a shallow glass dish or resealable food-storage plastic bag. Add about 1lb of fish, cover the dish or seal the bag, and refrigerate for about 20 minutes. Remove the meat from the marinade and cook as desired. Discard the used marinade.
Mustard and Maple Syrup Marinade for Salmon
This two-ingredient marinade is superb for meatier fish like salmon. On top of being one of the quickest marinates, it’s also an easy dressing to add to side-salads, or brushed on carrots and potatoes before roasting, meaning you can flavor a whole plate with this marinade.
Ingredients
½ cup maple syrup
4 tbsp whole grain mustard
Mix the ingredients together in a bowl then spread over your fish. Let marinate for five minutes, then cook. Top with fresh, chopped herbs such as cilantro or dill.
Honey, Soy, and Garlic Marinade for Scallops
Scallops are superb just on their own, but the right marinade can really make them heavenly. It’s even better if the marinade can be cooked down and thickened into a sauce, reducing waste and imparting even more flavor into the dish.
Ingredients
¼ cup honey
3 tbsp soy sauce
1 garlic clove, minced
2 tbsp butter
½ lemon, juiced
Whisk together the ingredients in a large bowl. Add the scallops and let them marinate for ten minutes. In a medium-sized frying pan, heat the butter. Remove the scallops from the marinade and place them in the pan, but do not discard the marinade still in the bowl. Turn up the heat in the pan to medium-high and sear the scallops, for approximately two minutes per side. Remove the scallops from the pan and set them aside.
Take the marinade you saved and pour it into the frying pan, cooking it at medium-high heat until it thickens into a delicious sauce. Return the scallops to the pan and coat them in your sauce, then serve.
No matter the marinade, however, the taste of the dish truly depends on the quality of the fish. That’s why so many facilities get their products from Channel Fish, as we sell only the best sustainably-sourced seafood.
