Pancetta Wrapped Ono (fish)
with Cucumber + Apple Salad
Ingredients + Cooking
Recipe makes 4 portions
Zest & Juice of 1 Orange
1 Red Apple, julienned
1 Cucumber, split lengthwise and seed packet scrapped out, cucumber then thinly sliced
2 Tb. Fresh Herbs of your choice
4 each Ono fillets (also called Wahoo, a white flesh ocean fish abundant in Hawai’i)
8 thin slices of Pancetta
Toothpicks or skewers to secure the pancetta
1 or 2 Shallots, thinly sliced
½ cup White Wine
Zest and Juice of 1 Lemon
2 Tb. Extra Virgin Olive Oil
In a mixing bowl combine the orange juice and zest, apple, cucumber and fresh herbs; season the mixture with sea salt and fresh pepper then toss together to evenly incorporate. Allow salad to marinate while cooking the fish.
Lightly season each piece of Ono on one side with sea salt and fresh ground pepper.
Unroll each slice of pancetta to make a long flat piece. Wrap the pancetta strips around the Ono fillets and arrange the pancetta so it just barely overlaps itself; use a toothpick or skewer to poke through the overlapping pancetta and then into the Ono to hold everything tightly. Any extra pancetta pieces or trim keep, it will be sautéed to make the sauce for the final plate presentation.
Heat a wide sauté pan over medium high heat; when hot add enough grape seed oil to lightly coat the pan. Place the Ono, flat side down, into the hot oil. Sear the fish fillets for 2 to 3 minutes with out moving them until they have developed a golden crust on the side in contact with the pan. Turn the fish over and, depending on the size of the fillets, cook them for 30 seconds or up to 2 minutes on the opposite flat side. Thick, more block shaped fish fillets will need a longer cooking time but smaller fillets will need just a brief sauté to prevent overcooking these delicate morsels. Remove the fish from the pan and arrange on serving plates.
Keep the sauté pan on the stove over low heat, do not clean out the pan.
Add the shallot and any reserved pancetta trim pieces to the pan, sauté briefly until the shallots are softened. Pour the wine into the pan to deglaze; use a spatula to scrape at the brown pieces still sticking to the pan to release them into the wine. Simmer the wine until reduced by half. Remove the pan from the heat and then stir in the lemon juice, zest and extra virgin olive oil. Season the pan sauce with sea salt and fresh pepper.
Mound some of the apple and cucumber salad along side each portion of fish. Spoon the lemon pan-sauce around each plate and serve right away.
** For the fish, always aim to substitute the most pristine, freshly caught seafood option local to where you are. For this particular recipe, and being in Hawaii where I most recently prepared this dish at our Bacon class, we substituted Mahi since it was the most pristine option brought into our local fish market that morning.
Where ever you might be cooking a meal, please seek out your local fish market and ask them “What is the best fish YOU would take home to cook for a meal today?!” Chances are you will get a pretty solid recommendation and truly enjoy the treasure of the ocean that will be your nourishing meal.