Pistachio Crusted Fish
“I.C.M.T.” I tell my husband as I tuck into my dish.
“Huh?” My husband is skeptical.
Flashback to a few months ago when we were having lunch at Cafe Moderne, a restaurant in Paris which came highly recommended by the hotel’s concierge. We had just spent a good couple of hours browsing through the nearby cookbook store, Librarie Gourmande, and I had just bought a ridiculously large amount of cookbooks (all in French of course, which I can’t speak nor understand) and we were hungry. The restaurant is located in the 1st arrodissement, very much in the middle of the business district. I look around the restaurant and it is filled with investment bankers in expensive business suits – definitely nothing like the quaint bistros we had been lunching in for most of our trip.
Our waiter encourages us to order the sea bass, the restaurant’s specialty. The fish is delicately crusted in pistachio crumbs, a hint of thyme, and garlic… I think.
So I say I.C.M.T. The acronym stands for I Can Make This. This is our “secret code” when something tastes so delicious that I need to make it at home. Is that weird? I think it is something I picked up from my Mom. Every time we eat out, we find ourselves “dissecting” the dish and thinking how we can re-create it at home.
And so here it is – the lovely pistachio crusted fish – I finally made it – and now… YCMIT! (ah – that is … You Can Make It Too!)
Pistachio Crusted Fish
Ingredients Serves 2
- 400 grams blue eye cod fillets, skinned and deboned
- 35 grams butter
- 75 grams pistachios
- 2 cloves garlic, crushed
- 3 springs thyme
- salt and pepper to taste
- 1 egg white
- 4 slices lemon
- Preheat the oven to 180c (fan forced).
- Season the fillets with salt and pepper
- In a food processor or mortar and pestle, combine the pistachios, garlic, thyme, salt and pepper and finely grind.
- Melt the butter in a small saucepan and add the pistachio mixture. Cook for around 2 to 3 minutes.
- Remove the mixture from the heat and allow to cool for a few minutes. Add the egg white and mix well.
- Coat the fillets in the pistachio mixture
- Place some lemon slices and thyme leaves in a oven proof dish and place the coated fillets on top.
- Bake the fillets for around 10 to 12 minutes until cooked through.
Trissalicious 
We made this for dinner and it was amazing! I skipped the step of cooking the pistachio mixture with no ill results and used a single large fillet of Pacific sea bass. We finished it with a small drizzle of Meyer lemon olive oil. Thank you for an excellent recipe!
love the crust
[…] our beautiful Tatra mountains . However, now time for a copy-cat recipe I’ve found it on Trissalicious blog, it’s fast and gives a really nice outcome. I’ve just noticed I’ve never […]
oh yum, that looks delicious!! Pistachio crusted fish, sounds like my kinda seafood. I confess, I too do the I can make this at home, but I need to be more savy like you and make a code word!!
The pistachio crust sounds great Trissa!
Lovely “secret code” – I.C.M.T. ! Thank you ^0^
Hehe, my friends and I just normally wait until we’re not able to be heard by the staff and then quietly discuss how we can recreate the magic. Sometimes however, you just have to admit defeat. No defeat for you on this though.
hi there
if you have a problem to translate let me know !! Pierre de Paris
ICMT! I love it! I’m going to have to start saying that from now on because I do exactly the same – I always dissect my dinner when I’m out in a restaurant (especially the desserts!). Great post!
love pistachios! this looks delicious!
Great acronym 🙂 Thanks for dissecting the fish and sharing, I’ll definitely make this soon.
This dish just looks awesome! The pistachio crust must be bringing a new addition of depth to the fish…yummy!
Delicious! I love a flavourful crust on fish. Great acronym too!
This looks devine!
Haha! I find myself looking at dishes and thinking that sometimes. I try to only order things I can’t or can’t be bothered making at home.
What a great idea! Love the crust! Healthy too, I bet.
Dear Trissa – Very cute code! What’s not to love about pistachip crusted fish with lemon and herbs. The post is very endearing, the pic wonderful and the fish delish!
Ciao, Devaki @ weavethousandflavors
Oh yum! What a divine coating for the fish. I love pistachios. I have some pistachio flour left over from a recipe and I bet it would be fabulous in this recipe…probably not as crunchy though.
Love your code! Made me laugh out loud.
Ahh… a secret code, that is so cute! I find myself doing alot of that to… claiming that I can make this when we eat something interesting. ( I am less discreet though, I just say it ..hahaha) But seriously, the fish coated with pistachios looks really good.
Good golly, what a great photo. I do exactly the same thing at a restaurant. Like a perfumer who dissects all the notes in a fragrance, I check off everything that I taste and smell. Not always perfect, some failures and sometimes even better than the original… it is fun to do. Looks like you captured it beautifully and a great recipe!!
N.I.C.M.T.T = Now I Can Make This Too! Thanks for sharing this gorgeous recipe 🙂
Nice, what a cute code. I often steer clear of dishes that I can cook. How does your other half react to the YCMIT?
Great job on the fish – looks like a great dish!
I LOVE the acronym… I can’t wait to use it with my husband.
I love hearing about other couples’ secret languages – it makes me feel a lot more normal because my hubby and I say & do strange things out in public to communicate with each other privately ;P hehehe
Wow this would be a great change to our typical seabass in oven. Never combined pistachio with fish before, I’m so intrigued. IWATI! (I Will Absolutely Try It) 🙂
We made this pistachio crust last night. Except that we had it on rainbow trout… it was really, really good. Thank you for sharing.
Yes, I. C.M. T. too!
The fish dish looks stunning!! I am always on the lookout for new crust fish recipes & this is a grand one!!
MMMMMMMMM,…a fab dish, dear Trissa!
I definitely make this one! It looks so darn good!
this looks amazing… restaurant gourmet fare at home! me too, I also like to poke about my dish when dining out to try to figure out how to recreate it at home, hehe
hee hee! I thought I was the only person who dissected dishes while eating out. Being able to make a quick fish dish like this is something I would totally be into because fish is so expensive in restaurants.
I do this too. I try to figure out dishes. Isn’t that a compliment to the chef? This is just the kind of dish of like and of course, who doens’t like pistachios. I can’t wait to try it.
What to do with my pistachios…..here’s what! Thanks Trissa, it looks delightful
Oh, I like this idea, I am going to try it, I’ll be putting this in my bookmarks.
Have a great weekend.
*kisses* HH
YUM!!!!! And we are going to Paris next month – so you will please have to write to me about what market and recommendations you would make for me. This fish recipe IWMT! (I will make, too!)
🙂
Valerie
PS- please do write to me your recommendations.
🙂
LOL I.C.M.T!!!
O that looks so good Trissa, so I.W.D.M.T (I will definitely make this..:))
oh mama! fish and pistachio would go soooo well together.. I have ICMT it too!!!! :))
Trissa, IWTMT (I Want To Make This)!!! Beautifully prepared and photographed.
yeap! I.C.M.T. !
secret codes–i love it! i also love that i’m not the only one who rushes home after eating something grand in a restaurant and tries to recreate it. 🙂
The I.C.M.T. is so funny!
What a great dish Trissa. I will definitely try it. I love pistachios.
I’ll probably use olive oil instead of butter though.
Buying too many foreign-language cookbooks… I know how that feels. The worst part is fitting them in my suitcase!
Magda
[…] Recipe of the week A beautiful pistachio crusted fish from Trissalicious. […]
Yum, Triss! That looks beautiful 😉
I may be able to make it, but will it look or taste as good as yours? I doubt it, but I’ll try anyway. Thanks!
ok so ICMT dish huh? certainly i can now that you’ve cracked the secret code on how to do it…hahah but seriously, the pistachio crusted got me and im so in ICMT mood! thanks for sharing!
Love the acronyms Trissa! Love the simplicity of this recipe too – it so simple yet I can see why it’s the restaurant’s specialty!
I love crusted fish. This is so yummy with the pistachio, which I always have 1kg bag of 🙂
No, it’s not weird, though I had images of Martin Yan pop up whilst reading this post (he has similar catch-phrases). Is THAT weird? 🙂
I love crusted fish. Nut crusted even more so 🙂
That is hilarious!! I love that coy, just-between-you-and-I acronym. And you did make the fish. And it looks fabulous.
nice! i dont think ive ever had pistachios with fish but im definitely gonna try this!
That looks so good. I may be able to make this without my daughter break out. I love the pistachio crust too.
I love that acronym. Hilarious! This looks like a very good and simple recipe to make. I’ve never seen pistachio crusted fish on the menu, so I’m looking forward to MTAH.
Gorgeous, gorgeous photo!
I do the same thing at restaurants. There are so many restaurant dishes that it would not only be happy to make/figure out on my own, but that would also be cheaper to do at home.
This sounds SO good! I’m definitely bookmarking it.
This is the usual way that I like to prepare fish as well. Herb crusts are so wonderful. They add a wonderful added flavour to sometimes “boring” pieces of fish!
This looks divine! One of my favorite restaurant dishes is a almond-crusted sea bass–this looks like a real contender.
By the way, I don’t know if I ever told you but I passed the Sunshine Award to you since I like your blog so much.
http://lemonsandanchovies.wordpress.com/2010/05/31/sunshine-award/
Cheers!
What a great acronym and what a delicious looking dish! Gorgeous combination and so easy to make!
I hope I will go to Paris one day! In the meantime, I must give a try to this recipe. I so much love pistachios and it sounds very tempting with fish! Thank you for re-creating Paris recipe and sharing it with us!
I love trying out different crusts! I’ve done nut crusts before, but haven’t tried using pistachios only… I can imagine how nice this would be!