I bought a piece of frozen white fish and it was awful.
Before I had even defrosted it, I could see it was bland, watery, and embarrassing. Embarrassing for the fish and me. Embarrassing for the fish because in all of its opaque strangeness, it just looked so vulnerable and haunted, thin and weak, staring at me from the frozen. Embarrassing for me needing to explain why it was in my freezer to begin with. I’m either blaming my partner for lazy shopping or myself for a fish pie.
And then I had to check my privilege, because god damn. I’m someone who truly champions being able to buy the best you can afford. Yes, we all dream of going to a butcher or fishmonger every weekend where we get the produce freshly wrapped in paper, paying the shop keep with a twinkle in our eyes and pure thoughts in our mind. We dream of it, but that’s not everyone reality, and it’s certainly not mine.
So if that means the fishmongers, great, if that means also getting it vacuum-packed from a supermarket, have at it, or indeed, if that means buying it multi-packed in frozen bags, let it be so.
But that doesn’t mean it can’t taste good.
So this was my desperate attempt at giving the fish some kind of salvation. Sweet, smoky, not too sticky (not an adjective I am overly fond of when it comes to food) and it gives the fish some of it’s personality back.
This recipe isn’t written in my normal structure, it’s literally just an ingredient list that you combine in a little bowl. That’s it. I could write it out as numbered instructions, but let’s be honest her, you’re stirring things in a little bowl, and then gently glazing some white fish with it. Feel free to pick up where I left off here and add your own spins, swirls, and whoopdie-doos, but hopefully this gives you a good basis for confidence that you can cover a somewhat bland piece of food with a vibrant, confident glaze of flavour.
Would it work on chicken? Sure. Haven’t tried it, but I don’t see why not. Would it work on salmon? I wouldn’t bother. The worst frozen salmon will still taste better than the best frozen white fish, and salmon tastes like salmon, and salmon tastes great, so don’t hide the salmon. Side note – totally wanted to burst into Bridget Jones’ Salman Rushdie hoovering bit during that sentence. SALMAAAAAN.
No, I would save this for the pallid, mysterious things that are crying out for support. Think white fish (that’s so mysterious we don’t even know which fish. It’s just white) or a chicken breast or a particularly uninspiring pork chop.
Let’s just get to it then, shall we?
Let’s assume you have two pieces of fish (as above in this very poor picture), so the measurements below will roughly provide enough for two.
In a small bowl, combine:
1 tbs olive oil
Juice of 1 lemon
1 clove garlic, grated
1/2 tsp paprika
1/2 tsp cumin
1 tsp honey
Some fresh thyme leaves
I’m a stickler for the notion that dry herbs are absolutely not substitutes for fresh herbs, however here, I will concede. If you don’t have fresh thyme leaves, use any dried herb. Dried thyme would be best, but if you only have something called ‘Mixed Herbs’ available to you, then go for it.
I had frozen white fish in my kitchen, so I daren’t judge the absence of fresh herbs in yours.
But that’s it really. Mix together, glaze your chosen bit of meat, and cook as you would.
MIKEY AND THE KITCHEN. 
😍🙌🏼 😎 awesomeness