Steamed Grouper in Chile Oil

Name: Steamed Grouper in Chile Oil
Yield: Serves 6
Cuisine: Italian
Ingredients: 3 ribs celery, thinly sliced on the bias, plus ½ cup inner celery leaves; 1 sprig fresh rosemary; ½ cup packed fresh mint leaves (half coarsely chopped); 2 tbsp. dried whole Calabrian chiles, plus ½ cup crushed chiles; 6 5-oz. boneless, skin-on red grouper fillets; 1 ¼ cups extra-virgin olive oil; Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste; 2 bulbs fennel, trimmed, halved, and thinly sliced; ½ cup packed fresh curly parsley leaves (half coarsely chopped); 3 sprigs fresh thyme; 6 oz. fresh garlic chives or scallions, trimmed and cut into 2″ pieces; 2 cloves garlic, thinly sliced

Preparation info

Serves
6

Difficulty
Easy

Appears in

Italian Comfort Food

By The Editors of Saveur

Published 2015

About

Resting on a bed of couscous-like Sardinian pasta called fregola, the grouper here is spicy—Italian-American chef Mario Carbone uses Calabrian chiles to add punch. He steams the fish instead of searing it, taking inspiration from chefs in Hong Kong, where he recently opened a restaurant.

Ingredients

1 ¼ cups extra-virgin olive oil
2 tbsp. dried whole Calabrian chiles, plus ½

Europe
Italy
Fish course
Pescatarian
Mediterranean

Method

Bring 1 cup oil, whole chiles, thyme, garlic, and rosemary to a simmer in a 1-qt. saucepan over medium; cook for 1 minute and remove from heat. Stir in crushed chiles. Let oil steep for