By Yanni www.fishermansbelly.com
(serves 3)
3 yellowtail collars, skin on and scaled
3 whole lemons, juiced
1/4 – 1/2 cup of extra virgin olive oil
Kosher salt
Crushed black pepper
2 tablespoons of honey
2 tablespoons finely chopped parsley
Tin foil
Handful of favorite wood chips
Grilling Perfect Fish Collars
1. First start creating the marinade. In a 2-cup pyrex cup, measure out the juice of one lemon, add a tablespoon of honey, pinch of pepper, and then whisk in double that amount of olive oil. NO SALT! Pour the marinade over the patted dry fish collars. And refrigerate for one hour.
2. Now create the baste. In a 2-cup pyrex cup, measure out the juice of two lemons, salt and pepper, teaspoon of honey, and then whisk in half that amount of olive oil. Whisk thoroughly for complete mixing. In other words, the resulting baste shouldn’t have a separation between the oil and lemon juice.
3. Next create a flat tin foil pouch filled with your wood chips for smoking. Poke holes into the pouch with a fork. Once the grill is ready, place the pouch on top on the coals, or next to the gas flames.
4. Start heating your grill to as close as 500F as you can, while making sure to clean it. A clean grill will help ensure the fish collar skin won’t stick to the grill.
4. When your grill is good and hot, add the wood chip pouch and then add the collars, skin down. Grill until charring begins. This should take place between 2-4 minutes. Keep an eye on this! Then carefully turn over the collars, keeping the its skin intact.
4. After carefully turning over the fish, begin brushing on the baste, liberally! Baste at least two or three times while closing the lid on the grill after each baste. This will promote the dripping baste to infuse the fish with flavored smoke from the wood chips and the dripping baste.
5. Just after a few minutes, remove the collars and pour the rest of the baste over the fish. Sprinkle with parsley and serve.
