Bocaccio from the Deep
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The pull-out bed in my father’s front room isn’t as comfortable as my bed at home; it’s a bit lumpy. I look at my watch–it’s 2:15am–and groan knowing I still have twenty minutes before the alarm goes off. I stumble down the hall for a glass of water, stumble back, and lay down. I need every minute I can get given the fireworks celebrating Independence Day the night before.
They may have only ended an hour or so ago.
Laying there in the dark, I can’t seem to relax. I decide to give up, sitting back up on the lumps of the “bed” to get dressed. I put my pants on and no sooner, do I hear the sound of a door down the hallway creak open, and then creak closed to a latch. Dad is awake too.
We chuckle to each other because neither of us got much sleep with the volume of illegal fireworks that filled the skies overnight. We planned to depart around 3am, giving us sufficient time to get to the docks in Newport out on the Oregon Coast to meet up with our guide for a day of deep sea fishing.
I finish getting dressed, then go down the hall to wake up my teenage son. He is lucky I gave him the guest bed; it’s devoid of the lumps that accompany the pull-out.
Shortly thereafter, my brother pulls up in front of the house. We all load up our gear, a package of donuts, and make for the dock. My teenage son wisely leans into the door to take a nap en route.
Our plan is to meet up with Walt Rowe and his deckhand, Austin Rowe, for a day of halibut fishing far offshore. Walt and Austin have a reputation for getting their clients on the fish, whether they be halibut, lingcod, rockfish, or albacore tuna. We’re going to be fishing in 450-600 feet of water to the deepest limits of the asphotic zone – the limit of which light can penetrate water. My son had not caught a halibut before, so I am excited to see him on the rail bringing one up from the deep.
The ocean is not rough, but it’s not flat either. The run out takes almost two hours. We drop bait on custom-built rods equipped with electric reels, which is a first for me. But, given I have fished that deep before and without the help of an electric reel, I know how tiring and mundane it is so I and my arms are grateful.
We make quick work finding fish: nice lingcod, yelloweye and bocaccio rockfish, and a few halibut. Our guide, Walt, has extensive experience of this spot, maneuvering the boat to drift our bait through tight spots far below us and consistently putting us on the fish. It doesn’t take too long before we have limits of halibut plus a heavy and diverse assortment of lingcod and rockfish. Rockfish tacos are already on my mind, as are halibut fish and chips. We pull up our gear mid-morning and turn the boat back toward the Oregon coastline.
The following week, I did some research on one of the species of rockfish – the bocaccio – as I had never encountered them on my past ocean trips and was curious to cook them. According to NOAA Fisheries, bocaccio have a “delicate, nutty flavor” with a “light flake” texture. While I am fond of Hank Shaw’s “rockfish bites” with Cajun remoulade as well as my own take on rockfish tacos, bocaccio didn’t sound like a good fit for my stand-by rockfish recipes.
We don’t typically have nuts in our house because our kids have various nut allergies, so I decided to make a pesto-crusted baked bocaccio to elevate the nutty flavors of the fish while using a nut-free pesto with lemon zest.
Serves: 4-6
Time to make: 45 minutes
Also works with: Rockfish, lingcod, halibut, salmon
Tools: 9×13” baking dish, food processor
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Bocaccio from the Deep
4
servings20
minutes25
minutesKeep the screen of your device on
Ingredients
Three cups fresh basil
Zest of 1 lemon plus 2 T fresh juice
3 garlic cloves
¾ C Parmesan
⅜ C olive oil
⅜ t salt
¼ t pepper
Italian bread crumbs or panko (optional)
Boccaccio filet
Olive oil for baking dish
Preparation
- Lightly salt the bocaccio, and set aside while you prep your other ingredients.
- For the pesto, wash the basil, removing the stems, then place all ingredients in the food processor pulse until you’ve got the desired consistency. Set this aside.
- Preheat the oven to 350 F.
- Lightly grease your baking pan with some olive oil. Spread the pesto around all side of the bocaccio filet.
- If you want to add bread crumbs or panko, you can then roll the pesto-coasted fish in that at this point.
- Set the filet in the baking dish, and cover with aluminum foil. Set the dish on a rack in the center of the oven. Bake for 16-20 minutes depending on the thickness of the filet. It’s done when it flakes easily. Pair with potato gnocchi, penne, or linguine; roasted vegetables; and chilled pinot gris.
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