Bacon-Wrapped Haddock

The sky was incredibly blue today, and a sea breeze was fluttering the leaves. It was the most glorious day to be in Rockand, Maine. Main Street was bustling with visitors to the Farnsworth, The Project Puffin Visitor Center, and The Grasshopper shop. We went to the library, and watched the ships from a picnic table in Harbor Park. We strolled across town to the South End, to Jess’s Market, to find the best fish in town. I wanted haddock for supper, and remembered a recipe I found to wrap flaky white fish in bacon. I’ve had bacon wrapped scallops and bacon wrapped shrimp, but never anything exactly like this. I knew it would be epic.

This recipe did not go as planned. On our first attempt, in a frying pan, the fish fell apart and the bacon didn’t brown. It tasted great but appearance-wise it was, as they say on Bravo, a “hot mess.” So, switched to baking it in the oven, a technique which worked well on other occasions, namely on the unfortuantely named ”bacon carpet” day, and also for bacon-wrapped dates stuffed with cream and goat cheeses. The haddock stayed moist, and the bacon turned a beautiful brown, just shy of crispy. I didn’t want to heat up the kitchen on such a hot day, but you really get the best result this way. Haddock is marvelous if you can get it fresh, but this would also work nicely with cod or halibut.

Bacon-Wrapped Haddock
Adapted from a recipe by Martha Stewart

Ingredients:

• 1 large haddock fillet
• 9 strips of bacon
• 1 lemon
• Freshly ground black pepper

Method:

Preheat oven to 425 degrees F. Cut fillet into three pieces, and season with black pepper. Wrap each piece in three strips of bacon, and place seam side down on a baking rack positioned atop a baking sheet. Cook for 12 minutes, flip and finish cooking until the bacon is browned, another ten to twelve minutes. Let the browning of the bacon be your guide, not the clock; when the bacon is brown, the fish is cooked. Finish with a healthy squeeze of lemon. Plate with more lemon wedges, spinach, and an orzo pasta salad (chopped spinach, tomatoes, red pepper flakes, mayonnaise).

Tagged as: bacon, haddock

About the Author: Jillian Bedell

Jillian grew up in Connecticut, went to university in Boston, college in New Haven, did some post-grad soul searching in New York, exiled herself to Mexico, married her longtime sweetheart, and lived in a house on the ocean. She suspected Maine might be the perfect place to raise a family, so she came back home to New England two years ago. Now a mom to Violet Maeve and living in Rockland, where she hopes to settle for a good, long while, Jillian reads, writes, walks, and practices Nia, when not watching Malcolm photograph sandwiches.