Grilling with Real Charcoal - Apple Marinated Grilled Sea Bass

Product provided from Devo Olive Oil and Anderson Seafoods

I’ve wanted a grill for quite a while, especially since we had the deck put on the yurt. I do love the taste of food cooked over a flame. But the hubby – he didn’t want to cook with briquettes and he wasn’t thrilled about using propane so where did that leave us? I had no clue because I had no idea that you could buy real charcoal, but lo and behold! you can.

Who knew – certainly not me.

Note: This post may contain affiliate links, which means if you buy from my link I might make a small commission. This does not affect the price you pay. See the full affiliate disclosure here.

It is apparently pretty easy to find – he bought charcoal made from Flathead cherry trees but it is available pretty much everywhere and from almost any kind of wood. You can even buy it online. The bag we bought was 5lbs for $8 and so far we have found that only a little is necessary to make enough heat to cook a meal. It is super simple to start and it gets hot enough to use in 10 – 15 minutes.

grilling with real charcoal, apple marinated sea bass

To use it you just crunch up a few pieces of paper, add a few pieces of charcoal to cover. Then you light the paper. You might have to blow on it to encourage a flame. Soon it will start to smoke. Then the flames will come. Cover the grill and let the coals heat a bit. When they are burning somewhat evenly and hot you are ready to cook.

On this night I was making a piece of bass for the hubby and hot dogs for me. I had marinated the bass for a while prior to grilling and I planned to serve it will a simple salad of different lettuces from the garden. It would be simple yet delicious meal for our first time grilling.

[cboxarea id="cbox-IVEtmKHDExiTjpDi"]

Apple Marinated Grilled Bass

Serves 1

1 6 oz Baquetta Seabass fillet
1 cup white wine
1/4 cup Red Apple Balsamic
2 TBS tamari
1/2 red delicious apple cut into thin strips
1 tsp olive oil
1 tsp fresh lemon juice
1 scallion
salt and pepper

cooked Jasmine or other rice

Mix the wine, red apple balsamic, tamari and a healthy sprinkling of salt and pepper in a bowl. Marinate the bass fillet for half a hour, then flip it over and marinate for another half hour. If you are short on time 10 minutes on each side will do but obviously the longer you can let it sit the better. During the last 15 minutes get the grill ready and hot. This is fish so you don’t want to cook it over super-high heat.

Place the fish, skin side down and grill it for about 7 minutes in a med-hot area of the grill. Cover the grill while it it cooking. Carefully turn the fish and cook for another 5 – 7 minutes. The timing of course depends on the thickness of your fillet. Mine was almost 2″ thick so it did take a bit to cook.

While the fish is cooking prepare the apple topping; toss the sliced apples with the olive oil and lemon juice. Sprinkle with sale and fresh cut pepper. Thinly slice the scallion and mix in about 3/4s of it with the apples. Save the rest for sprinkling on top.

To serve, put the fish on top of 1 cup of hot Jasmine (or other kind of) rice. Top with the apple mixture and sprinkle on the remaining scallions.

As I mentioned above I served this with a simple salad of lettuces from the garden. I made a vinaigrette from some of the Red Apple Balsamic and olive oil and it was a perfect complement. Some raisins added a touch of sweetness. The hubby really enjoyed his first grilled meal of the season. The crunch of the fresh apple was a nice addition to the rich fish.

The grill added a nice smokiness to the bass and I can’t wait to grill more summer meals. I’m so happy to have this delightful way to cook food available to me.

Oh, my hot dogs were really good too!

Table of Contents

Any purchase links are affiliate links which means if you buy through one I make a small commission which helps to keep the Farm cats in toys and treats.