Stuffed Rockfish

Wanted fish and briefly entertained the notion of laterally testing Lane's monkfish but Phil said that would make a pretty boring blog. So got this oddly shaped rockfish fillet, which really was half a full fillet and half a bit of flesh with the skin still on (see pic above). My intention was to stuff the fleshy side and wrap the skin bit over. That wouldn't work and I ended up slicing off the flap and putting it on top as a topper, almost like a tasty fishy crouton.

Recipe:
1 lb or so rockfish fillet
1 clump of watercress, leaves only (save the stems for scrap salad)
2 crimini mushrooms
2 oz (approx.) crab meat
1" piece of ginger
1-1/2T dijon mustard
generous grating black pepper
generous amount of ghee for frying
lard for frying and baking

Cooking Note: I have a sort of policy of not cleaning off my griddle if I'm going to use it the next night, and instead just making something complementary. Last night was the livers with mushrooms deglazed with ghee and cranberry liqueur. There was still a bit of schmutz from that on the griddle, and I left it there. I think it added a bit of sweetness and a depth from the carmelization that happened last night, combined with tonight's cooking.
Instructions: Preheat oven to 450F. Grease the bottom of a baking pan with lard. Heat the griddle.Moderately thinly slice the ginger and mushroom. Add ghee to heated griddle and when melted add mushrooms and ginger. Saute until the mushrooms are just limp. Remove all to bowl and mix in mustard and pepper and crab (I used Japanese tinned, which is very finely flaked. More coarse would be fine, you would just want to mix it up more). Saute greens on griddle until just cooked. Mix in with the other stuffing parts in the bowl.

Melt lard on griddle. Add fish, skin side down and saute 3 min or so until skin is a bit crispy. Cut off the "flap" part. Remove fish and flap from heat. Put fleshy part in the greased baking dish. Slice lengthwise through the middle almost (but not quite - say about 1/4" shy) through.
Spoon in stuffing mixture. Picture above shows it stuffed. Lay flap part on top. Bake (for 1-1/2"- 2" bottom) approx 20 min or until just opaque and fish breaks into large flakes easily. Picture below shows it just out of the oven, after having been sliced in two already (because I incorrectly thought 8 - 10 min would be right).

As shown below, serve with capers and paprika. Or be creative - chutney also would be good with this. Eat hot.
Eating Notes: We won't attempt to say what rockfish "tastes" like, but it is a meaty and slightly fatty but clean-tasting fish so that you're sure it's fish but without noticeable aftertones. We liked how the sauce and greens balanced the fish.