Healthy Fish

 The zesty dressing for these crisp snapper fillets adds funky depth and a pop of acidity.

Mimi Thorisson makes a quick and easy fish stew, flavoring the luscious broth with white wine, saffron and aromatic vegetables.

This roasted garlic charmoula—a classic North African marinade and sauce packed with fresh herbs and spices—is excellent with a rich fish, such as arctic char or salmon.

As a native New Englander, chef Steve Sicinski loves clam chowder but prefers making a healthier version with Southwestern flavors.

Here, Nikole Herriott’s pretty halibut in parchment.

The salt crust seals in moisture, gently infusing the fish with the bright flavors of parsley, cilantro and rosemary.

“Fish cakes are perceived as being quite British, and they’re always a bit brown and a little dull,” Yotam Ottolenghi says. To make the cakes more vibrant, he adds plenty of herbs and serves them with a tarragon-infused tomato sauce spiked with fresh red chile.

Russians usually make these fish kebabs with sturgeon, the firm-fleshed white fish prized for its caviar. Since most wild sturgeon is now endangered, look for sustainable farmed fish or try black cod or swordfish.

To simplify this dish, make the stew in a lidded casserole, replacing the fish stock with water. It will still taste delicious.

Almonds and anchovies add a bit of Sicilian flavor to this tasty no-cook tomato sauce.

Gwyneth Paltrow transforms one of her favorite salads, the Niçoise, into a hearty one-dish dinner by roasting tuna steaks on a tangle of beans, tomatoes, anchovies and olives.

Quinn Hatfield stuffs pickled ginger into slits in the salmon to infuse it with flavor. To keep the sliced fish intact and the ginger in place, he cleverly skewers the fillets before cooking.

Instead of using salt cod, a classic Portuguese ingredient that takes days to soak, chef George Mendes quick-cures fresh cod by standing it in kosher salt for only 10 minutes. He says cod is naturally soft and flaky (“as well as bland,” he adds), so salting gives it a firmer texture and a more pronounced flavor.

With only a few ingredients, Rick Bayless’s salpimentado (salt-and-pepper) ceviche is typical of what one would find at stands around the southern tip of Baja. Cooks often make it with sierra, a large and meaty Mexican fish, but tuna works just as well.

Pickles add a tangy crunch to salads, and the brine is delicious in vinaigrettes.

Michel Nischan only cooks sustainable seafood, like the wild striped bass here.

“I’ve never met a wine I didn’t like, says Lou Amdur. One of the wackiest he’s ever tasted is the amphorae-aged Vinoterra Kisi, made from the indigenous Georgian white grape Kisi. It’s unexpectedly delicious with smoked fish.

Here, Michael White makes a vinegary caponata (a Sicilian relish) with fresh artichoke hearts, not the traditional tomatoes and eggplant. Trimming artichokes can be time-consuming, so buy marinated artichoke hearts from the grocery store instead.

Like all raw fish dishes, this one is about the quality of the sea bass. Good olive oil is also key.

Michael Psilakis mixes ladolemono (lemon juice and olive oil) with mustard and yogurt to create a tangy, creamy sauce for succulent roasted fish and vegetables.

Chef Pete Evans uses green mango—which is firm and a little crunchy—for the fresh, bright salad that accompanies the salmon fillets here.

A garlic-tomato sauce for cod gets Sicilian flavor from orange zest and saffron.

“The fish we eat in Denmark—mackerel, herring, salmon—have beneficial omega-3 oils,” says Trina Hahnemann. Any smoked fish will work well in the sweet-salty salad here.

Tim Cushman is a master at preparing raw fish. Here, he dresses salmon with a little citrus-soy dressing, then tops it with fresh ginger and chives before bathing it in a hot sesame-oil mixture. The heat from the oil cooks the salmon just slightly, creating a luxurious texture and fragrance.

Donald Link suggests grilling or roasting this fish, then serving it in its hardened skin (“on the half shell”). You can also use a large, flexible spatula to slide the fillets off the skin and onto a platter, discarding the skin, for a more elegant presentation. Redfish—a white-fleshed fish with big scales that are hard to remove—is an ideal choice, but striped bass is great too.

Mini Kahlon learned to love communal eating at family dinners in Chandigarh, India. Her bright avocado salad is delicious with her Indian-spiced dish, for a fabulous combination of cool and spicy, crunchy and creamy.

Steamed fish may sound plain, but this version is packed with flavor: It’s cooked in a ginger-and-sesame soy sauce and topped with frizzled jalapeños and scallions. “I think part of the reason people love this dish is that the sauce is a really good vehicle for rice,” Andrea Reusing says.

When he can find them, Larry Stone makes this simple dish with halibut cheeks, an inexpensive part of the fish that’s especially luscious. Pieces of fillet work well, too. Coating the fish in Wondra flour, which is very finely milled, gives it a crisp, buttery crust.

When it comes to eating well, star chef Bobby Flay champions the tried-and-true method of cooking fish in parchment. Flay swears that it's not only a foolproof method, but it also yields the perfect steamed piece of fish. He likes serving the grouper with a quick and punchy citrus sauce and a briny "martini" relish made with olives.

Brooklyn chef Sohui Kim serves this excellent meal to her family on nights when she isn’t working at one of her restaurants, The Good Fork or Insa. She makes a very refreshing and bright soba noodle salad with green beans, radishes, romaine and fresh basil, and serves it with perfectly crisp pieces of arctic char.