Skillet Fish with Spinach

Retirement week. The party Saturday was — there's no good word for what the party was. The restaurant was decorated with photographs of me at every age — Lily had been collecting them in secret for months. Me on the shrimp boat at twenty-two. Me with Mai at her seventy-fifth birthday. Me with Tyler holding him as a newborn. Me at Mr. Clarence's smoker in 1996. Me at AA at year ten. Me with Ava the day she was born. The walls of the dining room were a museum of one man's life, curated by his daughter, and I walked in not knowing this was the plan and stopped at the door and Lily was watching my face and I gave her nothing because if I had given her anything I would have given her everything and there were eighty people behind me.

James cooked. Brisket. Spring rolls. Pho. The fusion sausage. James's jollof rice. The full menu. Plus a special — Charlie had driven up from Galveston with another box of shrimp, and James had boiled them in lemongrass and garlic the way Carlos used to. The shrimp arrived at the table on newspaper. People didn't know the story. I knew the story. Mai knew the story. Linh knew the story. Three of us in a room of eighty knew that the shrimp were a prayer for a kid named Carlos who died in 1997. The shrimp tasted like the boat. The boat is still here. The boat is what made me.

Mai gave a toast. Sitting in her chair, with her cane on the floor next to her, and her voice carrying farther than I expected. She said: "Bao came to us in a war. He grew up in a country that was not ours. He learned the food of two cultures. He was sometimes a difficult son. He became a good man. I am proud." Then she sat down. Eighty people. Two minutes of silence after, because nobody knew what came next. Linh went over and took her hand.

I gave a toast too. Three sentences. "Thank you for coming. Thank you for the work. The next chapter starts Monday." That was it. That's all I had. The room understood. They clapped. They ate. They left. And on Monday morning I woke up at 6 AM, Made Vietnamese coffee, and walked into the backyard and lit the smoker for no reason except that I could. The first brisket of the rest of my life. Sixteen pounds. Twelve hours. Slow and cold and patient. Just like the rest of my life is going to be.

The party was brisket and jollof rice and spring rolls and shrimp on newspaper — a full feast, a whole life on a plate. But the morning after, and the morning after that, what I kept coming back to was something simpler: the sea. Carlos. The boat. The way a good piece of fish cooked fast and clean can carry more weight than a twelve-hour smoke if you let it. This skillet fish with spinach is what I make when I want to honor where the water took me — nothing elaborate, nothing that needs a party, just heat and patience and something worth eating.

Prep Time: 10 min | Cook Time: 15 min | Total Time: 25 min | Servings: 2

Ingredients

2 white fish fillets (cod, tilapia, or walleye — about 6 oz each)
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
1/4 teaspoon smoked paprika
2 tablespoons olive oil, divided
3 cloves garlic, minced
5 oz fresh baby spinach
1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes (optional)
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
Lemon wedges, for serving

Instructions

Season the fish. Pat the fillets dry with paper towels. Combine salt, pepper, garlic powder, and smoked paprika and sprinkle evenly over both sides of each fillet.
Sear the fish. Heat 1 tablespoon olive oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat until shimmering. Add the fillets and cook without moving them for 3–4 minutes, until the edges are opaque and the bottom is golden. Flip and cook another 2–3 minutes until the fish flakes easily with a fork. Transfer to a plate and tent loosely with foil.
Wilt the spinach. Reduce heat to medium. Add the remaining tablespoon of olive oil to the same skillet. Add the minced garlic and red pepper flakes and cook for 30 seconds, stirring, until fragrant. Add the spinach in handfuls, tossing to coat, and cook for 2–3 minutes until just wilted. Season with a pinch of salt.
Finish and serve. Drizzle the lemon juice over the spinach. Plate the spinach first, then lay the fish fillet on top. Serve immediately with lemon wedges on the side.

Nutrition (per serving)

Skillet Fish with Spinach — A Simple Meal for the First Day of What Comes Next