Ca Nuong Mo Hanh (Roasted Catfish with Scallion Oil)

Combine all the ingredients in the marinade and mix well. The marinade does not need to be exact and we're very generous with our measurements with this dish. Pat dry your cleaned catfish and make the shallow slits along both sides of the body. Place fish in a large mixing bowl, generously lather it with about 1/4 cup of honey, both inside and out. Allow it to set for about 10 minutes or so and then slather on the marinade, making sure you work it in well, both on the body and inside the gut. Cover and allow to marinade in the fridge overnight or for at least 3-4 hrs. While fish is marinating heat up the olive oil under low-medium heat and when hot, add the scallions, ginger, shallots, and pinch of salt and turn off heat. You don't want to cook it or fry it, just wilted and have the flavors infuse in the oil and set aside. About 30 minutes before roasting, preheat oven for 400 degrees and remove the fish from the fridge to allow it to get close to room temperature. During this time, get your peanuts ready to roast and roast in a cookie tray for about 10 minutes or until golden brown. Remove and coarsely crush. Line a roasting pan with foil--we highly recommend using a nonstick roasting rack which allows the fat from the fish to drip away and keep the skin crispy, not soggy. Place fish on rack and in the middle rack of the oven. Roasting time will vary depending how big your fish is--but for 3 lb fish takes about 45 minutes. Bake until skin is mildy brown then during the last 5 minutes, turn the oven on broil for that extra dark golden crispy skin. But keep a watchful eye as you do not want the skin to burn. Remove from oven and carefully transfer to serving platter when fish has cooled slightly. Top the fish with the generous amounts of scallion oil and roasted peanuts. The traditional way of enjoying this dish is in a rice paper roll-- serve it family style with vermicelli and fresh veggies and have guests make their own rolls. For guests that don't want to roll, they can have this dish as a noodle bowl instead.