Mustard and Creme Fraiche-Roasted Fish

This is a quick, easy, and tasty Ina Garten recipe. The whole thing takes about 20 minutes. The sauce is so flavorful.

Serves 2

Ingredients:

2 filets of fish (I used striped bass - wonder why?)

1/2 cup creme fraiche 

1.5 tbsp Dijon mustard

1/2 tbsp grainy mustard

1 small shallot, finely chopped

1 tsp capers, drained

Salt and pepper

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 425. Mix the creme fraiche, mustards, shallot, and capers and season with salt and pepper. 

Striped Bass with Lemon Olive Sauce

My wonderful friend Chelsea had me over for dinner on Wednesday. I supplied the bass and she whipped up this tasty recipe. The firm, steaky bass holds up perfectly to the briny and citrusy sauce. So good! Thanks, Chels! (She served it with cabbage slaw and sweet potato latkes which I forgot to snap.)

Serves 4

Ingredients:

4 striped bass filets (or any firm white fish)

Olive oil 

2 lemons, peeled and thinly sliced, segments halved

Juice of 2 lemons

2 tbsp fresh oregano

2 tbsp capers

3/4 cup pitted kalamata olives, roughly chopped

Grilled Dill-Marinated Bass

Searching my brain for another bass week recipe, I was trolling through the grocery store while they were unloading dill. It smelled so fresh and nice that I plucked some up, along with shallots, lemon, olive oil, and parsley. I marinated the fish in a mix of the herbs, shallot, olive oil, and lemon zest with plenty of salt and grilled it over charcoal. It was fresh and tasty and the charcoal grill gave it a great crust. We had it with grilled asparagus.

Ingredients:
a handful of fresh dill, chopped
a small handful of fresh parsley, chopped
1 small shallot, diced
2 tbsp olive oil
1 tbsp kosher salt
zest of 1/2 a lemon
1 large filet of striped bass

Bass Week 2013

This week on the blog is going to be Bass Week. On Sunday I went fishing for striped bass in Montauk with some friends. It was so much fun! We chartered a fishing boat and pushed off at 5:30am. 

It was an early start for sure, but worth it. We caught the most fish right before/at sunrise. Maria caught this huge 35 lb striper.

I was catching bluefish for a while but finally reeled in two stripers.

Adobo-Marinated Fish

 

This is an excellent, affordable weeknight meal (from my fave Mexican book). The adobo sauce is pretty quick to whip up, and you can buy a cheaper type of fish (still want fresh) as you're getting so much flavor from the adobo. Top the fish with a little pico de gallo and a fresh squeeze of lime, and it's just delicious. I made it twice last week with blue fish (a fish I usually don't like, but in this case it works really well) and I think I may make it again this week. One time (pictured) I made a quick black bean dish as a side. Yum!

If you like Mexican food, I recommend keeping your pantry stocked with a variety of dried chiles. They last forever and they're great for making an impromptu chile powder or adobo. If they don't sell them near you, you can order dried chiles from Penzey's.

Ingredients:
Adobo Sauce
3 ounces guajillo chiles (about 12), wiped clean, stemmed, seeded, and deveined
3/4 cup water for blending, more if necessary
2 garlic cloves, peeled
1 1/2 tsp fine salt, or 1 1/2 tsp kosher salt
3/4 tsp sugar
1/4 tsp cumin

Fish Masala

This is another incredible Indian recipe from the talented Nimmy in Cochin. She made this for me and Jamie on our honeymoon and it was the best meal we had the whole trip. I decided to make it myself this weekend, and wow, it's amazing! I'm sure Nimmy's version is a little more practiced, but it's her recipe and it's fabulous. My friend Chelsea and I ate it up. It's such a unique recipe because you really don't see Indian style fish that often. There are wonderful spices and a secret ingredient that's such a funny surprise, but upon eating it you'd never guess it was there. I'm going to make it again tomorrow!

(Serves 2)
Ingredients:
2  1/2lb fish filets (1 lb total, any firm white fish)
1/2 tsp Chili Powder (Indian Chili Powder if you can get it)
1 tbsp fruit vinegar (I used apple cider)
1/2 cup sliced red onion
1" ginger, sliced
2 cloves garlic, sliced
2 green chilis split lengthwise
1 sprig curry leaves (okay to leave out if you can't find them)
1 cinnamon stick
2 cloves
1/2 tsp fenugreek seeds
1 tbsp coconut or vegetable oil
1 tbsp ketchup (secret ingredient)

Grilled Branzino with Sauteed Summer Squash

I wanted to make something healthy last night and decided on Branzino - it's small enough to roast or grill a whole fish for just two people. It cooks pretty quickly, and in a grill pan, the skin gets nice and crispy. Stuffing it with lemon, thyme, and a bay leaf give it some extra flavor as it cooks. I also grilled the lemon wedges I served with the fish which made them extra juicy and sweet. The spicy summer squash was a great accompiniment.

Branzino
Ingredients:
1 Branzino, head and tail removed (or leave on if you'd like)
3 lemon slices, plus 2 wedges (1 wedge for each person)

Mahi Mahi, grilled and ceviche, with christophine and zucchini

All the restaurants in St. Barts have some sort of mahi mahi on the list, but the prices are usually pretty high. I heard about the fish market in town and went in to get my own mahi mahi. (The fish market is right at the entrance to Gustavia and is open from 5am to noon.) The grocery stores on the island have great food and are very reasonably priced, and I love to cook, so dinners at home are just as fun, and tasty, as dinners out.

The piece of fish I got was enormous, so I decided to grill most of it but also make an appetizer of mahi mahi ceviche. I had a side of christophine (a local squash) and grilled zucchini. (All finished with some awesome coconut ice cream!) Recipes below!

Ceviche Recipe
Ingredients:
Mahi Mahi, cut into small, bite sized cubes
Juice of several limes
Cilantro, chopped up
Red onion, thinly sliced and a little chopped
1 serrano pepper

Directions:
Put the mahi mahi in a bowl and pour enough lime juice to just cover the fish. Salt lightly and refrigerate for 50 minutes.
Drain most of the lime juice and add the remaining ingredients. Salt to taste and refrigerate for at least 20 minutes and up to 2 hours. Serve plain or with thin toasts.

Grilled Mahi Mahi with Mango Salsa Recipe
Ingredients:
One filet of mahi mahi, lightly salted
half a mango, chopped into small cubes
half a red bell pepper, chopped into small cubes
1/4 red onion, chopped
1 clove garlic, chopped
1 serrano pepper (more or less to taste), chopped
1 lime
cilantro, chopped

Directions:
To make the salsa, mix the mango, red bell pepper, onion, garlic, serrano pepper, and cilantro. Add salt and lime to taste.
Heat a grill to high and grill fish on both sides until opaque. Cut into smaller filets and serve topped with mango salsa. (Also great to accompany with a little piment sauce.)

Christophine Recipe
Ingredients:
 3 Christophines, peeled and chopped into 1 inch pieces
1/2 cup milk + water
butter

Directions:
Put the christophine in a pot and add milk. Add water until just covered and bring to a boil. Simmer until they are fork tender. Drain and return to pot. Mash with a potato masher and heat gently to evaporate some of the water. Add butter and salt to taste.

Grilled Zucchini Recipe
Ingredients:
4 zucchinis, cut in half lengthwise 
olive oil
4 garlic cloves, crushed
salt

Directions:
Toss the zucchini with oil, salt, and garlic. Let sit at least half an hour. Grill until tender. 

best oyster deal

I've written about Fish before, but I just wanted to do a quick post about their amazing Red, White, and Blue deal. For $8, you get 6 clams or blue point oysters and a glass of red or white house wine or a PBR on tap. It's a great place to meet for a drink or for a tasty dinner - tonight I got the oysters and mussels in a lemongrass broth, yum! Super buttery and delicious and great, crispy fries.

Salt Crusted Snapper

I went to the fish market in Hampton Bays this weekend and picked up a couple of things for a seafood fish. Mussels, calamari, and a beautiful red snapper. (Cor J fish market in Hampton Bays has an amazing selection of seafood and prices are great.) I'd been wanting to make a salt crusted fish since I saw someone do it on the Today show a while back. I love snapper, and their fresh snapper looked beautiful, so that was my fish. It doesn't take too much time, but it looks very impressive and is amazingly juicy and flavorful.

(This is for 4 people, but along with a few other things.)

Ingredients:
1 whole red snapper (cleaned, scaled and gutted)
2 lemons (1 quartered and one sliced thinly)
4 sprigs fresh thyme
2 1/2 cups kosher salt
6 egg whites
olive oil

Directions:
Preheat the oven to 350. Dry off the fish. Rub olive oil all over it. In a metal bowl, beat the eggwhites until the form soft peaks. Then gently fold in the salt. Spread a thin layer of the salt mixture onto a baking sheet (lined w/ foil or parchment for easier clean up). This should be just a little bigger than the fish. Put the fish on top of the salt spread. Put the herbs and as many lemon slices that fit comfortably in the cavity of the fish with a little olive oil. Now cover the entire fish so that it is encased in the salt mixture. Put the whole thing in the oven.
Let it cook for about 35 minutes, then take it out and let it rest for 15. The salt crust should be hard. Crack the crust off the top of the fish and peel back the skin. Chop of the head of the fish (so you can remove the spine to serve pieces from the bottom.) Serve the fish in pieces. There should be about 2 servings on top of the spine and 2 below. Serve it with a quarter of a lemon and some olive oil.

FISH

In glowing neon letters on Bleecker street is a simple "Fish" scrawled out in illuminated script. It took me a while to realize that was actually the name, not just the fare. If you're ever going out for drinks in the West Village, or dinner and want to meet for a drink first, Fish is a great find. For only $8 you can get either 6 oysters or 6 clams on a half shell and your choice of a glass of Chardonnay, a glass of Merlot, or Pabst Blue Ribbon (on tap). I had some people over for dinner the other night and before eating, we went down the street and tried out this deal. We all got the oysters, and they were fresh and tasty and served with a great mignonette sauce and lemon wedges. While you await your oysters, you can also help yourself to the giant bowls of peanuts resting on the bar. Next time I go, I may just get 2 or 3 orders of the oysters and call it a meal.

Fish is at Bleecker and Jones, near the 1 subway and the ACE and BDFV.