After two days of making and casing a sort of venison boudin (more on that later), a dinner of red meat, or even poultry, was out of the question. So off to the market to deal with the surly fishmonger for some never-frozen Florida shrimp and super fresh sea bream. The bream fillets are everything trout can be only better--somewhat mild, just a bit of texture, and an affinity to just about any flavor.
This was cooked with the standard winter prep--heat fat (here 1/2 butter 1/2 olive oil), season fish with salt, pepper, and some coriander on the flesh side, cook skin side down until crispy, and then flesh side down to finish.
The sauce is was standard too. Drain pan of fat, add some butter and brown it up, add some rinsed capers, some parsley (stand back--that stuff can go airborne), and a squeeze of lemon juice. Simple and perfect.
The rice is brown rice cooked with some raisins and a bit of salt. When it was done it got more salt to taste and some olive oil. A Mediterranean would be proud. As for that crusty bit of rice on the left side of the pile, I'm still learning to use a newly acquired rice cooker.
And that crispy skin (minus a bite or two):
I swear you could shatter that thing. Prior to this the crispy skinned fish fillet had been pretty elusive for me. In the past, before to cooking I've tried the following: super drying the skin, slashing the skin in diagonal lines, slashing the skin in a hatch pattern, coating the fillet in corn starch or flour, and god knows what else. So finally I just asked a trusted person how to do it. While I don't remember as much from the evening as I should Mr. Lambert, I remember what you said about the crispy skin. And so simple--just press down on the raw flesh side of the fish while the skin is down on a hot pan. Hold for a few seconds and it's good to go. No more curled up fish or flaccid skin around here. It was a revelation.
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3 comments:
Love those never frozen Florida gulf shrimp that our favorite ever chipper fish monger has been getting. They are the best shrimp I've had in years.
Nice new look to the blog.
Hmm, surly fishmonger? Wouldn't know which one that would be. Chef Lambert is a big reason we are at Bar Cento almost every Saturday for lunch. Need to get to Sunday Supper again soon with you two.
i love all fish dishes like this one. Also just want to say that you got a nice blog and interesting articles.
keep it up. =)
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