Roasted Whole Branzino in Cherry Tomato Sauce

I freaking love my new kitchen. I love all the counter space on the island, the granite counter tops, the deep sink. The hanging pot rack still has me a little paranoid that one day all of it is going to come crashing down. But nonetheless, I still make good use of it.

Once I got all my kitchen things out of their boxes and in their proper places, and organized my pantry-and-utility-closet-and-laundry-room, it was time to get back to regular cooking. And this was one of the first meals I made for myself once the kitchen was up and running. It's super simple, so I won't go into details on the procedure.

Whole Foods recently started carrying fresh whole fish. Or maybe they've been carrying whole fish for a while now and I'm just late to the party. Either way, their Mediterranean sea bass (branzini) looked fascinating. It was already gutted, and the guy at the counter gladly scaled it for me. Pret-à-cuisiner.

All I did with it was rub its skin with olive oil, season liberally with salt and crushed black pepper and a little bit of dried oregano, and stuff the cavity with a couple of springs of fresh rosemary and fresh dill and 3 thin slices of lemon. Put it in an oven-safe roasting pan and put it in an oven preheated to 375 deg for 10 minutes. After 10 minutes, flip the fish to its other side, and set the oven to broil for 2 minutes.

I made a really simple sauce to go with it, using grape tomatoes, shallots, fresh dill, and sake.  Why sake? I didn't have any white wine in house, and I was enjoying the fantastic sake I brought back from my trip to Japan. Call it a successful experiment.

I did feel a little guilty using my good sake for cooking, so the 2nd time around with this sauce, I bought the cheapo stuff that's everywhere in the States, Gekkeikan. It's unfortunate that the standard bottle of Gekkeikan in the US is not really that good (served chilled, anyway), even though it's one of Japan's oldest breweries. Actually one of the world's oldest companies, est 1637. And they have a wide variety of premium sake sold overseas that I'm sure are way better than what we have access to.

Sauté some shallots in olive oil and add 1 cup of halved grape tomatoes, then add about a half cup of sake and the fresh dill.

Quick, easy, and tasty. Just watch out for bones.

Hot Salade Niçoise

A year or 2 ago, there was a show on PBS that I loved, Spain: On the Road Again. Celebrity chef Mario Batali, NY Times food columnist Mark Bittman, super hot actress from Barcelona Claudia Bassols, and Gwyneth Paltrow went on an epic road trip around Spain. They took in architecture in Barcelona, rugged landscapes in Asturias, Moorish history in Andalusia, and so on. And all along the way, they gorged themselves on each location's specialties, top restaurants, and the best wines.

That is what I wish I could be paid to do for the rest of my life.

Then again, maybe I wouldn't necessarily want to do it with that exact crew.

1. Mark's accent annoys the hell out of me. Yes, I was born and raised on Long Island, and I'm no stranger to NYC/LI accents. But sometimes it just feels like a cheese grater on my eardrum. "Smwall," "sauwalt," (small, salt). Gawd.

2. Mario's a bit of hefty fellow. He seems like an absolutely nice and fun guy, but I tend to walk lots of long distances when I'm abroad, and I can see him slowing me down.

Last, and certainly not least

3. Gwyneth is one of those "ethical eaters." She's not vegetarian, but she won't eat animals that walked on 4 legs. So no pork, beef, etc. So for a bunch of episodes, I couldn't help but think of how much it would suck to travel with a picky eater.

But I realized that she has a pretty good palate. And then imagine my surprise when I learned she's an active, and skilled home cook. I stumbled upon this recipe on Food + Wine Magazine's site, and I'll admit I was impressed. It's a fast and simple one-pot dish, and it's an interesting take on a classic salad. Plus it's nice and light for this oppressive summer heat.

Hot Niçoise Salad

Ingredients:

- Extra virgin olive oil

- 1/2 lb tuna steak, ~1-inch thick

- 1/2 lb haricot verts (or green beans), stem ends chopped off

- 1/2 cup Niçoise olives (or kalmata, if Niçoise are unavailable), pitted and sliced

- 10-12 filets of anchovy (packed in olive oil)

- 1 cup grape tomatoes, halved

- 2 eggs

- salt and black pepper

- salad greens of your choice (I prefer baby spring mix)

Procedure:

1. Blanch the green beans in boiling water for 4 minutes, then drain them and set them aside. Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 400 degF.

2. Rub all sides of the tuna steak with olive oil, and season it with salt and pepper.

3. Coat the insides of 2 ramekins with olive oil, then crack 1 egg into each one. Drizzle a little bit more olive oil on top.

4. In a large, heavy-bottom, oven-ready sauté pan, put in the green beans, olives, anchovies, and grape tomatoes (lightly squeezed first). Toss it all with 2 Tbsp of olive oil and spread it around the pan. Put the tuna steak in the center, and place the ramekins of egg in the pan, too.

5. Put the pan, uncovered, on the center rack of the oven, and let it roast for 10 minutes, or however long it takes to let the egg whites set and leave the yolk somewhat liquid. The tuna steak should be whitened on the outside, but still slightly pink and not fully cooked at its core.

6. Flake up the tuna steak, and toss the salad in a light vinaigrette of your choice. I make a vinaigrette from 2 Tbsp lemon juice, 2 Tbsp olive oil, and 1/2 tsp of dijon mustard. Serve on top of salad greens.

Yields 2 servings, best served still warm.

Oh Snap [Vol 4]: Sambal

I suppose I have a thing for chili pastes. I've already done one of these posts for harissa. They're so versatile, as condiments, sauce components, or ingredients for a spicy marinade.

I know of sambal as the main flavoring in lots of Indonesian and Malaysian dishes, especially Sambal Udang (chili prawns). And Malaysian has to be my favorite cuisine, so when I was in the Asian market and spotted an assortment of sambals, I thought "why the hell not try it."

Out of the many varieties of sambal, I randomly chose sambal oelek, whose ingredients include: red chili, tomato, garlic, galangal, lemongrass, and tamarind. So, yes, sambal is quite pungent by itself. How would I use it?

I didn't look up any recipes, so I thought of the simplest way to feature the sambal. Whole Foods had a sale on fillets of barramundi, a flaky white fish comparable to red snapper or grouper. The end result was a quick and easy dinner with a good kick of spice, topped with a cool mango salsa.

Ingredients:

- 1 lb barramundi fillet, skin on and bones removed, and cut into 4 portions

- 1 tsp sambal oelek

- salt & black pepper to taste

- 1 Tbsp vegetable or peanut oil plus some sesame oil for taste

- 1 mango, peeled, seeded, and diced

- 1 medium-sized shallot, finely diced

- a handful of cilantro leaves, chopped

- 1 Tbsp lime juice

Procedure:

1. Season both sides of each portion of fish with salt and pepper, and spread 1/4 tsp of sambal on the flesh side. Let them sit for 20-30 minutes.

2. Heat up the cooking oil and a splash of sesame oil in a non-stick pan over medium-high heat. Doing 2 portions at a time (so you don't cool down the pan too much), fry the fillet portions, skin side first for 4-5 minutes or until the skin is browned. Flip it to the flesh side, and cook until it's just become opaque white. When they're done, set them aside.

3. The salsa is easy. Dice the mango, dice the shallots, chop the cilantro, and mix it all with the lime juice. If you let it sit in the fridge for an hour, it only gets better.

Haitian Codfish

Recipe Source: Mom

Recipe Result: Still trying to get it just like I remember from childhood, but it gets a very good reaction from friends.

In Haiti, they call it morue. In Jamaica, it's saltfish. They use it a lot in Portugal and call it bacalhau. But whatever you call it, it's cod fillet dried and preserved in salt, and it's damn tasty when done right.

This is one of those dishes that my mom would make once in a while, maybe every 2 months. But every time she made it, I'd devour it like there was no tomorrow. I remember it being even better as cold leftovers on crackers. Then again, I remember the smell that it would leave around the house while it was being prepared, and realize that there must have been a reason why Mom would make it so infrequently. But then I also think of the slightly chewy and flaky texture of the cod, the mild residual salt, and the mix of leeks, tomatoes, and herbs that Mom cooks it with, and I remember how I could just munch on it straight out of the fridge.

But when I was back home in NY a couple years ago, I asked Mom to make it for me, so I can understand the process. At first, it seems a little involved, but all it really takes is just an extra 24 hrs of passive prep time. I've tried it a couple times on my own, plus a variation on it from my Spanish/tapas cookbook, and it's rather simple. A few months ago, I made it for a pot-luck with some friends and it got rave reviews.

Let's meet the star of the show: Señor Bacalao

"Hola"

You'll almost always find it in a small wooden box within some plastic wrap. Inside the box, the fillets are hard and dry as a bone, caked in salt, and smell really fishy. Don't let that deter you, the process is worth it.

Step 1: Soak the fillets in cold water in the refrigerator for 24 hours. Change the water 2 or 3 times.

Before

After

This is in order to remove a lot of the salt, and to reconstitute the fish. You didn't think that you were going to be chewing on some messed-up version of fish jerky, did you?

Step 2: Submerge the fillets in water in a large pot and put it over high heat. As soon as the water comes to a rolling boil, turn off the heat and take the pot off the burner. Drain out the fish, and set it aside. This is to remove most of the remaining salt, and to actually cook the fish. When it's done, the fillets will be nice and flakey.

From here, you can get creative with your recipe. Growing up, Mom always made morue with fresh leeks, tomatoes, garlic, and some other herbs.

Step 3: Prepare your veggies.

- Blanch, peel, seed, and chop 2 large vine-ripe or Roma tomatoes.

- Finely chop the white part of one leek. And make sure you clean it off well, they tend to have residual dirt between the top layers them when you just get them from the store.

- Mince 2 large cloves of garlic.

Leeks, gotta use them more often

Step 3: In a large saucepan, saute the leeks in 1 Tbsp of olive oil for 1 or 2 minutes on medium heat. As they go soft, add the garlic, and let it saute and become fragrant. Then add the tomatoes, give it a stir, and let it heat up until the tomatoes start to soften and break down.

Step 4: Before you add the cod to the pan, flake it up with your hands, and then chop it coarsely. Add it to the pan, stir it into the veggies, and season with salt and pepper to taste. You probably on't need a lot of salt because of the residual salt from the preservation. I also like to add 1 or 2 tsp of red wine vinegar, or some dashes of Frank's hot sauce for acidity and spice.

Step 5: Stir it all together, allowing the chunks of cod to break up even more. Let it continue to cook for another 5 minutes on medium heat, so the fish absorbs the flavors from the vegetables.