Most seafood is easy and quick to cook and requires no tricky doneness calculations. Little could be easier than sautéing a piece of fish in olive oil or butter. Grilling, while quick, is a little more complicated because fish can stick. Roasting is a great way to handle whole fish—just stick the fish in the oven. In fact, whole fish are underrated as a way of eating seafood for the most probable reason that people don’t know how to cut up a whole fish without ending up with a mouthful of bones. The best way to learn is to watch a waiter in a good Italian restaurant (preferably one in Italy) carve fish—it can be like watching a surgeon.
There are two approaches to cooking squid: the long way and the short way. Short cooking of only a minute or so (usually by frying) and long cooking of at least 45 minutes (usually by braising) ensure that the calamari remain tender; anywhere in between and they’ll be tough. This recipe relies on relatively long braising, about 45 minutes. Be sure to serve this dish with aïoli or saffron aïoli.
Makes 4 first-course servings
3 tablespoons olive oil
1 onion, chopped
1 large carrot, chopped
1½ pounds cleaned squid
2 cups red wine
2 tomatoes, peeled, seeded, and chopped
Salt
Pepper
4 slices crusty French bread, toasted and rubbed with garlic
Saffron Aïoli, to serve
In a pot large enough to hold the squid, warm the olive oil over medium heat. Add the onion and carrot and cook, stirring occasionally, until the vegetables are softened and the onion has turned translucent, about 10 minutes.
While the vegetables are cooking, cut the squid hoods into rings about ½ inch wide; leave the tentacles whole. When the vegetables are ready, add the squid, wine, and the tomatoes and cover the pot. Simmer on the lowest heat until the squid is easily penetrated with a small knife, 45 minutes.
Strain the squid over a saucepan. Simmer the liquid in the saucepan until it’s cooked down by half. Season the sauce to taste with salt and pepper. Reheat the squid in the sauce.
Put a slice of bread in each of four heated soup plates. Spoon over the squid and the sauce. Pass the aïoli on the side.
Frying is an excellent method for cooking squid and contrasts with the previous slow-braised squid.
Squid usually comes cleaned, but if you run into uncleaned, increase the amount called for here by 50 percent. To clean squid, pull the legs out as well as the plastic-like “feather” that lays imbedded in the side of the hoods. Rinse out the hoods under cold running water. Cut the hoods into ½ inch rounds and leave the tentacles whole.
Makes 4 first-course or hors d’oeuvre servings
4 cups olive oil or vegetable oil
1 pound cleaned squid
Salt
Pepper
Flour
Tartar Sauce, to serve
Lemon wedges, to serve
Heat the oil in a heavy-bottomed saucepan large enough so that the oil comes no more than halfway up, but no less than a third of the way up.
Cut the squid hoods into ½ inch rounds and leave the tentacles whole. Season the squid with salt and pepper and roll it in flour. Pat off the excess.
When the oil ripples, add a piece of squid and see how it responds. If it sinks, the oil isn’t hot enough. It should immediately rise to the surface and be surrounded by bubbles. When the oil reaches the right temperature (360°F), add half the squid and fry for 30 seconds. Take out with a spider and put on a paper towel–lined plate to drain. Repeat with the remaining squid.
To serve, put the squid on small plates and pass the tartar sauce and lemon wedges.
Steamed Lobster with Parsley Sauce
Most of us think of parsley as a sprig of something to be added to a plate in the guise of a garnish. In fact, when chopped at the last minute, it adds a delicious subtle flavor to sauces. Here lobster is steamed rather than boiled so the juices it releases can be trapped and used in the sauce. The resulting sauce, made with the lobster juices, white wine, parsley, and cream is astoundingly good and not as rich as the usual drawn butter.
Makes 4 main-course servings
½ cup dry white wine
½ cup water
1 shallot, minced
Four 1½-pound lobsters
1 bunch parsley, large stems removed, coarsely chopped
½ cup heavy cream
Salt
Pepper
In a pot large enough to hold the lobsters, combine the wine, water, and the shallot. Cover and bring to a low simmer.
Rinse off the lobsters and add them to the wine mixture. Cover and turn the heat up to medium. Let the lobsters steam for 5 minutes. Reach into the pot—be careful, let the steam dissipate for a few seconds—and rearrange the lobsters so that those that were on top are now on the bottom. Cover the pot and steam until the lobsters are completely red, about 5 minutes more.
Take the lobsters out of the pot and pour the steaming liquid into a small saucepan. Add the parsley and the heavy cream, bring back to a simmer, and puree the mixture with an immersion blender or by transferring it into a stand blender. Strain the sauce into a clean saucepan and adjust the seasoning with salt and pepper.
Prepare the lobsters by cracking the claws—use an old heavy knife and hack into the claw on the thorny side so the knife penetrates about ½ inch. Twist the knife sideways and the shell should crack open. Hack the hinges on both sides to break them. Pull out the meat. Cut through the membrane on the underside of the tail with a pair of scissors to make the tail meat accessible, and remove it.
Put the lobsters on large plates and spoon around the sauce.
Few dishes are easier to prepare than fresh crab cakes made from lump crabmeat.
Much of the crabmeat sold in the United States comes from Atlantic blue crabs, and it comes in three grades: lump, jumbo, or backfin; flake; and brown claw meat. Lump or flake will both work for this recipe, but keep in mind that lump meat can make the patties hard to form.
Makes 8 first-course or 4 main-course servings
2 cups flour
1 pound lump or flake crabmeat
1 cup fresh bread crumbs, made from 6 slices white bread, crusts removed (see note)
2 eggs, beaten
2 teaspoons salt
½ teaspoon pepper
½ teaspoon cayenne pepper
4 tablespoons butter
Lemon wedges, to serve
Tartar Sauce, to serve
Spread the flour on a plate. In a bowl, combine the crabmeat, bread crumbs, eggs, salt, pepper, and cayenne. Work the mixture together to combine, gently and by hand, until smooth. Form the mixture into eight patties, each about 3 inches in diameter, and dredge in flour.
In a sauté pan, melt the butter over low heat. Working in batches if necessary to avoid crowding, add the patties and sauté until golden brown on both sides, about 5 minutes on the first side and 3 minutes on the second. If you’re working in batches, keep those you’ve made warm in a low oven.
Serve with the lemon wedges and tartar sauce.
Note: Don’t confuse fresh bread crumbs, which are used for breading and sautéing or for mixtures such as this one, with dried bread crumbs, which are sprinkled on top of gratins to provide crunch. To make fresh bread crumbs, buy high-quality tight-crumb bread and remove the crusts. Ideally the bread should be slightly stale. Puree in a food processor.
Before soft-shell crabs became expensive, crab heroes and sandwiches were common on the Eastern seaboard. A sandwich is still a great way to eat a soft-shell crab because the textures of crusty bread and the crunchy crabs make for an exciting juxtaposition. Ask the fishmonger to clean the crab at the store.
Makes 4 main-course servings
8 soft-shell crabs, cleaned
Salt
Pepper
3 tablespoons olive oil
8 slices crusty French bread taken from a large country loaf, toasted if desired
½ cup Basic Mayonnaise, or store-bought mayonnaise
Season the crabs on both sides with salt and pepper.
In a large skillet, heat the oil over high heat until it ripples. Add the crabs with the smooth top “shell” down in the oil. Stand back because they spatter. Cook for about 3 minutes. Turn the crabs over and cook for about 2 minutes more. Transfer to a paper towel–lined plate. Pat with paper towels.
Spread four of the bread slices with aïoli or mayonnaise. Arrange the crabs on top, two to a slice, and cover with the remaining slices. Serve immediately.
These are an obvious derivative of crab cakes, but shrimp is less expensive than crabmeat and easy to chop to the right consistency with a food processor. This recipe contains curry, but you can also flavor the shrimp cakes with a pinch of saffron soaked in 1 tablespoon of hot water for 30 minutes. If you’re using saffron, serve tartar sauce with the shrimp cakes instead of saffron aïoli.
Makes 8 first-course or 4 main-course servings
1½ pounds shrimp of any size, peeled and deveined
4 slices dense-crumb white sandwich bread, crusts removed
⅓ cup milk
1 egg, beaten
1 tablespoon curry powder
3 tablespoons finely chopped fresh cilantro
Salt
Pepper
3 tablespoons butter
Saffron Aïoli, to serve
Chop the shrimp to the consistency of pickle relish by pulsing them in a food processor. (You can also chop the shrimp by hand with one or, if you’re good with knives, two good chef’s knives. Transfer the shrimp to a mixing bowl. Soak the bread in the milk, work it to a paste with your fingers, and stir it into the shrimp. Mix in the egg, curry powder, and cilantro. Season to taste with salt and pepper.
Melt the butter in a large nonstick sauté pan over medium heat. Dollop in the batter—it’s too loose to form into patties—in eight small mounds. Flatten the mounds with the back of a spoon. Cook over medium heat until golden brown on the bottom, about 4 minutes. Turn the cakes over and cook until golden brown on the second side about 2 minutes. Serve immediately with aïoli on the side.
Perhaps the easiest and most versatile way to cook shrimp, sautéing requires only a pan and a little oil or butter. Shrimp that’s sautéed in its shell will retain its flavor better than shrimp that’s been shelled. But you may not want to force your guests to peel their own shrimp—even though in Europe, especially in Italy where they adore it, shrimp always arrives at the table still with heads and shells.
Most American recipes for shrimp recommend deveining. To devein, you’re not really removing a vein but rather the intestine that runs along the back of the shrimp, about ¼ inch under the flesh. There’s no need to devein, especially if the shrimp has been farmed and there’s very little, if any, grit in the intestine. But if the intestine is filled with black grit, you may want to devein it. To devein a shrimp, first peel it. Run a small knife along the back, cutting in until you see the “vein.” Pull out the “vein” with your fingers.
Makes 6 main-course servings
30 extra-large or 24 jumbo shrimp, peeled and deveined if desired
2 tablespoons olive oil or butter
Salt
Pepper
Rinse off the shrimp and pat dry.
Heat the oil or butter in a large sauté pan over high heat. When the oil ripples or the butter froths, toss in the shrimp. Continue tossing or stirring until the shrimp turns bright orange, about 4 minutes for shelled shrimp and 7 minutes for shrimp in the shell. Season with salt and pepper and serve immediately.
Variation
Sautéed shrimp are delicious with parsley and garlic. Toss 1 small bunch chopped parsley and 1 clove minced garlic in with the shrimp during the last minute of sautéing.
Sautéed Scallops with Garlic and Parsley Butter
While it’s not a prerequisite, if you like snails with parsley and garlic, you’ll love these scallops, which have the same sauce. The trick is to make the garlic and parsley butter ahead of time, sauté the scallops, and then to cook the butter in the pan until it froths and pour it over the scallops. When buying scallops, look for those that have variations in color from one to another. Scallops that look all the same bright, shiny white and that seem to blend into each other in a solid amorphous mass are likely to have been soaked in a phosphate solution to prevent “drip loss.” Look also for sudsiness, which can indicate the scallops were soaked. The problem with scallops that have been soaked is their tendency to release liquid once they get hot, and your sautéed scallops end up a watery mess.
Makes 8 first-course or 4 main-course servings
½ cup (1 stick) butter, at room temperature
1 clove garlic, minced and then crushed to a paste
1 small bunch parsley, finely chopped
1½ pounds sea scallops
Salt
Pepper
3 tablespoons olive oil
Slice the butter and transfer it to a bowl. Add the garlic and parsley and work together until smooth. Refrigerate until needed.
Season the scallops with salt and pepper. In a sauté pan just large enough to hold the scallops, heat the oil until it just begins to smoke. Add half the scallops and wait about a minute before adding the rest (if you add them all at once they’re liable to release liquid and steam). Unless the scallops are very large, cook them on the first side until well browned, about 1 minute. Then turn each one and continue to cook until the second sides are nicely browned, about 1 more minute. If the scallops are very large, lower the heat and cook them a minute more on each side. Whatever you do, don’t keep turning them over; this will prevent browning.
When the scallops are well browned on both sides, transfer them to a paper towel–lined plate, pat off the burnt oil with additional paper towels, and then transfer them to individual heated plates. Pour the burnt oil out of the pan, wait a minute, and add the butter mixture. Heat the butter until it froths, spoon it over the scallops, and serve immediately.
This is one of those dishes you can easily alter to taste. You can replace the wine with cider, beer, or water, and you can add flavorings, such as garlic, chiles, tomatoes, and herbs—thyme, bay leaves, marjoram, tarragon, or chervil.
Makes 4 first-course or 2 main-course servings
3 pounds mussels
1 cup dry white wine
1 large shallot, minced
Crusty bread, to serve
Scrub the mussels and pull out any beards sticking out the sides. Don’t do this too far ahead of time or the mussels will die. Push the shells in opposing directions; if the mussels are dead, they will come apart in your hand. Discard any dead mussels.
Put the wine and shallot in a pot large enough to hold the mussels and simmer gently for about 10 minutes to infuse the flavor of the shallot in the wine. Add the mussels, cover the pot, and simmer, covered, over high heat until the mussels open, about 7 minutes. Discard any mussels that don’t open; they’re probably full of mud.
Serve the mussels in bowls with the steaming liquid. Pass plenty of crusty bread.
Keep in mind when you make this salad that you’ll end up with the leftover steaming liquid. This cooking liquid is great for poaching or braising fish fillets and a marvelous substitute for bottled clam juice. It keeps in the freezer for months.
Makes 4 first-course servings
1 canned chipotle chile in adobo sauce
2 fresh red Thai chiles (optional), stemmed, seeded, and finely chopped
1 regular (not hothouse) cucumber
1 shallot, minced
2 tablespoons chopped fresh cilantro
Salt
Pepper
Take the mussels out of the shells and discard the shells. Rinse off the chipotle chile, stem and seed it, and finely chop. Peel the cucumber, cut it in half lengthwise, and scoop out the seeds. Cut the cucumber into long strips about ¼ inch wide. Cut these strips into ¼-inch dice.
Combine the mussels, chile, cucumber, shallot, and cilantro. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Serve chilled within a few hours. Keep refrigerated until you’re ready to serve.
Really a little stew, this dish is called a panfry in a famous version at New York’s Grand Central Oyster Bar, where a typical meal might involve a dozen raw oysters followed by this oyster stew.
When cooking oysters, it’s imperative to never let them boil; heat them only enough to get them to curl around the edges and take on shape. Don’t try making this stew with milk instead of cream or it will curdle.
Makes 6 first-course or 4 main-course servings
2 dozen oysters, shucked
1 cup heavy cream
Salt
Pepper
1 tablespoon chopped fresh parsley
Remove the shucked oysters from their shells, and lay them out on a clean kitchen towel. Gently place another towel on top. This is to get any grit to attach to the towels.
Place the oysters in a small pan and heat over medium heat. When the edges begin to curl, add the cream and continue heating until the cream is hot but not boiling. Season to taste with salt and pepper and sprinkle with the parsley.
Distribute into heated soup plates. Pass the croutons at the table.
Variations:
It’s sometimes nice to include a little Creamed Spinach or Creamed Sorrel in the bottom of each soup plate. You can also simmer mushrooms, wild or cultivated, in a tad of cream, and add them to the oysters. Oysters also take well to saffron or curry. Soak a small pinch of saffron in 1 tablespoon of hot water for 30 minutes and add both the soaking liquid and saffron to the stew. Alternatively, cook a tablespoon of curry powder in a tablespoon of butter and add it to the stew.
Because it’s made with fresh clams, this is not a cheap soup, but it’s not a terribly expensive one either. Don’t be tempted to stretch this soup with bottled clam juice; it has an aggressive flavor that will overwhelm the flavor of the fresh clams.
Hard shell clams—the kind you want for this soup—come in several sizes: littlenecks (the smallest), cherrystones (a step up), and chowder clams. Because chowder clams can be hard to find (except in a can), this recipe calls for cherrystones.
To my mind, the worst fault of most clam chowders is that they’re overly thick and starchy; this version is relatively thin. The parsley is atypical, so leave it out if you wish—but it does impart a nice freshness. Unlike most clam chowders, which include chopped clams, here the clams are left whole in their shells.
Makes 6 first-course servings
3 tablespoons butter
1 large onion, chopped
3 tablespoons flour
3 cups milk
1 cup heavy cream or additional milk
7 sprigs fresh thyme
1 imported bay leaf
1 large russet potato, peeled and cut into ¼- to ½-inch cubes
36 cherrystone clams, scrubbed
3 tablespoons finely chopped fresh parsley
Salt
Pepper
In a pot large enough to hold the soup, melt the butter over medium heat. Add the onion and let sweat for about 10 minutes, or until the onion turns translucent Add the flour and cook while stirring for 1 minute more. Whisk in the milk and cream. Tie the thyme and bay leaf into a little bundle with string and add the bundle to the soup along with the potato. Simmer, uncovered, for about 20 minutes, or until the pieces of potato begin to soften (bite into one to check), then add the clams. Simmer just until the clams open, about 12 minutes. Often there are clams that refuse to open. To open them, slide a knife in between the two shells and twist. The clam should immediately pop open. If it doesn’t, discard it. Remove and discard the bundle of herbs, and add the parsley. Season to taste with salt—be careful because the soup may already be salty—and pepper.
A classic European fish soup is made by simmering pieces of whole fish in liquid, sometimes salt water (sea water is even sometimes used), sometimes with wine, flavored with herbs and often onions. The problem with this method is that the soup becomes very messy to eat since it requires picking through bones as you pull out the pieces of fish.
Instead make a fish broth with the fish bones and heads, strain, and then add the pieces of fish at the end, just before serving. To do this, buy the whole fish and have the fish monger break it down for you. This soup, based on a classic southern French bourride, is finished with garlic mayonnaise (aïoli) whisked into the broth just before serving.
Makes 6 first-course or 4 main-course servings
Six one-pound fish or the equivalent, such as black sea bass, red snapper, grouper (skin on or off to taste, see box), cleaned, filleted, and skinned, if desired, bones and head reserved
1 large onion, chopped
½ cup dry white wine
6 cups water, or enough to barely cover
10 sprigs fresh thyme
1 imported bay leaf
1 bunch parsley stems or 1 bunch parsley
6 or 4 pieces of toast, made from country bread, for propping up the fish
18 slices baguette (or equivalent), toasted
When you get the fish home, refrigerate the fillets. In a pot large enough to hold the soup, simmer the bones with the onion, wine, water, thyme, bay leaf and parsley for 30 minutes. Strain, and discard whatever doesn’t go through the strainer.
Depending on the size of the fillets, cut them in half or thirds. Poach the fillets in the soup—which is to say, barely simmer them—until they’re cooked through, about 5 minutes, remove with a slotted spoon and set aside.
In a mixing bowl, whisk half the hot broth into half the aïoli. Transfer to a pot and, over low heat, stir constantly; don’t let it boil or the aïoli will curdle.
Arrange the pieces of fish in heated soup plates, ideally propped up on pieces of toasted bread to prevent overcooking. Ladle the soup into the soup plates. Pass the toasts at the table as well as the remaining aïoli for spreading on the toasts.
WHEN TO SKIN A FISH FILLET
If you’re cooking fish fillets in liquid, by poaching or braising, for example, remove the skin or it will contract and cause the fillets to curl. Also, skin that’s been cooked in liquid turns kind of slimy. If you’re sautéing, grilling, or baking without liquid, you can leave the skin on since it will get brown and crispy. When sautéing fish fillets, use a nonstick pan with a tablespoon of olive oil and put the fillets in the pan skin side first. Hold the fillets down flat with the back of a spatula during the first minute or two of sautéing to prevent curling.
Tuna Steaks with Saffron Aïoli
The question of how much to cook the tuna resides in your own tastes and, of course, on how you serve it. If you serve it sliced, on heated plates, you can get by serving it very rare, raw even, on the inside (or to your own taste), but if you serve it more casually, as you would whole steaks, then it should be cooked enough so that it’s easily cut with a regular knife, somewhere around medium rare.
Makes 4 main-course servings
1½ to 2 pounds fresh tuna, in individual steaks or in one or two pieces if you’re serving it sliced
Salt
Pepper
Pure olive oil
To prepare the tuna, season it with salt and pepper and rub it with pure olive oil; keep refrigerated until you’re ready to cook. Prepare the aioli and refrigerate until you are ready to serve.
Prepare a hot fire in a gas or charcoal grill.
Grill the tuna for about 2 minutes on each side per inch of thickness for rare (actually raw on the inside) or for 3 minutes on each side per inch of thickness for medium rare.
If you’re serving the tuna rare, slice it into thin strips and arrange these on heated plates. Otherwise just serve everyone a steak. Pass the aïoli at the table.
Baked Halibut with Beurre Blanc
Halibut comes in steaks and fillets. If you look closely at a halibut steak you’ll see that it’s divided into 4 chunks, each separated by a piece of bone. If you want to avoid bones, go ahead and cut along the bones in the steak to separate out these pieces. The pieces can then be braised as described below.
Beurre blanc makes the perfect contrast to the lean, delicate flavor of halibut. If you don’t want the richness of a beurre blanc, try serving the fish with tartar sauce or aïoli. You can also make a sauce in the pan by sprinkling ¼ cup dry Spanish sherry over the fish at the beginning and then swirling a little butter into the cooking liquid at the end, after taking the fish out of the dish.
Makes 4 main-course servings
Four 6- to 8-ounce halibut fillet, skin removed
Salt
White or black pepper
2 tablespoons butter
Preheat the oven to 350°F. Butter a baking dish just large enough to hold the halibut in a single layer.
Prepare the beurre blanc and keep it warm in a pan of hot water or in a Thermos.
Place the halibut in the prepared baking dish, most attractive side up. Season it with salt and pepper and dot it with butter. Bake, uncovered, for about 10 minutes per inch of thickness, or until firm to the touch. If in doubt, just cut into a piece and verify that there is no translucent raw flesh.
Serve topped with the beurre blanc.
You can make this recipe with any mild-tasting fish fillet. Dover sole is the best, but you can also use an American sole, such as grey sole or lemon sole (both of which are technically flounders), or fluke.
Makes 4 main-course servings
1½ to 2 pounds sole or flounder fillets (an even number of fillets)
Salt
Pepper
½ cup dry Spanish sherry
½ cup heavy cream
Preheat the oven to 350°F.
Season the fish with salt and pepper. Pour half the sherry into a baking dish, ideally an oval one, just large enough to hold the fillets in a single layer. (Pouring some of the sherry in first prevents sticking.) Arrange the fillets boned-side up in the baking dish. Sprinkle over the rest of the sherry and slide into the oven.
Bake for about 15 minutes, or until the fish looks opaque (when it has lost all its shiny translucency) and is firm to the touch.
Use a spatula, ideally one that has the handle on the side or a long offset one, to transfer the fish to heated plates. Pour the liquid in the pan into a saucepan and boil it over high heat until it’s cooked down by about half. Add the cream and continue boiling until the sauce has the consistency you like. Season to taste with salt and pepper, spoon over the fish, and serve.
Salmon en Papillote with Tarragon
This is a relatively straightforward version of the classic method of wrapping fish or meat in a paper sack and then baking it. Here the salmon is scented with tarragon, but feel free to experiment with different herbs. You can also add ingredients, such as pearl onions (first lightly glazed), mushrooms (sautéed), tomatoes (peeled, seeded, and chopped), peas, or even truffles. You’ll need parchment paper or aluminum foil.
Makes 4 main-course servings
Four 6- to 8-ounce salmon steaks or fillets
Salt
Pepper
40 fresh tarragon leaves
2 tablespoons butter, cut into 4 pieces
¼ cup dry white wine
1 egg white, lightly beaten with a fork
Preheat the oven to 350°F. Cut out four pieces of parchment paper or aluminum foil, each about the size of two sheets of letter paper placed side by side. If you’re using aluminum foil, roll out a strip twice as long as the foil is wide.
Place a piece of salmon in the center of the right half of each sheet of paper or foil. Season the salmon with salt and pepper and arrange 10 tarragon leaves on top. Top with a piece of butter and sprinkle with white wine.
If using parchment, brush the perimeter of the paper with the egg white and fold in half, over the salmon. Press to seal and brush again. Make a series of small folds along the outside edge of the paper to form a seal. Gently transfer the packages to sheet pans (you’ll need two) and slide into the oven.
Bake for about 20 minutes per inch of thickness of the salmon, by which time the bags should be fully inflated. Serve immediately on hot plates. Pass a pair of scissors for guests to open their own packets.
MAKING MEDALLIONS OUT OF SALMON STEAKS
One problem with cooking fish steaks is the tendency for the flaps to overcook before the centers are done. To prevent this and at the same time make an elegant presentation, bone the steaks and tie them into medallions.
Remove the bone from the salmon steak by cutting along each side of the backbone and remove it. Slide the knife under the thin bones—the ribs—that line the flaps. Cut off about 2 inches of skin from one of the flaps and fold this flap inside where the backbone was. Wrap the other flap around and tie the medallions with string.
Salmon with Clams, Coconut Milk, Garlic, and Saffron
With its flavors of garlic and saffron, this dish is a little like a bouillabaisse, except that coconut milk and clam or mussel cooking liquid (not bottled clam juice) are used to make the broth that surrounds the salmon.
Makes 4 main-course servings
1 cup dry white wine
2 cloves garlic, minced and then crushed to a paste
1 pinch saffron, soaked in 1 tablespoon hot water for 30 minutes
2 pounds clams or mussels, scrubbed; beards removed from mussels
3 tablespoons olive oil
4 salmon fillets or steaks, about 6 ounces each
One 15-ounce can unsweetened Thai coconut milk
Salt
Pepper
In a pot large enough to hold the clams, combine the white wine and garlic. Cover the pot, bring to a simmer over high heat, turn down the heat to medium, and simmer for 5 minutes. Add the clams, cover, and simmer for about 12 minutes (mussels open in about 5), or until the clams open. (If there are clams that don’t open, coax them open with a paring knife—they should pop right open. Mussels that don’t open, on the other hand, should be discarded.) Use a spider or slotted spoon to transfer the clams to a bowl and keep warm in a low oven. Transfer the cooking liquid to a clean saucepan, add the saffron and its cooking liquid, and set aside.
In a sauté pan just large enough to hold the fillets, heat the olive oil over high heat. When the oil begins to ripple, add the fillets skin side down first if you’re leaving the skin on (see box on When to Skin a Fish Fillet) or boned side down first if you have removed the skin. Cook until the fish is just firm to the touch, about 5 minutes on each side. (Always sauté the presentation, and more attractive, side—in this case the side with the skin—first so that when the fish is turned, the attractive side will be facing up.) Transfer the fillets to four warmed soup plates.
While the salmon is cooking, add the coconut milk to the clam cooking liquid. Bring to a simmer and season with salt and pepper (it may not need salt).
To serve, ladle the clam cooking liquid over the salmon and arrange the clams over and around the fillets, dividing them evenly.
SAFFRON
As everyone knows, saffron threads are the stigmas from a special variety of crocus. Because they are laboriously handpicked from each flower, saffron is necessarily expensive. However, if you buy a large amount—an ounce say—it will be much cheaper than buying those small vials they sell at the supermarket, and, provided you keep it well sealed and away from heat, you’ll have a lifetime supply. It might even be worth chipping in with friends. Saffron is especially delicious with seafood.
Unless you shop in Chinatown where you’ll find whole skate still with bone and skin, most of the skate you can find will be either completely filleted or on the bone without the skin. The bones are flat and separate two fillets, one on top and one underneath, so even if the bones are left attached it’s no big deal to take the meat off them. Look for medium-size skate with the bone (each serves one person) or allow two pieces per person, if the skate have been filleted.
Makes 4 main-course servings
4 medium skate, wings, skin removed (about 1 pound each) or 8 skate fillets (about ¼ pound each)
Salt
Pepper
2 cups flour
¼ cup olive oil
½ cup (1 stick) butter
Juice of 1 lemon
¼ cup capers, rinsed
Season the skate with salt and pepper. Spread the flour on a plate and dredge the skate in flour; pat off any excess.
In a nonstick pan large enough to hold all the skate in a single layer, heat the olive oil until it ripples. Slide in the skate and cook until the meat springs back to the touch, about 2 minutes on each side for fillets or 4 minutes on each side. Transfer the skate to a heated platter or individual hot plates and pat off the excess oil.
Pour the oil out of the pan and add the butter. Cook the butter over medium heat until it froths; add the lemon juice and capers. Spoon over the skate and serve immediately.
In Italy, fish is served whole and carved at tableside in fancy restaurants or left for you to do yourself in lesser establishments. Regardless, fish is at its tastiest when served whole. Fish to try are branzino, bream, sea bass (either black or striped), red snapper, mackerel, or grouper.
One way to prevent sticking, either to the pan or to the grill, is to leave the scales on the fish and when it comes time to carve, take off the skin and scales together. This, of course, means you shouldn’t eat the skin. Whole fish is best served with extra virgin olive oil and lemon. If you want to be fancy, wrap the lemon halves in cheesecloth (to keep the seeds from popping out).
Makes 4 main-course servings
4 round fish, about 1 pound each, cleaned but not scaled
Extra virgin olive oil
Lemon halves
Preheat the oven to 500°F.
Put the fish on a baking sheet and slide the baking sheet into the oven. Roast for about 25 minutes, or until a thermometer stuck through the back of the fish registers 130°F.
Take the fish the out of the oven and cover them loosely with aluminum foil. Let rest for 10 minutes. Transfer fish to individual plates and serve with oil and lemon halves.
Much is made about the poaching liquids that are appropriate for fish, but the fact is that very little of the flavor of the poaching liquid actually makes it into the fish. In other words, you can poach in a simple bath of hot, salty water. When shopping for trout, look for shiny and slippery skin. Don’t buy them if the skin has a dull, matte appearance.
Makes 4 main-course servings
Arrange the trout in a flameproof metal baking dish just large enough to hold them in a single layer. Pour enough cold water over the trout to cover, and then transfer this water to a saucepan. Add a handful of salt to the water and bring to a simmer. When the salt dissolves, pour the solution over the trout.
Put the baking dish over low heat and cook at a bare simmer until you can see that the flesh is no longer raw when you slide a knife down along the trout’s backbone, about 15 minutes. Prepare the beurre blanc while the fish is poaching. Use a long spatula to transfer the trout from the poaching liquid to warmed plates. Pass the beurre blanc at the table.
Pompano comes into season during the spring and summer. It’s technically a round fish, but is in fact rather flat. It has shiny skin without scales and has perfectly white, firm, and flavorful flesh. Be sure your grill is nice and hot to prevent sticking.
Makes 4 main-course servings
4 pompano, about 1 pound each, cleaned
Pure olive oil
Salt
Pepper
Extra virgin olive oil, to serve
Prepare a hot fire in a gas or charcoal grill with the grill grate about 6 inches away from the heat source (assuming your grill has a grate whose height is adjustable; see section on Grilling).
Rub the fish with pure olive oil and season with salt and pepper. Grill the first side for about 5 minutes and turn the fish. Grill for about 5 minutes more, or until the fish is firm to the touch. Pass the extra virgin olive oil at the table.
My first encounter with fresh grilled sardines was in a café in Portugal. When the sardines arrived at the table, I deftly carved one, lifting fillet from bone, proud of my filleting skills. Instead of wide-eyed wonder at my prowess, the room broke into laughter. One does not fillet sardines with a knife and fork when in Portugal (at least in a café), but rather picks them up with the fingers and eats them, pulling the meat away from the bone as though eating corn on the cob.
In recent years, sardines have been flown in from the other side of the Atlantic. You may not be familiar with them, but they make a difficult-to-resist summer treat. Oily and rich, they contain some of the highest levels of omega-3 acids.
The most challenging part of this dish is finding the sardines in impeccable condition—skin shiny, eyes not too sunken—as they decompose quickly. Unless you trust your sardine-appraising skills, ask the fish person when the sardines come in and plan your cooking accordingly.
Makes 4 main-course servings
16 fresh sardines, cleaned and scaled
Olive oil
Salt
Pepper
Prepare a hot fire in a gas or charcoal grill or preheat a grill pan over high heat (see section on Grilling).
Rub the sardines with olive oil. Grill over high heat for about 3 minutes on each side. Season with salt and pepper and serve.
