Lesson no 17
I’ve never met a piece of fish that didn’t benefit from a turn on a hot grill. That said, there are plenty of fish fillets that are too flaky to stand up to the rigors of a live fire. But almost any fish can be grilled whole: the skin protects the delicate flesh and takes to char nicely, as long as your grate is well oiled. With larger fish that are always broken down into smaller cuts, I favor the meatier varieties—like salmon, tuna, and swordfish—and I always opt for grilling steaks over fillets: they’re easier to move around the grill, and their uniform size helps them cook more evenly.
Shellfish are my favorite seafood to grill. I throw clams and mussels directly over a hot fire, which steams the meat in its own juices and gives it a slightly smoky flavor. Likewise, crustaceans—shrimp, langoustines, lobster, and the like—have a protective shell that keeps the meat moist and tender and can take a good hit of char.
No matter what kind of seafood you’re grilling, keep the preparation simple. A sprinkle of salt and pepper before it hits the grill, a squeeze of lemon juice, and maybe a drizzle of olive oil or melted butter just after it comes off are all good seafood ever needs.
Grilled Swordfish Steaks with Wine-Bottle Sauce
When I’m grilling loads of seafood for a crowd, I’ll take a bottle of aromatic dry white wine, drink half of it, and then top the bottle off with olive oil and the juice of a lemon and shake it up (sometimes I add a chopped garlic clove or two and/or a chopped chile). I use this quick concoction three ways: as a marinade, to splash over fish or shellfish as it grills, and as a light, bright sauce. The sauce also works well on any grilled green vegetable, such as Charred Long Beans or Charred Broccoli with Pecorino and Lemon.
Swordfish is at its very best on the grill—it chars easily and absorbs lots of smoky charcoal flavor. Because of its dense, meaty texture, it should be treated more like beef than like salmon or tuna. Buy the thickest steaks you can find—at least 1 inch thick—and cook them to medium, or they will be mushy. A thick swordfish steak can weigh up to a pound, so one steak can serve two people unless appetites are fierce.
Makes 8 servings
One 750 ml bottle aromatic dry white wine, such as Sauvignon Blanc
1½ cups extra-virgin olive oil
Juice of 1 lemon
4 swordfish steaks (about 1 pound each), 1 to 1 ½ inches thick
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 Prepare a hot single-level fire in a grill (see page 149).
2 Pour half of the wine (about 1½ cups) into your glass for drinking, and add the olive oil and lemon juice to the bottle. Cover the top of the bottle with your thumb and shake well.
3 Season the swordfish generously with salt and pepper. Grill, turning once and splashing the fish occasionally with the sauce, until charred on both sides and cooked through, 8 to 10 minutes for medium.
4 Transfer the swordfish to plates, drizzle with more wine sauce, and serve. Leftover wine sauce will keep in the sealed bottle in the fridge for up to 1 day.
Grilled Whole Trout with Lemon and Garlic Butter
Trout has a mild, delicate flavor that really benefits from the smoky heat of the grill. It’s also one of the few proteins that you should rub with oil before grilling, as it tends to stick. (Make sure your grill grates are extra clean and well oiled too.) If you want to take this recipe a step further, you can stuff the trout with a few sprigs of your favorite herbs and tie the cavity closed before grilling. Serve the trout atop a simple arugula salad, which will absorb any juices that run out of the fish, creating a delicious dressing.
Makes 2 to 4 servings
2 whole trout, cleaned, scaled, and butterflied (ask your fishmonger to do this)
Extra-virgin olive oil
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
3 tablespoons melted Garlic Butter
2 tablespoons chopped parsley
Flaky sea salt, such as Maldon
Lemon wedges, for serving
1 Prepare a hot single-level fire in a grill (see page 149), making sure to oil the grate well.
2 Rub the trout with olive oil and season inside and out with kosher salt and pepper.
3 Grill the trout, turning once, until the skin is crisp and charred and the flesh is opaque throughout, 3 to 4 minutes per side.
4 Transfer the fish to plates and drizzle with the garlic butter. Sprinkle with the parsley and flaky salt and serve with lemon wedges.
Grilled Mackerel with Green Peppercorn Sauce
Oily fish are one of the most forgiving proteins to grill. You don’t have to worry about them sticking to the grates, and they’re difficult to overcook. Some folks think of mackerel as a pungent fish, but anyone who likes salmon will find a similar flavor profile. (If you come across mackerel that smells “fishy” at the market, don’t buy them—they’ve been out of the water for too long.) Anything pickled pairs well with oily fish: here I use the punchy acidity of pickled green peppercorns (the unripened state of what eventually ends up in pepper mills) to flavor a brown butter sauce, which quickly caramelizes the lime juice and cuts through the richness of the fish. The soy-marinated Grilled Cauliflower is a great accompaniment to this dish.
Makes 4 servings
4 whole Atlantic mackerel (about 8 ounces each)
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
6 tablespoons unsalted butter
4 sprigs jarred pickled green peppercorns (available at Asian markets)
3 tablespoons fresh lime juice
Flaky sea salt, such as Maldon
Lime wedges, for serving
1 Prepare a hot single-level fire in a grill (see page 149), making sure to oil the grate well.
2 Season the mackerel inside and out with kosher salt and pepper. Grill the fish, turning once, until well charred and cooked through, 4 to 5 minutes per side. Transfer the fish to plates.
3 In a saucepan, melt the butter over high heat. Add the pickled peppercorns and a pinch each of kosher salt and pepper and cook, swirling the pan frequently, until the butter begins to brown, about 6 minutes. Stir in the lime juice (the mixture will bubble up) and simmer until the sauce is syrupy, about 20 seconds.
4 Drizzle the mackerel with the butter sauce and top each fish with a sprig of peppercorn. Sprinkle with flaky salt, and serve with lime wedges.
Grilled Sardines with Ponzu and Pickled Red Onions
This dish captures the essence of Mediterranean cooking, but it has a noticeably Asian influence. Ponzu is a sweet, tart, and salty Japanese condiment made with rice wine, rice vinegar, bonito, kombu, and citrus (usually yuzu). A quick dip in this vinaigrette-like sauce before grilling helps to cut through the sardines’ richness and tame their fishy funk (as do the pickled onions that accompany them). If you can’t find ponzu, use fresh lemon juice instead.
Makes 4 appetizer servings
Eight ½-inch slices crusty bread
Extra-virgin olive oil, for brushing
¼ cup ponzu, plus more for drizzling
8 whole sardines, cleaned and gutted
Flaky sea salt, such as Maldon
Pickled Red Onions, for serving
1 Prepare a hot single-level fire in a grill (see page 149), making sure to oil the grate well.
2 Brush the bread on both sides with olive oil and grill, turning once, until charred on both sides, about 2 minutes. Transfer to a platter.
3 Pour the ponzu into a shallow bowl and add the sardines, turning them to coat. Place the sardines on the grill and cook, turning once, until charred on both sides and opaque in the center, 2 to 3 minutes per side.
4 Transfer the sardines to the platter, drizzle with more ponzu, and sprinkle with salt. Pile the pickled red onions on the platter and serve.
Makes about ½ cup
1 cup water
½ cup cider vinegar
1 tablespoon sugar
1½ teaspoons kosher salt
1 red onion, halved and thinly sliced
10 black peppercorns
1 star anise
1 In a jar with a lid, combine the water, vinegar, sugar, and salt, cover tightly, and shake until the sugar and salt are dissolved. Add the onion, peppercorns, and star anise and shake again. Let sit at room temperature for 1 hour before using.
2 The onions can be refrigerated for up to 1 week.
The most important thing about grilling scallops, as with most seafood, is not to overcook them. You’ll notice that this is a very spartan preparation: scallops are so flavorful that you can let them make their own sauce. You don’t want to mask their sweet, briny flavor with other ingredients—a touch of smoky char and a sprinkle of salt is all they need. Make sure your grill grate is well oiled; you want that golden, caramelized crust to stay on the scallop, not stick to the grill. Turn the scallops into a main course by serving them with Charred Corn with Compound Cream Cheese, which pairs marvelously with the shellfish.
Makes 4 appetizer servings
8 U10 dry-packed diver scallops (about 12 ounces; see Note)
Extra-virgin olive oil
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
Flaky sea salt, such as Maldon
Finely chopped parsley (optional)
1 Prepare a hot single-level fire in a grill (see page 149), making sure to oil the grate well.
2 Lightly brush the scallops with olive oil and season lightly with kosher salt and pepper. Grill the scallops, turning once, until just cooked through, about 1½ minutes per side.
3 Transfer the scallops to a platter and sprinkle with flaky salt. Drizzle with olive oil, sprinkle with parsley, if desired, and serve.
The U in U10 stands for “under” and refers to the number of scallops in a pound: U10 means under 10 scallops per pound. These are the largest scallops that you’ll encounter at the fish market; if you can’t find U10s, buy the largest scallops they have.
Grilled Clams with Garlic Butter
I think I grilled my first clams in grade school. Even back then, my Italian friends and I liked to cook in our families’ backyards. Our refrigerators were usually stocked with clams or mussels (which work equally well in this recipe), and we were too lazy to run back and forth to the kitchen to cook the shellfish while grilling our burgers and sausages, so we’d just throw the shells on the grill. What’s magical about this technique is the smoky flavor the clam liquor picks up from the burning charcoal.
You can turn these clams into a main course by serving them with linguine tossed with red pepper flakes, olive oil, and fresh herbs.
Makes 4 appetizer servings
2 pounds littleneck clams or cockles (about 2 dozen), scrubbed
3 tablespoons melted Garlic Butter
¼ cup chopped parsley
Freshly ground black pepper
Lemon wedges, for serving
Crusty bread, for serving
1 Prepare a hot single-level fire in a grill (see page 149).
2 Place the clams directly on the grill grates. After 3 to 5 minutes, the clams will begin to open: as they open, using tongs, transfer them to a bowl, being careful not to spill any of their delicious juices. Discard any clams that don’t open after 8 minutes.
3 Drizzle the clams with the warm garlic butter, sprinkle with the parsley, and season with pepper. Serve with lemon wedges and crusty bread.
If you like grilled lobster tails, you’ll love these giant prawns. They have a similar texture to lobster but are more flavorful and less expensive, though they can be harder to find (the prawns I use are from the Gulf of Mexico and are sometimes called Mayan shrimp). And if you’re a shrimp-head eater, you’ll be rewarded with one of the tastiest slurps you’ve experienced.
This recipe calls for U4 prawns (meaning 4 prawns or fewer per pound), which might be hard to find except at a good fishmonger. If you can’t find them, buy the largest head-on shrimp that they carry and reduce the cooking time by a minute or two.
Makes 4 appetizer servings
Four U4 prawns (6 to 7 ounces each; see Resources)
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
¼ cup melted Garlic Butter
Extra-virgin olive oil, for drizzling
4 lemon wedges, for serving
1 Prepare a hot single-level fire in a grill (see page 149).
2 Using kitchen scissors, split open the shell of one prawn down the back from head to tail and remove the dark vein with the tip of a paring knife. Repeat with the remaining prawns.
3 Generously season the prawns all over with salt and pepper and grill, turning once, until the shells turn pink, about 3 minutes per side. Then turn the prawns on their backs and grill until cooked through (you’ll be able to peek at the flesh through the slit at the base of the head; it should be opaque), about 2 minutes longer.
4 Transfer the prawns to plates and drizzle with the garlic butter and olive oil. Serve with lemon wedges.
Grilled lobster is one of my favorite backyard party foods. I buy enough so each guest gets half a lobster and grill them alongside some quick-cooking steaks, such as the Butcher’s Steaks.
There’s no point in grilling lobster, however, unless you let the meat char and absorb some smoky flavor, so I cook them flesh side down first, then turn them over to finish cooking while I baste them with butter. Medium lobsters (about 1½ pounds) are the optimum size for grilling: smaller lobsters cook too quickly and don’t have enough time to take on a char, and large lobsters yield tougher meat. When you’ve finished your lobster feast, save the shells and char them over a hot fire, then use them to make a smoky lobster stock.
Makes 2 to 4 servings
2 live medium lobsters (1½ pounds each)
½ cup melted Garlic Butter
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
½ lemon, plus 4 lemon wedges
¼ cup chopped parsley
Flaky sea salt, such as Maldon
1 Prepare a medium-hot single-level fire in the grill (see page 149).
2 To quickly kill the lobsters, place one lobster on a cutting board with its head facing you. Insert the tip of a large chef’s knife into the lobster’s back about 1 inch behind its eyes, then plunge the knife down to split its head between the eyes. Turn the lobster around and split it in half through the back and tail. Scoop out and discard the dark green roe and the pale green tomalley. Crack the claws by whacking them with the back of the chef’s knife. Repeat with the other lobster.
3 Brush the flesh of the lobster halves with some of the garlic butter and season with kosher salt and pepper. Place the lobsters, flesh side down, on the grill and cook until the flesh side is charred, about 3 minutes. Turn the lobsters over, brush the flesh with butter, and continue grilling and basting with butter until the flesh side is opaque and firm to the touch, 3 to 5 minutes longer.
4 Transfer the lobsters to a platter and squeeze the lemon half over them. Sprinkle with the parsley and flaky salt and serve with lemon wedges and any leftover butter.
At St. Anselm we buy salmon whole, which means that each fish leaves us with a head and tail (and a collar; see page 220) after we butcher the rest into steaks. We thought it would be cheeky to serve these delicious remnants together, head affixed to tail, and, more important, we didn’t want to waste these underrated parts. Like the collar, a salmon’s head is rich and fatty, and the tail, while leaner, is one of the most flavorful parts of the fish (your fishmonger should have both hiding in the back of the shop). This is a dish best shared by two folks who won’t get scared off by the sight of a fish staring them in the eyes—and who are willing to dig a little with fork and knife to excavate the treasure.
Makes 2 servings
1 salmon tail (about 1 pound)
1 salmon head (10 to 12 ounces)
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
3 tablespoons melted Garlic Butter
Flaky sea salt, such as Maldon
Lemon wedges, for serving
1 Prepare a two-stage fire with medium and low sides in a grill (see page 149).
2 Season the salmon with kosher salt and pepper. Grill the tail over the medium side of the grill, turning every couple of minutes, until charred and cooked through, 10 to 12 minutes. At the same time, grill the head over the low side until charred and cooked through, about 10 minutes.
3 Transfer the salmon to a plate, placing the head and tail together. Drizzle with the garlic butter, sprinkle with flaky salt, and serve with lemon wedges.
If you like salmon, you will adore salmon collar, an extra-fatty, gnarly looking piece cut from just behind the fish’s gills. It’s rich, unctuous, and crispy all at once—a giant piece of fish-flavored bacon is the best analogy I can come up with. The first time I tasted it, I thought, Why haven’t I been eating this forever?
You’ll want to cook collar longer than you’re used to cooking other cuts of salmon on the grill, as it takes time to render all that fat. As such, salmon collar also loves to catch on fire, so keep a spray bottle handy to extinguish any flare-ups.
Though you may not see it on display, your fishmonger will usually have one or two collars on hand if he buys his salmon whole (as any good market should). Asian fish markets usually have plenty on hand as well. If you can’t find salmon collar, hamachi collar (which you can find at Asian markets) is almost as great. A rich fish like this needs a nice crunchy salad to round it out. Serve it with the Iceberg Wedge with Warm Bacon Dressing and Blue Cheese or alongside some of my mom’s Dilly Coleslaw.
Makes 1 to 2 servings
One 14-ounce salmon collar
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
2 tablespoons melted Garlic Butter
Flaky sea salt, such as Maldon
Lemon wedges, for serving
1 Prepare a two-stage fire with medium and medium-low sides in a grill (see page 149).
2 Season the salmon collar with kosher salt and pepper. Grill the salmon over medium heat, turning every couple of minutes, until charred and cooked through, 10 to 12 minutes. If the salmon is well charred before it’s cooked through, move it to the medium-low side of the grill.
3 Transfer the salmon to a plate and drizzle with the garlic butter. Sprinkle with flaky salt and serve with lemon wedges.