Cooking fish: 10 no-fuss dinner recipes for Lent - SILive.com

STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- Bring on spring -- and the Lenten fish dishes that come with the new season. With Ash Wednesday on February 26, that 40-day stretch is just a splash away.

You can also poach salmon. For this process, use skinless fillets, about 1 1/2 pounds at a time, seasoned with salt and pepper. Using tongs, submerge the salmon into simmering fish stock or water spiked with a handful of fresh dill and onion or a leek, a few peppercorns and an optional splash of white wine. Keep in the liquid for 9 to 12 minutes. I prefer the salmon to be medium to medium-rare (around 8 to 9 minutes.)

He adds, “Some Catholics will do the same on Wednesday because that was the day Judas Iscariot, the apostle, betrayed Christ. Therefore, they do penance for their sins on Wednesday because we, too, betray Christ by means of sin.”

Whether celebrating seafood as a Christian or the designated home chef looking to mix up a menu of meat- or pasta-centric meals, fish can be made in a flash.

HOW TO SOURCE A FRESH CATCH

Successful fish dishes start with the product itself.

Frozen specimens should be thawed completely and, if fresh, smell like the sea or a little brine. If the product is not handled properly in the store it will smell like ammonia at room temperature. If that’s the case don’t cook it and take it back to the store.

A whole fish like bass or snapper should be shiny, not slimy, and have bright eyes that are not sunken or whitish and cloudy. Flesh should be springy, not mushy. Fresh fillet smells a bit like cucumber, not fish. A good fishmonger will not only let you take a good look at items you’re considering but he’ll be happy to clean and portion it out for you.

There are a few myths with seafood that can actually ruin a dish. Washing it with vinegar or citrus before pan-searing, roasting or deep-frying will actually cook the flesh, thereby tinkering with its texture. The same goes for using milk in the preparation -- soaking seafood in lactic acid will break down the creature’s fibers and create a flabbiness. The exception for moo juice comes with catfish where soaking cubes or fillet for a few minutes will tenderize any silver lining left on its meat.

Here are five preparations to keep in mind when conjuring up great things from the sea. We’ve kept most of the recipes informal and basic, ideal to build upon with fresh herbs, vegetables and spices.

Have a swimmingly good fish recipe to share? Ship them off to silvestri@siadvance.com or tag your dish on Instagram @StatenEats.

TO COOK (OR NOT TO COOK) SALMON

If oven-roasting a large fillet of salmon the skin can keep it from over-cooking. Season the fish all around with salt, pepper and onion powder or sprinkle with a little soy sauce and ginger. Cook at 400 degrees flesh side up in the broiler until the edges of the salmon turn whitish, about 2 minutes. Flip the fish to the skin side up and roast about 2 minutes or until the skin crisps. Finish in the oven for about 10 minutes with a splash of fish stock, white wine or (if using soy sauce) rice wine.

Quick recipe for easy clean up: Pack salmon fillet in foil or parchment with red pepper chunks, sliced bok choy and a celery rib, a pinch of pepper, sugar and drizzle of soy sauce. Serve with or without lemon on the side. (Dale Omori/The Plain Dealer) The Plain Dealer

You can also poach salmon. For this process, use skinless fillets, about 1 1/2 pounds at a time, seasoned with salt and pepper. Using tongs submerge the salmon into simmering fish stock or water spiked with a handful of fresh dill and onion or a leek, a few peppercorns and an optional splash of white wine. Keep in the liquid for 9 to 12 minutes. I prefer the salmon to be medium to medium-rare (around 8 to 9 minutes.)

Poached salmon can be served with a puree of yogurt, mint and cucumber or a few ounces each of mayonnaise and Dijon mustard blended together. (Staten Island Advance/Pamela Silvestri) Staff-Shot

A really spectacular specimen of salmon can be left raw and finished with good olive, sea salt and fresh cracked pepper with a sliver of tomato or jalapeno.

Ken Arnone, the Colavita USA master chef and native Staten Islander from Lighthouse Hill, treats premium bits of raw salmon with a drizzle of fine olive oil and sprinkle of sea salt. The olive oil for the "crudo" hails from Colavita's premium oil collection. (Staten Island Advance/Pamela Silvestri)Staff-Shot

LOCAL FISH IN WINTER AND EARLY SPRING

Tuna (bright red), swordfish (white with marbling, left), sea scallops (in the back) and snapper (upper right) can be found at the St. George Greenmarket on Saturdays from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. throughout the winter. The fish is harvested in Long Island waters. (Staten Island Advance/Pamela Silvestri)Staff-Shot

Swordfish must be cooked through to kill parasites that live in the flesh. It can be cubed and threaded onto a skewer with bell pepper and onion, brushed with teriyaki or olive oil with salt and pepper.

Snapper can be floured, egged and breaded, then fried in vegetable oil until crisp. It can also be broiled or baked with a few pats of butter on top plus a finish of white wine or lemon juice a minute or two before removing from the fire.

Scallops seasoned with salt and pepper can be pan seared on both sides with butter until browned. They can get a quick finish with wine, fish stock, lemon or orange juice and fresh thyme, an herb that has a fine affinity for the mollusk.

A rich source for seafood in New York City is the Fulton Fish Market at Hunts Point in the Bronx. Here is Rossville resident and tuna expert Robert DiGregorio, aka "Bobby Tuna," cutting Bluefin, a migratory creature that yields a dense flesh plus toro, the fatty belly, known as "maguro" in Japanese cooking. In Italy, a yellowfin's fatty underbelly is known as ventresca, a premium part of the fish cured in olive oil. Staff-Shot

Tuna should be cooked to medium, at most, for the best treatment of its fatty flesh. It can be pan-seared in olive oil for about 3 minutes either side. It can be doused with a little white wine or fish stock to finish and keep the pan from smoking. Consider Cajun seasonings or basics like garlic, salt, pepper or lemon-pepper salt.

Bigeye tuna is similar in appearance to Yellowfin known as Ahi in Hawaii. The flesh can be served raw with a blend of vinegar, mustard, olive oil and spices like peppercorns. The vinegar will macerate, or cook, the fish. Staff-Shot

LITTLENECK AND TOPNECK CLAMS

Clams are easy to cook and hard to overcook. A super simple preparation is to scrub them clean, then add to a saute pan with lightly browned garlic and oregano, thyme or parsley. Add clam juice and cover. They’re done when the shells open and the flesh looks translucent, no more than 10 minutes. Serve over linguini or with crusty Italian bread.

Littlenecks and topnecks are ideal for steaming. Chowder clams can be tough and better suited to soups.

SKATE-TASTIC

In our local waters, skate are prolific. They have a triangular shape when carved from the wing of the fish and beautiful little fingers or villi-looking flesh that soak up brown butter and caper juice quite nicely. Ready a skillet with a generous amount of butter and cook until it browns, swirling to keep it from burning. When the butter gets its brownish color add the fish, seasoned with salt and pepper, and cook on both sides until cooked through, about 10 minutes all together. Take the fish out of the pan and add a few tablespoons of capers plus lemon juice or dry white wine. Pour the sauce over the fish.

Skate are common on the shores of Staten Island and New Jersey. Their wing meat look like villi or little fingers. Fresh skate has the taste of the sea and can be cooked gently with butter, capers and either white wine or fish stock.

THE NUT TREATMENT

A fruit salsa can add moisture to a fish dish. It's forgiving touch to a fillet that might be a shade overcooked. staten island advnce

RECIPE: NUT-COATED GROUPER OR OTHER FILLET

(Makes 6 eight-ounce portions)

INGREDIENTS:

3 pounds or 6 (8-ounce) portions grouper (or Mahi Mahi)

1 cup panko bread crumbs

1 ½ cups cashews or macadamia nuts, coarsely ground

1 tablespoon minced garlic

2 tablespoon grated ginger

4 tablespoon sesame seeds

1 tablespoon cayenne pepper

¼ cup chopped cilantro¼ cup chopped parsley

½ cup canola or other neutral oilJuice and zest of

1 lemon or lime

For the mango salsa:

1 cup chopped tomatoes

¼ chopped scallions

1 cup chopped mango or pineapple

¼ cup chopped cilantro

1 tablespoon olive oil

1 tablespoon hot chili oil

Salt and pepper to taste

DIRECTIONS:

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

Prepare a sheet pan by lining with cooking parchment and/or spraying with cooking spray. Set the fish aside and prepare the coating by combining all the remaining ingredients to form a slightly sticky paste.

Season the fish portions on both sides with salt and pepper, then one by one, coat them on all sides with the seasoned nut and crumb mixture. If the mixture is not moist enough, add a drop or two of water.)

Place the coated fish pieces on the prepared pan, and bake until the crust is golden brown, and the fish pieces are somewhat firm. The timing will vary based on the thickness and type of fish, but 10 to 15 minutes should be about right.

Prepare the mango salsa: Combine all the ingredients, except the spices. Depending on the ripeness of the fruit and tomatoes, you may have a lot of juice. Drain and reserve the juice, then add the oil, chili oil, salt and pepper to taste. Replace some of the fruit juice to make a moist, but not watery, salsa.

If preparing the salsa ahead of time (up to 1 day) add cilantro just before serving.

— Frank Lombardi of Sysco Foods and Silver Lake

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2020-02-23 16:00:00Z
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