Jer: Slow Roasted Seabass with Romesco Sauce
What an easy way to prepare moist and delicate fish. No fidgeting with the time or the temperature and perfectly seasoned once brought to the table. This is my kind of dish!
Like Kaoru I made the romesco sauce the night before therefore the day-of preparation was a cinch. I consulted one of my bibles (The Zuni Café Cookbook) to compare its version of romesco sauce to Ms. Latte’s. The only difference in the Zuni book is that she adds one piece of white bread fried in olive oil and then crumbled into the sauce (I didn’t do it but she said it provides a nice texture to the sauce). Not sure it needed it though as I thought the sauce was delicious as is.
Seaside Market delivered beautifully as I found all my ingredients there, including the L’Esteronell olive oil made from Arbequina olives that the Zuni book mentioned was the best for Spanish dishes. Fire roasted piquillo peppers also imported from Spain were waiting for me in the pickled food aisle as were a number of aged dry sherrys from the Jerez region to choose from. I love this market.
The day of, Amyra and I picked up some beautiful looking Chilean Seabass (the fish monger said Alaskan cod is tasteless; its much better in
I had five beautiful white corn husks from
Zuni’s Creamed Corn
Shuck and scrape corn from 5-7 husks into a big deep bowl. Dice a medium onion (we used a
posted by Jer @ 11:53 AM
7 comments
7 Comments:
Must've been amazing corn. I will have to try it esp since I really like it & have always wondered how it was made. Is creamed spinach made the same way? Also, did you shell the shrimp before marinating, grilling?
Jer, sounds like a great dinner. So smart to cook the sauce on the fish the last couple minutes, I will definitely do it that way next time, rather then reheating in the microwave. That corn looks fantastic, I will definitely have to try it. Corn is just coming into season up here-- yummmm
And I just ordered the Zuni book, I can't wait to dive into it. A Jer recommendation hasn't steered me wrong yet!
I've made creamed corn before but never with mascarpone (before with cream or whole milk). I really liked the flavor of the mascarpone better than heavy cream and it provided the dish with body and a little sweetness.
For creamed spinach I have made the Spinach Gratin from Ina Garten's second book (Parties). It is always a huge hit (if you don't have the book let me know and I"ll post it here for you). I wonder if the mascarpone would be too heavy for the spinach ... I've also made creamed spinach by first sauteeing the spinach with garlic and olive oil and then mixing in a little stock and cream that has been spiced with nutmeg...
I shelled and deveined the shrimp but easily could have left the shell on to let people peel at the table. I think that would have been nice especially since the sauce is so good and people could eat/suck the juice off the shell before peeling. When I made the shrimp I asked Nelson and Amyra if they'd rather skins on or off and they both quickly said off so I guess part of it depends on who you're serving.
Jul - you'll love the Zuni cookbook. I use it so much and have never found it to lead me astray.
I've heard in Japan, traditional chefs would train for years on just "salting"! I'm currently working on experimenting how salting food through the various stages of cooking affects things (eg salting water you boil veggies/potatoes in vs just afterwards), as well as incorporating grey salt into the rotation, as a finishing salt (or on a simple slab of bread with plugra-- heaven!)
Jer, I understand your point about the shell-on shrimp, lots of traditionalists insist it keeps more flavor in during the grilling. I personally have to go with Nels and Amyra, I always vote shell off-- I actually really love the slightly charred texture the shrimp meat gets when directly grilled, and as long as we cook them quickly, I find they stay plenty moist.
Umm, that creamed spinach dish sounds good too, I would love the recipe! I definitely don't use enough nutmeg in my repertoire-- I just got the Penzey's catalog and I'm inspired to buy some!
I am a big believer in heavily salting any water in which I cook pasta or vegetables. I salt the water and don't salt afterwards and have always really enjoyed the effect (Kaoru, the salt you used for the fish is perfect for salting cooking water). And yes, fresh crusty bread with plugra and sea salt. Amazing.
I love freshly grated nutmeg. It is amazing on butternut squash roasted with olive oil. It truly makes homemade alfredo sauce taste like the restaurant variety. And is the perfect finish for homemade mac & cheese. Here is the spinach gratin recipe.
Oven to 425 and defrost 5 10oz packages of frozen spinach (and be sure you squeeze as much liquid as possible).
First you'll do a bechamel (with onions and stock) .. Melt 1/2 stick butter in heavy pan. Add 2 onions (diced) and cook until nice and soft. Add 1/4 cup flour and grated nutmeg and stir for about 2 minutes (on medium being careful not to burn the flour). Slowly stream in mixture of 2 C milk and 1 C heavy cream. Cook until thickened.
Add spinach to bechamel and add 1/2 C grated parm. Season to taste with s&p. Transfer to baking dish and sprinkle another 1/2 C grated parm and 1/2 C grated gruyere. Bake for 20 minuts until browning and bubbly.
This is a very large serving so cut in half if serving 4 or less.
I have the Parties book (I believe you/Maya gave it to me!), but have never tried the creamed spinach. Nothing like some hearty food that sticks to your ribs!
Curious, how did you chose Chilean sea bass over another type? It's my personal fave, but I can never find it these days b/c none of the places I frequent carry it for environmental reasons.
BTW, the Monterey bay aquarium website has a complete list of fish broken down into categories, incl which ones are high in mercury. On the site, go to "Seafood Watch" -> "Browse All Seafood." It's an amazing site.
Thanks for the link to the Monterey Bay Aquarium site. That is helpful. They carry beautiful Chilean Seabass here at Seaside every day. Its $19.99 a pound but really good. You know I see it so often here that I didn't even realize that most stores don't carry it. We thought it would be a good choice since its milder and flaky and I liked how it was a thick cut which would hold up nicely in the oven. I basted pretty regularly with the olive oil and the fish was so tasty and moist.
Here is an interesting link from the State Department about the fish.
http://www.state.gov/g/oes/rls/fs/2002/8989.htm
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