Ancient Mayan Magic: Tikin Xic

Friday, March 30th, 2012 | posted by mike

Isla Holbox streetWell, it’s back to the real world! Sorry about playing hooky on the fish report last week but my wife and I were in Mexico, on Isla Holbox, off northern Yucatan, relaxing and eating lots of fish and shellfish. Holbox is a small island with one small fishing village: soft white sand streets, lots of beautiful kids, bold colors, buildings of stucco and tropical hardwoods with palapa style roofs, friendly happy people. Even the many dogs, often sleeping in the middle of the street, looked totally contented. A very laid back place where the blue and turquoise colors of the sea and sky constantly change, muy tranquillo! The sunsets were gorgeous and the nights were clear with millions of stars.

Our first fish dinner was a real treat, snook (robalo) is a fish that is a protected sport fish in the U.S. It’s one fish that I’ve always heard was a great food fish and game fish but never have had the pleasure to catch or to taste. When I saw that super fresh, still stiff, whole split fish sizzling over the hardwood coals I knew we were in for some good eating. Almost all the seafood we tried was grilled including some of my favorites like pompano, octopus and we really loved an old Mayan grilled fish preparation called Tikin Xic (pronounced teekeen sheek).

Originally this recipe was probably whole local fish like grouper, snapper or corvina that was rubbed with achiote (roasted annato seeds with herbs and chiles) and sour orange or other citrus juice, wrapped in banana leaves and placed over hot coals. We saw different variations of the recipe and as soon as we got home we experimented with a nice red snapper and it came out great! This recipe is a little detailed and requires a little time and shopping but it’s worth it. It’s fun to assemble the pouches and even though it’s a bit of work you can put them together ahead of time, then all you have to do is wing ‘em onto the grill and let them steam away. Great for entertaining! The smoky ancient deliciousness will hit ya in the face when you tear into the leaves.

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Grilled Red Snapper Tikin-Xic

Friday, March 30th, 2012 | posted by mike

Serves 4

2 – 1-11/2 lb whole red snapper, grouper, striped bass or bronzini  scaled, gilled, gutted, split and butterflied

2 banana leaves (available at Latin or Asian groceries)

3 oz. (1 package) achiote paste

2/3 cup sour orange juice or Seville orange juice, or if not available use 2/3 cup fresh orange juice and 1/3 cup lime juice

4 sprigs epazote (available at Latin stores)

8 slices tomato

8 slices green onion

12 slices purple onion

1 gueros pepper sliced lengthwise in 4 pieces or 1 small jalapeño thinly sliced (cross cut)

Olive oil

3 cloves garlic finely chopped

2 t dried oregano

Salt and pepper

In a blender combine achiote and fresh juice and mix to a fine paste

red snapper tikin xicScore each fish 4 slices on each side and marinate fish in achiote and juice paste for 4 to 6 hours

Lay out banana leaves and cut into two pieces (or one large if using one fish) large enough to wrap whole fish, with room to spare

Tear off 8 long thin pieces of banana leaves to use as string (if not long enough, tie 2 together with a square knot)

Now is a good time to fire up the grill while you’re wrapping the fish

Add plenty of coals to grill and when coals are white, separate them to form a space in the center with no coals for indirect grilling

Place fish in center of leaves (leaves should be just big enough to wrap the fish), rub with garlic, drizzle with olive oil and season with salt and pepper

Lay tomato, green pepper and purple onions over fish then add guero or jalapeño peppers, oregano, epazote, a little more salt and pepper and a drizzle of olive oil

Fold ends of banana leaf over both ends of fish then wrap leaves around fish to make pouch, then tie snuggly with the leaf strings (4 for each fish)wrapped red snapper tikin xic

Place fish on grill over indirect heat and cover with vents open (if you’re using a gas grill use med. heat)

Grill for about 7 min. a side and serve in the leaf on a platter

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Hake Go Bragh!

Friday, March 16th, 2012 | posted by mike

cloversTomorrow is St. Patrick’s Day! Those of us with even a wee touch of Irish blood can act like we just stepped off the old sod. My dad’s family came from Old Castle in county Meath; mom has English and Irish roots. Like most of us with Irish last names we feel like pure sons and daughters of old Erin. Here in the U.S. people celebrate the day in lots of ways: some enjoy a parade, some just wear green for the day, some prepare corned beef and cabbage and drink green beer, many use the day as an excuse to over indulge (with some bars opening at 7 a.m.)!

In Ireland the day is commemorated in a bit more serious fashion where the celebration of the saint and the ancestors is a bigger deal and they don’t eat corned beef or drink green beer. Our family has always celebrated our heritage and St Patrick in a low-key fashion. Wearing green, corned beef and cabbage for dinner and a few pints of Guinness was about as wild as we’d get.

As much as I love corned beef I thought let’s try a nice fish dish, with a bit of green to it. Hake is known as one of Spain’s most loved fish and the Irish also consume a lot of this fish. Basque fishermen fished for hake off of Ireland way back in the early 1500′s. Now this might be a stretch and it’s not a typical Irish recipe but the old Basque dish, merluza en salsa verde, is really a great recipe for hake. Native Irish fish, green sauce, why not? In Spain they swirl the hake around in an earthen cazuela to thicken the sauce but stirring occasionally works in this recipe.

Happy St. Patrick’s Day (with a Spanish touch)!

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Hake with Green Sauce

Friday, March 16th, 2012 | posted by mike

Serves 2

2  6-8 oz. hake fillets, from the thick end, skin removed

3 T olive oil

1 clove garlic finely chopped

Drake’s batter mix

1 T flour

1/4 cup fish stock (available at Monahan’s)

2 T white wine

4 T finely chopped Italian parsley

Dust fillets in Drake’s batter mix or seasoned flour, salt and pepper

Heat iron skillet or heavy pan over med high heat

When pan is hot add 2 T olive oil

When oil is hot, add fillets (the side where the skin was should be up)

Fry for 3-4 min until nicely browned, then flip and transfer to a plate (tent with wax paper to keep warm)

Add 1 T olive oil to the same pan and stir in the garlic until it starts to turn color, just for a minute, careful not to burn or the sweetness will become bitter

Quickly sprinkle the flour over and mix it in

Add stock, wine, parsley and a touch of salt

Lower heat to med. and stir, to reduce and thicken (3-5 min.)

Carefully return hake to the pan (browned side up)

Simmer; occasionally stir sauce, until fish is barely opaque in the center

Transfer fish to plates and give the sauce one good last stir, and then sauce each portion

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Monkfish- Ugly Deliciousness!

Friday, March 9th, 2012 | posted by mike

There are lots of fish that we now sell that used to be considered trash fish and were thrown overboard by U.S. fishermen. Skate, dogfish and sea robin were just a few of the “underutilized species” that were prized in other parts of the world but never were seen on American menus. With the decline of many North Atlantic fish stocks (most of which are rebounding or recovered) fishermen began to keep the so-called trash and tried marketing them. One of the great success stories of this category is the monkfish.

monkfishNot until they were marketed as “poor man’s lobster” these fish were a tough sell here. Butterflied, broiled, sprinkled with paprika then dipped in drawn butter may have helped in promoting the species, but I always thought that it was a great fish on its own. Monkfish is an amazing, interesting and ugly eating machine. It has slippery, scaleless skin, large protruding pectoral fins (that it uses as arms to walk along the bottom of the ocean) and a huge wide mouth with inverted hinged needle- like teeth that let prey slide easily in, never to escape.

The true name of this species is goosefish and it is in the anglerfish family. Like other anglerfish, these fish actually ” fish” for their prey. The front spine of their dorsal fin is elongated and can be protruded out in front of the monkfish’s head like a fishing pole. The spine has a fleshy little ” worm” on the end that waves around and attracts curious fish. When the fish gets close enough, all the monkfish has to do is open its giant mouth and suck it in. They’ve been known to devour prey half their own size including sea birds!

The meat of the monkfish is firm and dense with a delicate, subtle sweetness to it. Because of its firm texture, it’s a great fish for soups, bouillabaisse, gumbos and stews. It can be a little tricky to simply bake, broil or fry because it can sometimes tighten up and become a bit tough. Cooking with vegetables, wrapping in bacon or pancetta, simmering in a sauce or braising as you would with a veal shank osso buco style, are good methods. Today’s recipe is our version of monkfish osso buco  that is a lot faster to prepare than the long braised veal recipe. Like the original, the monkfish is great topped with gremolata and served with risotto.

You should also try our grilled pancetta wrapped monkfish recipe. This recipe is also great simply coated with the marinade and roasted at 375º for 10 min. per inch or until opaque. Check out our bouillabaisse recipe too.

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Monkfish Osso Buco

Friday, March 9th, 2012 | posted by mike

Serves 4

We fillet most of our monkfish so call ahead to make sure we save bone-in steaks for you. This weekend we’ll have plenty of bone-in steaks for this recipe.

4 6-8 oz monkfish steaks, bone-in

Drakes batter mix or seasoned flour

1/8 C olive oil

3 anchovy fillets

1 T fresh rosemary chopped

1 T fresh thyme chopped

1/2 C onion, coarse chop

1/2 C celery, coarse chop

1/2 C carrots, coarse chop

4 cloves garlic, chopped

2 bay leaves

1 C fish stock- available at Monahan’s

1 1/2 C tomatoes, in season or canned (San Marzano plum), chopped

2 t tomato paste

Season with salt + pepper

In an ovenproof heavy pan or iron skillet, heat olive oil over med-high heat; add onions, celery, carrots and anchovies. Wait 2 min. and add garlic. Sauté veggies until they begin to soften, add bay leaves and herbs. Stir for 1 min., then add fish stock, tomatoes + tomato paste. Reduce by about 1/2 (about 5 min), remove from heat and set aside.

Heat another pan over high heat. Dust monkfish steaks in Drake’s or seasoned flour. When pan is hot add 2 T olive oil and when sizzling, add monkfish and brown in pan for about 1 min/side. Transfer steaks to pan with sauce and pop in the oven. Check for doneness after 7 min., steaks should be just opaque in the center. To serve, place steaks on top of sauce and sprinkle with gremolata.

Gremolata

3 cloves garlic, finely chopped

1/2 C Italian parsley, finely chopped

1 1/2 T lemon zest

1 t olive oil

Mix ingredients well in a bowl

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Bacalao Time!

Friday, March 2nd, 2012 | posted by mike

salt cod

salt cod

Way back in the days before refrigeration people who lived inland, often relied on preserved, salted and dried “salt cod”. It was inexpensive and could be stored for months. The Vikings air dried their “stockfish or Klippfisk” to preserve it and long before Columbus came to the New World, Basque fishermen were catching cod on the Grand Banks off Newfoundland. They would split, salt, and dry the fish and not only did they create a nonperishable food to sustain them on their long trip back to Spain, but they started what became a huge trading commodity that would forever change the world. Politics, religion, colonization, slavery and a few cod wars are just a few topics that Mark Kurlansky covers in his fantastic book, “Cod: A Biography of the Fish that Changed the World”. If you’re at all interested in history and fish, you will love this book.

Salt cod in our country has never achieved the level of appreciation that it has in many other countries. I remember back when I was a kid (the 50s) people would buy the wooden boxes of Canadian salt cod at the grocery store mainly for Catholic Friday meals or because it was a really inexpensive meal.

Whether it’s a Spanish “bacalao” recipe, Italian “baccala”, Portuguese “bacalhau”, French “morue” or West Indian “salt fish”, there are some amazing recipes out there. What is it about this salty, dried out, hard and smelly fish that millions of people not only love but crave? All these countries that now have access to beautiful fresh fish (and refrigerators) still love their salt cod. I’ll tell you why they love it so much- it’s delicious! Think of the large flake and delicate sweet meat of fresh cod then condensing the flavor, firming the texture and creating a whole different creature. It’s really quite different than fresh and once you try it in any number of styles, whether it’s a French brandade , Spanish bacalao en salsa verde or Caribbean accras de morue, you just might, like me, become addicted.

Brandade is one of the most delicious things in the world, a warm, silky, garlicky, cod flavored spread that you dip your crunchy crouton into. What could be better? Accras de morue are salt cod fritters that are great with lime and hot sauce. One of my favorite preparations is a loose interpretation of a recipe from our buddy Dominic’s mother. He brought in a sample to the market one day that blew us away. I’ve tried to copy it and it’s not quite the same but my family loves it. It’s also kind of a dip although it would also be great served over pasta or on its own. This dish has whole cloves of garlic, roasted red peppers and kalamata olives.

I visited a store in San Sebastian, Spain that sold nothing but bacalao of all grades. The highest quality seemed to be lighter in color and was not as hard in texture as some of the more heavily cured codfish. Our market buys salt cod from Foley Fish in New Bedford, Mass. Whole, split, bone-in Georges Bank cod, these fish remind me of the finer Spanish bacalao.

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Salt Cod (Bacalao) with Red Peppers, Garlic and Kalamata Olives

Thursday, March 1st, 2012 | posted by mike

Serves 4

This  salt cod recipe is great served on its own as an appetizer with bread, or as a light entrée, or over pasta.

1 1/2-2 lb. bone in salt cod

2/3 cup kalamata olives, pits removed, coarse chop

1 med. roasted red pepper, cut into 1/2 inch long strips

1 T coarse chopped onion

6 whole cloves garlic peeled

Extra virgin olive oil

2 T chopped Italian parsley

A pinch of red pepper flakes or a few thin slices of fresh jalapeño peppers

Crusty baguette or crouton (make crouton by slicing baguette lengthwise, brush with olive oil and bake at 400º till browned- slice on an angle for nice long pieces

Cut salt cod into 2 inch wide pieces and submerge in a bowl with a good amount of water and refrigerate for 24-48 hours changing the water at least twice a day. Time depends on how thick and how salty the pieces are. Our Foley’s salt cod should soak for around 36 hours.

Rinse fish and poach over low heat for 10-12 min. or until it flakes off the bone

Lay fillets out on a cutting board and flake nice large chunks off the bone

Carefully go through the pile to insure no bones are left

In a med. frying pan add enough olive oil to cover bottom of pan about 1/8 of an inch and over low heat. Add whole garlic cloves and turn them occasionally until soft and golden brown – remove them from pan and set aside

Turn up the heat to med.- high and add onions and jalapeños until onions are translucent

Add cod, roasted peppers, olives, pepper flakes (if you’re using them), and garlic cloves and gently toss for 3-4 min.

Pour, with all of the olive oil into serving dish and top with parsley

Dip or spoon over bread or croutons

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