it’s the craziest thing because i love fish. and at restaurants, i order fish almost all the time. but i’ve stopped making fish. not shellfish. just fish fish. why, you ask? because on cary’s short list of things he prefers not to eat, fish fish is at the top. he lives for crab and scallops, he’ll eat shrimp for days – but if it’s shell-less then he’d just assume not. he just does not like it and although i think that it’s just him being stubborn, i have come to realize at this stage of my life that it’s so very not about what i think. boy am i happier living with this mind-set… but hey, i am so not complaining. because my ex wouldn’t touch any kind of cheese. or pasta. or garlic. and he also wasn’t big on lamb. it was heartbreaking. and my best friend angela? her list is long. no pears, no cauliflower, no eggs or goat cheese, brussels sprouts, cooked spinach or squash. but she eats fish, so i invited her to lunch.
i eat everything/anything. twice. i may not love raw carrots. but if you put them in front of me, i’ll still eat them - especially dipped into whatever’s going. cary can eat 5 big raw carrots au naturale in one fell swoop and often does. but not fish. so i never make it.
until today. i got tired of reading about all of ’last night’s dinner’s‘ great fish dishes and then moving on. so in the midst of a day full of timed appointments, the very kind of appointments i try to avoid, i dashed off to the market and bought 4 (four) kinds of fish. i kind of went a little berserk in the fish department. i bought a hunk of beautiful sea bass, some red snapper, organic tilapia and halibut. i was deliriously fish happy. yes i was. if there were a fish dance that i knew of i would have done one right there in ‘the fresh market’.
instead, i pretty much did what jennifer does. (WWJD) except i’m just hopeful - and she’s world class. if i say it once, i’ll say it a hundred times. dish for dish, ms. hess is the real deal. the woman kicks some kitchen ass. i have a total crush on her food. night after night in a seemingly effortless fashion she churns out thoughtful and seasonal dinners. on my next nyc trip i am going to have lunch with jennifer and find out all her secrets.
ok, so first into a pan went some oil followed by about 5 cloves of minced garlic, a sliced sweet onion and a sliced fennel bulb. then after about 6 or 7 minutes i added a big splash of dry vermouth. about 2 minutes later in went a can of san marzano crushed tomatoes, some fresh thyme and lemon zest. it all got seasoned with salt and pepper, and cooked on a low heat for 10 minutes. the lightly salted fish got pan seared in olive oil using carol’s ‘french laundry’ method by making sure they are super dry before pan frying. i also first got the pan superduper hot, then add the oil and then let that get supererduperer hot and then the very dry fillets hit the oil. mine came out impressive with that coveted crunchy surface. nothing stuck to the pan even a little which surprised me to no end…
i made this dish with both a skinless chilean sea bass fillet and with a skin-on red snapper fillet.
both were insanely good.
16 responses so far ↓
1 Lux // Dec 6, 2007 at 12:02 am
That sounds delicious!
2 minimally invasive // Dec 6, 2007 at 4:22 am
Wow, Claudia. This is most impressive! Sounds delicious and the photos are gorgeous!
3 Lucy // Dec 6, 2007 at 7:10 am
the photos look fab-o
and i know exactly what you mean about significant others who refuse to eat wonderful food items. try tomatoes, anything leafy, onions, bananas, and anything “weird” *sigh*
4 ceeeelcee // Dec 6, 2007 at 8:04 am
It’s only 8:00 am and already I know I’ve read the best word I’ll see all day.
“superduperer.”
I love it.
5 Summer // Dec 6, 2007 at 8:31 am
Looks and sounds beautiful!!!
6 Jennifer Hess // Dec 6, 2007 at 11:06 am
Ah, claudia, that looks just lovely. Brava!
7 clumsy // Dec 6, 2007 at 12:22 pm
Claudia your photos look FANTASTIC!
8 Julie // Dec 6, 2007 at 1:21 pm
Wow, definite difference in the photos. They look great. I’m guessing you’ve started using the Nikon D70.
Fish always seems like a two part challenge to me. It’s not just cooking it well (and I love the crispy outside thing which I don’t always manage), it’s also about getting good fish which is sometimes not an easy thing.
9 ElZorro // Dec 6, 2007 at 2:19 pm
What are you gonna do w/ the Tilapia/Halibut?
Can I recommend skillet-frying in cayenne pepper, with crinkle-cut Ore-Ida’s as a side?
10 TaratheFoodie // Dec 6, 2007 at 6:19 pm
The crust on that fish looks spectacular! That is a pro job, there. Chilean sea bass is my FAVORITE. YUM! This dish sounds (and looks) so good and so healthy.
11 claudia // Dec 6, 2007 at 7:22 pm
hiya – i still have a looooong way to go with the camera hook-up. there will be a learning curve… depth of field, shutter speeds, lighting lighting lighting. i’ll get there. i am determined.
Z – inside joke but you’re a funny funny guy…
tara – sea bass is so creamy and rich – but so full-o-fat hence the delicious creamy and rich thing. so of course i love sea bass.
julie – i am severely landlocked so good fish is tough – but if i am willing to pay the big bucks, it’s available. our prized tn catfish is so not my thing…
clumsy – baby steps… and your blog is looking better all the time!
jennifer – thanks for the endless inspiration! i wish you had a hotline so i could ask you questions when i’m in the heat of it!
summer – the snapper was a low calorie/low fat option – but it was still comfort food…
lucy – gawd. what is wrong with these people??? it’s ONLY food… geeshk
min. inv. – i want pics like yooooours. and this whole advent series is a total feast for the eyes.
ceeelcee – that was “supererduperer”, my friend…
lux – i’m loving your blog especially all the great ruhlman/bourdain stuff. so fun!!!
12 melissa // Dec 7, 2007 at 4:20 pm
those look really fantastic. I’m starting to look at cooking fish as my weak point – and I don’t want to. I’ll take a few tips from jennifer (whose site I also visit daily), and from you.
and clumsy, your blog is great too!
13 ponyboat // Dec 8, 2007 at 7:45 am
Tres provencale, ma cherie! Je l’aime!
14 yveala // Dec 8, 2007 at 3:11 pm
ok..i’m surprising myself now..i’m not a real big computer girl yet i can’t stop checking out your masterpieces and these fishes…well…superdupper is right!
what kind of pan?
15 Dana // Dec 9, 2007 at 3:53 pm
Both *look* insanely good. I love tomato and fennel together, and I loooove fish (though, like you, I for some reason don’t cook it often…).
16 cook eat FRET - halibut - my way // Dec 11, 2007 at 9:15 am
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