BBQ Billy's Grumblings

i love barbecue, and that's just the start.

Cedar Planked Salmon

(download)

I've read about cedar planked salmon for at least a decade. And I've had a stack of cedar planks in my grilling closet for just as long. Every time I open that closet I see them sitting there, and everytime I grab what I need and close the door leaving the neglected planks of wood behind. But tonight i decided to actually throw them on the grill, and the results were delicious. Read on for more details. 

Read the rest of this post »

Black Sea Bass Tacos with Grill-Roasted Tomatillo Salsa

Fish_tacos_-_01

I've posted a few different types of fish and shrimp tacos here over the past year, but this version with Black Sea Bass fillets (Long Island local at the Windsor Terrace Farmer's Market) and grill-roasted Tomatillo salsa were perhaps my favorite seafood tacos to date. Its hard to go wrong with fresh fish, tomatillos, lime, and cilantro... but still, this was pretty killer.

First up, the salsa. During lunch while i had the grill going for some bratwursts (yum), I coated some red onion, tomatillos, and a jalapeno in a little oil and black pepper, and grilled them over a very hot fire for about 10-15 minutes. I then tossed  them into a food processor with lime juice, cilantro, garlic, olive oil, and salt and pepper. Here's a gallery of the process: 

(download)
I tossed that in the fridge to keep fresh until dinner, and then marinaded the Black Sea Bass in a super simple lime, olive oil, and cilantro mix. This sat in the fridge for about four hours, after which I brought it to room temperature, sprinkled a little kosher salt and ground coriander on top, and pan-fried it in a cast iron skillet for about 3 minutes per side. I then lightly pulled it apart along the natural flaking lines (discarding a few bones as i discovered them), and served it as-is on the table. Honestly i was somewhat amazed at how flavorful this fish was... truly outstanding! A few shots of that process: 

(download)

So then it was simply a matter of condiments. We picked up some fresh salsa from Union Market, along with sour cream, whole wheat flour tortillas, and also chopped up a little avocado. Assembly is a snap with the only word of caution being "smaller is better." A few shots of the assembly items and the final product: 

(download)

I also fried up some homemade corn tortilla chips from a batch of corn tortilla's we had in the freezer. Insanely easy to do, and even more insanely delicious. A warm and salty corn chip really, really, really rocks:

Fish_tacos_-_07

And now onto the recipe! 

Ingredients:   
  • 1 medium red onion, halved and skinned (i had a very large onion on hand, so used about 2/3rds of it)
  • 3 tomatillos, husked
  • 1 Jalapeno
  • 1 clove garlic, skinned
  • 4 Tablespoons fresh cilantro
  • Juice of 1/2 lime + Juice of 1 lime
  • 3 Tablespoons Olive Oil
  • Salt and Pepper to taste
  • 1 lb Black Sea Bass fillet
  • 2 teaspoons canola oil
  • 1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
  • 1/4 teaspoon ground coriander
  • 6-inch Whole Wheat Flour tortillas (We ate 6 tacos between two of us, finishing just about everything in the process).
  • 1 avocado cubed into bite-sized pieces 
  • Fresh salsa (optional)
  • Sour cream (optional)
For the Grill Roasted Tomatillo Salsa: 
  • Get your grill going to hot*
  • Meanwhile coat the red onion, tomatillos, and jalapeno in 1 Tablespoon of the olive oil
  • Grill those veggies, turning every 3-4 minutes, for about 15 minutes until lightly charred and starting to ooze juices
  • Remove from the grill and core the red onion and jalapeno, discarding the seeds of the jalapeno and stem of the onion
  • Place the roasted veggies into a food processor with 1 Tablespoon olive oil, the garlic clove, lime juice from 1/2 lime, and 3 Tablespoons cilantro and blend until smooth (a few chunks are actually nice).
  • Season with salt and pepper to taste
* If you don't have a grill you could easily broil these in an oven for 10-15 minutes as well. 

For the Black Sea Bass:
  • For the marinade, combine the lime juice from the full lime, and remaining 1 Tablespoon olive oil in a deep dish
  • Add the fish, and press the cilantro into the fish. Cover and marinate for 2-4 hours. 
  • Bring a cast iron skillet with the canola oil to medium hot
  • Meanwhile bring the fish to room temperature, and sprinkle the salt and coriander on one side
  • Pan-fry the fish for about 3 minutes per side (non-spice side first). Both sides of the fish should start to brown before flipping
  • Remove to a plate, and lightly pull the  fish part along the natural flaking lines to create bite-sized pieces. Keep an eye out for any loose bones and discard. 

Assembly: Assembly is really up to your tastes, but as a general guide i assembled the following in a 6-inch tortilla: 

  • 1/4 cup fish (maybe a little less)
  • 1 Tablespoon tomatillo salsa
  • 1 Tablespoon avocado cubes
  • 2 teaspoons fresh salsa
  • 2 teaspoons sour cream

Fish Sandwich

(download)

Inspired by an amazing display of Pacific Halibut at Foragers and my new How To Cook Everything iPhone app, i made some fish sandwiches tonight. The fish was amazing... in the end kinda disappointed i added so much stuff to it because it was so fresh and delicious totally on its own. Nonetheless, this is a decent fish sandwich. I think i've liked my take on Mary's Fish Camp Cod sandwich more than this, but this was mad easy.Here's what i did:

  • Oiled a halibut filet and added salt and pepper.
  • Grilled this over high heat for about 10 minutes (7 minutes skin side down, 3 minutes flesh side down)
  • Grill-toasted ciabatta rolls for 2-3 minutes
  • Made a mayo dressing consisting of Mayo, Lime Juice, Chili Powder, S&P (look for it in HTCE)
  • Made some lime-pickeled red onion slices (juice of 1 lime and a bunch of thinly sliced red onion, soaked for an hour or more)
  • Layered the sandwich first with a heavy tablespoon of the mayo mixture
  • Then a hot-house heirloom tomato (totally delicious)
  • Then the fish
  • Then some lime-pickled red onions
  • Then some spinach leaves (from Forager's farm up in Canaan, NY)
  • and finally a little more of the mayo. 

This was tasty, but not totally amazing. Which is one of my issues with Bittman. I'm totally obsessed with his recipes, blogs, videos, etc... but so many times I'm wishing for a bit more complex flavor. That said, i love how he explains the "why" of it all, and encourages you to noodle with it. Oddly enough, in this instance the fish was so amazing with just salt and pepper, I was left wishing i just ate it solo with maybe a little spinach on the side. Come to think of it, I ate dinner about 2 hours ago and there's another half pound of cooked fish in the fridge. What time is second dinner time again? Mmmmmm....

Panfried Cod Sandwiches

Made some panfried cod sandwiches tonight for dinner. Started with a cod fillet I cut into pieces so I could cook according to thickness. These were coated with old bay, salt, and pepper, and cooked over med high heat for about 4 minutes per side:

Photo_2

While the fish was cooking, I prepared the sandwich ingredients. Ciabatta rolls (amazing, from Union Market), tomato, red onion, lettuce, and a scallion mayo:

Image

After the fish was cooked through, I set on two barely toasted ciabatta rolls:

Photo_3

At this point I considered making a pan sauce by reducing some white wine in the skillet used for the fish. I decided to skip this, but in retrospect I totally should have done it! Reagardless, I then added the sandwich ingredients to make this:

Photo_4

Served with fries and cornichon. Fries were burned unfortunately... Too little oil I think, and it got way too hot. Bummer. But the cornichon are perfect for this meal.

I definitely should have made that pan sauce... Would have made a huge, huge addition. But still this was a decent sandwich.