Making it Up

It started with this.  A big bunch of wild and tangled greens tucked into a crate and set amid the sea of citrus at one of my favorite market vendors.  Agretti the sign read, "little sour one".

I love greens.  I've probably mentioned that three or four or one hundred times.  But this wild child, I'd never heard of it.  Turns out, it's something of a rarity.  Agretti grows alongside salt marshes or in salty soil and has a relatively short harvest season.  The salt in the ground imparts a salty/sour/acidic quality to the fresh green leaves, tasting reminiscent of sour grass.  It behaves similar to spinach when cooked and lends itself to many of the same preparations.  The man I bought it from, Bob Polito, who mostly grows it as a pet project recommended sauteing the tender leaves in olive oil, minced garlic and a squeeze of lemon and using that as a bed for fish.  The lemon, he said, was imperative.  I do not argue with the experts.

 

I walked over to the fish monger, who then sampled the green, agreed on the preparation and picked  out a beautiful fillet for me.  Dinner was decided.  I sauteed the agretti for maybe 4 minutes, just enough to get it pliable and wilty but still retain some crunch.  Indeed the lemon was imperative and I gave an extra squeeze over the top of the pan roasted fillet just for good measure. But I only made one fillet for the both of us and had barely used 1/3 of the bunch.  So, onward with the experiment.

Normally, Tastespotting  and FoodGawker are my go to resources to figure out a recipe or get recipe ideas - I like the visuals - but even Google was letting me down in the inventive idea department.  I'd already gone the sautee route and I wasn't in the mood to make a mock seaweed salad using agretti  in its place (though now that it's all gone, I could really get on board with that), so instead I made pesto.  I even broke out the big guns and purchased pine nuts for the occasion.  I remember now why I always use walnuts or hazelnuts in my pesto, pine nuts are an unholy level of expensive.  Oh how I suffer for my craft!

When I made the pesto I blanched the agretti for a few minutes before processing everything to mellow out it's acidity.  The result was light, vaguely tart and a nice change from your typical herbaceous basil variety.  I always toss in some red pepper flakes and use less olive oil than most recipes, preferring to add a drizzle once the pesto and pasta have been tossed together.  Also, I happened to have some Romano in the fridge instead of Parmesan and used that.  A little saltier, a little more pungent, it did the trick nicely.

For dinner another night, I tossed some pillows of ricotta gnocchi with a spoon full or two of the pesto.  It was light, bright and everything I could ask for in a late springtime meal.  I guess what I've been getting at the whole time is that: next time you see something new-to-you, grab it, take it home and start experimenting.  It's surprising how quickly you can turn something once unfamiliar into a new favorite.

Agretti Pesto

I don't know - I feel silly for giving you a recipe for pesto.  It's such an intuitive thing to make, tweaking to your own tastes.  All I'm really aiming for here is to 1) inspire you to experiment in your pesto making forays and 2) if you even see agretti, grab a bunch!

Makes about 1 cup

2 cups lightly packed tender agretti leaves

2 cloves or garlic, chopped

2 tablespoons pine nuts

1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes

2 tablespoons water

2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

1/4 cup freshly grated Pecorino Romano

salt & pepper

Set a small sauce pan of water to boil on the stove.  Strip the tender leaves from the thicker stem of the agretti, the way you might take rosemary off it's stem.  Hold onto the top of the spring and pull your fingers downward.  Blanch the agretti in the boiling water for 3 minutes and then strain and rinse with cool water to stop the cooking.

In a pan over medium heat, toast the pine nuts until they are golden in color and fragrant.

Add agretti, garlic, pine nuts, red pepper flakes and water to the bowl of a food processor and pulse to make a rough paste.  Leaving the motor on, stream the olive oil in until the paste thins and becomes smoother.  You may need a bit more than called for, but I like to add just enough to get it to a somewhat loose paste rather than something too saucy.  A little reserved pasta water in the mix with the pesto and pasta keeps things evenly coated but not too watered down.

Add the cheese, and salt and pepper to taste and pulse the food processor a few time to get everything incorporated.  Serve tossed with pasta, as a spread on sandwiches or on pizza. 

Tree + Fish

I don't know if you could tell, but, we don't eat a lot of meat around here.  I mean meat meat.  The red kind, or the pork kind, or the game kind.  Really.  I'm sitting here, trying to remember the last time I prepared some and the only instance that is coming to mind is a couple of hamburgers I made way back in July.  And let me tell you that was only because I had some random craving that caused me to obsessively think about hamburgers for a week straight.  What we do eat, and still infrequently at that, is mostly chicken and fish.

This seems to confuse people, the lack of meat we consume around here.  Are we vegetarians?  What's the problem?   Don't you ever just want a steak for dinner?  No, no problem, and rarely.  It just is what it is, we don't eat a lot of meat.

I've tried making cedar planked salmon before, but was slightly underwhelmed by the results, though I think I missed the point last time, slathering the fish in a brown sugar/mustard/dill paste.  It didn't allow for the smoky flavor of the charred cedar to come through.  Lesson learned, I went the simple route this time and the salmon definitely picked up a nice smoky sweet flavor.  The sauce was just icing on the cake.  Light, tangy and herbaceous, it was a nice contrast to the richness of the salmon.

The next night, having two leftover fillets and not wanting to reheat and dry them out, I simply placed them on a lightly dressed salad with the leftover potatoes, slices of tomatoes, some avocado and the last of the sauce.  Both were excellent.


Cedar Plank Salmon with Yogurt Herb Sauce

I highly suggest the longer soaking time for the cedar plank.  I soaked mine for only an hour because of time constraints and man, that thing was smoky on the grill.  I'm talking like it looked like it might be on fire in there.  You might get away with only an hour of soaking if you cook over indirect heat with a charcoal grill, but I don't have any experience with that.  Proceed with caution.

4 servings

1 untreated cedar plank
1 pound skin on sockeye salmon, cut into 4 - 4oz fillets
olive oil
salt & pepper
1/4 cup plain yogurt
1 garlic clove, minced
small handful of mixed herbs, minced (I used tarragon, basil, chives and parsley)
1/2 lemon, juiced

Soak the cedar plank in water, keeping it submerged with some cans in a Tupperware/glass pan full of water, for at least 1 hour, though 2 would be better.

Mix the yogurt, garlic, herbs and lemon juice in a small bowl.  Add salt and pepper to taste and refrigerate until the salmon is done.

Heat a grill (we have a gas grill) on high heat for 10 minutes and then reduce it to a medium heat.  Remove the plank from the water and let the excess water drip off.  Place the 4 fillets, skin side down and not touching, on the plank and drizzle with a little olive oil, salt and pepper.  Grill, with the top closed, for about 10 minutes (my fillets were barely more than an inch thick and might have even been a little over cooked).  When finished cooking the salmon will feel firm and will no longer be oozing any milky substance.  Remove entire plank from heat and onto a platter, use a spatula to transfer the fillets to your plate.  Spoon a tablespoon of sauce over each serving.

A Tale of Yellowtail

There's this seafood wholesaler in San Diego that's a total gem of a find; they're open to the public, though they do most of their business with restaurants, and have killer deals on super fresh fish.  I love Catalina Offshore Products.  Most of the really good deals come via their email list and being a member (free!) which is how D and I found out about a recent special they were running on locally caught yellowtail, $4.25/pound.  What?  Sign me up!  Two pound minimum?  No problem, I've got a freezer.  So we called in our order, picked it up the next morning (we called as they were closing) and set forth on a recipe search.  Well, recipe(s) actually.  I'm not very good at improvising recipes with fish, I need guidelines and inspiration.  So what's the first thing I make?

I made...
wait for it....

Fish tacos.  Don't get me wrong, they were tasty, it's just strikes me as a slightly uninspired idea.  I didn't do anything special.  In fact, I was trying to make them as basic as possible since I have a tendency to pile all sorts of goodies and flavors on my fish tacos until I've created a something bursting at the seams and unable to fit into any human mouth.  Cabbage slaw, pico de gallo, chipotle crema, avocados, pickled red onions, cilantro, fish...uh, it's starting to sound more like a salad.  So this is my attempt to go basic.  I grilled the fish with nothing but a thin slick of olive oil, salt and pepper.  And onto the tacos went just the fish, lime crema (sour cream, lime zest and juice), red cabbage, avocado and a sprinkling of chopped onion and cilantro.  I may or may not have added hot sauce at the table.  Around here, that's called simple.

But that was only one half of our fish order.  The other pound of yellowtail went into the freezer while I waited to stumble across something new.  It came a few weeks later when we had this potato and yellowtail dish at a party for D's Abuelo.  Sitting outside under canopies, sipping sangria and wiping our plates clean with bread, it was all so summery and exactly the kind of dish I was looking for.    Since anyone who knows me can tell you I've only recently come to terms with eating leftovers, I waited another week before I made it myself so that it wouldn't feel like I was eating the same dinner too many times in a row.  And you know, it wasn't any more difficult to make than the fish tacos.  Just whip up a simple sauce, half of it becomes the marinade the other the dressing, boils some potatoes and grill the fish.  For all it's simplicity, it's sure a great dish.  The lemon juice and zest gave it a sunny flavor with punches of salt from the briny capers.  The raw garlic in the dressing and the crispy pieces that stuck to the fish were balanced by the earthy greenness from the parsley.  You just can't go wrong putting garlic, lemon and parsley on fish.

And on my gah!  That salad mix up there?  I found it at the farmer's market and it's called Stellar Mix and it truly is out of this world .  There's all kinds of crazy salad greens in there along with big pieces of basil, chives, tarragon, parsley and edible flowers.  I may never be able to eat another mix again.  The watermelon radishes, tomatoes and avocado chunks were my addition.


Citrus Garlic Marinated Yellowtail and Potatoes
Adapted from Relish, June 2010

It could be that since the original recipe was intended to be made with tuna the sauce didn't need to be tweaked, but yellowtail has a darker meat and deeper flavor so I doubled the hot sauce and garlic that it called for so that their added flavor didn't get lost.  The amounts I've listed below are already adjusted.  If you're concerned about the spice level, rest assured with all those potatoes and fish in there, it's hardly has any spice at all.  Also it said the capers are optional, I say they're a must.

6 servings

1 pound yellowtail fillet
1/4 cup olive oil
2 tablespoons hot sauce, I used Frank's Red Hot 
4 garlic cloves, minced
1/2 teaspoon salt
Coarsely ground black pepper
1 1/2 pounds small red potatoes
Finely grated rind and juice of 1 lemon
1 tablespoon drained capers
1/4 cup chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley

Rinse yellowtail and pat dry. Combine olive oil, hot sauce, garlic, salt and pepper in a measuring cup. Pour half the mixture into a shallow baking pan, reserving remaining sauce. Add yellowtail to pan and refrigerate 1 hour, turning once halfway though.

To the reserved sauce add the lemon zest and juice, set aside.

Rinse off potatoes and cover them in a pot with cold water.  Bring to a boil and cook until tender.  About 20 minutes for smaller potatoes.  Halve or quarter the potatoes, to make bite size chunks.

Preheat grill to high.

Remove yellowtail from marinade and place on grill.  Don't worry about drying it off or scraping away any pieces of garlic that may be still be clinging to it.  Grill 4 to 5 minutes per side, until desired degree of doneness. 

Place hot boiled potatoes in a bowl. Break yellowtail into chunks and add to potatoes. Toss with the reserved sauce and capers.  Sprinkle parsley over the top and serve.