I am impressed with my new found hobby of making things up in the
kitchen. Today I prepared for my wife and myself fillets of Chilean
red snapper with a mixed salad and white zinfandel wine.
First, I went to the supermarket (HEB for those who live in Texas) and
got two fillets of Chilean red snapper. The guy at the fish
department was kind enough to remove the skin for me and at the same
time gave me a lesson on how to do it.
Then I visited the fresh produce department and selected some of the
following for the salad:
1 large red pepper
3 medium size tangerines
1 bunch of asparagus (about 15)
1 large head/bunch of broccoli
1 large Haas avocado - unfortunately they were out of green skin
avocados. I prefer the green skin because they are a bit more
creamier than the Haas and hold their shape when tossed in a salad.
1 large red onion
1 medium size lemon (yellow type not the lime green ones), for
drizzling over the fish and salad
1 small head iceberg lettuce - there is no nutritional value to this
type of lettuce, I use it for bulk/filler. The rabbits won't even eat
it.
Once I got home, I seasoned the snapper with olive oil, Old Bay
seafood seasoning and a bit of coarse salt and freshly ground black
pepper, then set the fish aside to absorb the seasonings.
The salad.
While the fish did it's thing, I cut off the woody part of the
asparagus and cut the rest of the asparagus in 1 inch diagonal
lengths. Then came the broccoli, I cut the thick trunk (saved for
making a soup later) and cut the rest into bite size little trees. I
filled one of the pots about half way with water and brought that to a
boil, then added some coarse salt and added the asparagus and
broccoli. Once the two were done - about 4 minutes - I drained them
and put them in cold water to stop the cooking action. As I did all
of that, my wife peeled and separated the tangerines. Then I cut the
avocado in half, took out the pit and diced the avocado meat it in the
peel and set it aside. Cut the red pepper in quarter inch strips and
then in thirds. I sliced the red onion very thin (santoku knives are
great for thin slicing), removed about 6 to 8 leaves from the lettuce
and tore it into little pieces (akin romaine for a Caesar's salad).
When all of this was done, I dumped all of it in a large salad bowl,
added some orange poppy seed dressing, tossed it and placed it in the
fridge.
The fish.
Now that the salad was done, I took out my trusty large skillet and
added about 6 tablespoons of olive oil. When the oil was nice and
hot, I added a sprinkle of garlic and onion powder to the oil and put
the snapper in the skillet. I let the snapper sear on each side for
about 4 minutes.
Platting.
The snapper was plated atop a bed of fresh spinach with some walnuts.
I placed generous servings of the salad beside the snapper, and
popped open a bottle of very, VERY cold zinfandel and we had a feast.
Cost of fish and produce about $25
Gasoline from my house to the supermarket, about $5
Compliments from by wife, priceless.
Ray
Austin, TX
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