We were very lucky this day to get a delivery of fresh caught haddock from New England Fishmongers by Captain Tim himself. He placed it in a cooler on our front porch, all social distancing protocols properly observed.
We got hooked on cooking fish this way when we were up in Newfoundland in 2018 and had their wonderful fresh caught cod often. Its really simple, cut the fish up into bite sized pieces, salt & pepper, flour and then pan fry in a modest amount of oil. Hint: on the small pieces near the tail you can fold it in half, skin side in, set them carefully in the oil that way and they will stay folded.
I like to make my own tarter sauce, I use a really simple recipe from Rebecca Charles of the Perl Oyster Bar in NYC.
- 1/4 cup chopped red onion
- 1/4 cup roughly chopped capers
- 1/4 cup chopped cornichons, plus 2 tbls of the juice
- 3 cups Hellmann’s mayonnaise
- 1/2 tsp kosher salt
- 1/2 tsp freshly ground pepper.
Just mix all of those together.
For a bit of crispyness I did some Crispy Kale, a simple version. Cut kale from the stem and then cut into moderate pieces, sprinkle with a bit of Diamond kosher salt and some David’s Devil Dust. Make sure the seasonings get evenly distributed, kale has wrinkles and folds that can fill up, then give it a good coat of oil and massage it in. Yes, hands work best, and the kale loves it.
Spread on parchment on a baking sheet and in the oven at 350 convection roast for 10 minutes. Keep an eye on it and give it good toss and turn about half way through. Go a little longer if necessary, but what you want is just crispy, not desiccated. I shut off the heat and leave the oven door ajar to keep them warm as the rest of the dinner comes together.
French Fries would be fun, but I have some lemon potatoes made a few nights ago that will be just fine. After a brief warm up in the microwave in a cast iron skillet they go to get a bit of fresh sear on them.
An there you have it!
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