Grilled Whole Snapper

Watch the inspiration video:  Fish Meets Fire

Our version -

If you really want to enjoy the flavors of a great fish, you've got to cook it whole. A big fish stuffed with aromatics and glistening with olive oil, makes a knock out presentation.

At the fish market, look for sea bass or snapper, one that has clear bright eyes, looks fresh and healthy and smells of the sea not fish. Choose one that's big enough to feed two people, about 2 lbs. Have them clean, gut and scale the fish but leave the head on.

You could cook the fish in the oven, but for best results, grill it on a gas or charcoal grill. A well-oiled grill basket is a necessity, it holds the fish and its seasonings together and protects the skin from sticking to a hot grill.

INGREDIENTS

3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil, plus more for oiling basket

1 teaspoon minced green garlic (or regular garlic)

1 teaspoon minced fresh sage

1 teaspoon minced fresh marjoram or oregano

1 teaspoon tangerine or orange zest

1½ - 2 lb black sea bass or snapper, scaled and cleaned

Salt, to taste

DIRECTIONS

In a small bowl, combine the olive oil, garlic, sage and marjoram. Put fish on a cutting board and cut three ¼-inch-deep slits into both sides of the fish. Using your hands, rub the herb oil and tangerine zest all over the fish and inside the cavity. Transfer fish to the refrigerator to marinate for 20 minutes.

Meanwhile, prepare a gas or charcoal grill for medium-hot grilling. Remove the fish from the refrigerator and season with salt. Transfer to a grill basket that has been brushed with olive oil.

Grill the fish, flipping once, until the skin is crispy and the fish is cooked through, about 5 minutes on each side. Remove the fish from the grill basket and transfer to a large platter.

Remove the meat, skin and herbs - Enjoy!

Herb Encrusted Mediterranean Pork Spareribs

Pork spareribs are not normally part of Mediterranean cuisine. Pork ribs are rarely separated from the loin meat and are more likely to be found in the form of rib roasts and rib chops, not in slabs and barbecued as we are used to having them here. I call them Mediterranean spareribs because the ingredients are ingredients typically used in Mediterranean cooking. The rub has ground fennel, coriander and cumin seeds, herbs de provence, and light brown sugar. I also add balsamic vinegar during the cooking and a squeeze of lemon juice while on the grill. A lot of cool flavors going on - porky, savory, sweet, tart, salty, earthy, herbal, smokey. Yah, that's right, getting all the taste buds involved!

The idea is to roast the rack in the oven low and slow - 250 degrees for 3 hours, then finish off on the grill (or in a wood fired oven).

The easiest way to grind the fennel, coriander and cumin seeds is to use an electric coffee bean grinder. I have one that I relegate to only grinding herbs and spices. It's quick and easy. If you don't have a coffee bean grinder, you could use a mortar and pestle or put the seeds in a plastic sandwich bag and roll over them with a rolling pin or crush them with a heavy skillet or the side of a heavy kitchen knife.or a meat mallet - choose you weapon. But, hell, just go buy an inexpensive coffee bean grinder. You can use it for other things too.

 

Ingredients - enough for one rack of ribs - about 3 1/2 lbs - increase to meet your needs
1 rack of St Louis style pork spareribs
1 tbsp Olive Oil
1 tbsp Fennel Seeds
1 tbsp Coriander Seeds
1 tsp Cumin Seeds
1 tsp Herbes de Provence
1/2 cup Light Brown Sugar
3 tbsp Balsamic Vinegar
1 tsp Kosher Salt
1 tsp coarse black pepper
1 Lemon

Procedure

Toast the seeds in a frying pan on medium heat until they are just lightly browned. Be careful not to burn them, so don't get distracted. Put them on a plate to cool. When they have cooled, roughly grind the seeds in the coffee grinder or use a mortar and pestle.

In a bowl, mix together the ground seeds, herbes de province, brown sugar, salt and pepper

Rinse off and pat dry the spareribs and lay on a baking sheet.

Rub with the olive oil, then rub in the herb mix on both sides. Cover with plastic wrap and put in the refrigerator for several hours or better over night.

Preheat the oven to 250. 

Place the ribs in a roasting pan and cover with foil, put in the oven and roast for 3 hours

After roasting for two hours add the balsamic vinegar and half a cup of water to the drippings.

Baste the ribs twice in the last half hour.

On a gas grill, line the rib rack with aluminum foil and carefully transfer the ribs from the roaster to the grill. Save the juices in the roaster. 

Squeeze the juice from the lemon over the ribs, put the lid down and grill on low for 45 minutes.

This is a close up of the surface of the ribs when done - see the crushed fennel and coriander seeds!

For the sauce - 

After the ribs are on the grill, pour the dripping from the roasting pan in a small pan and reduce on low heat by half.  The sauce should have a syrupy consistency. If it becomes too thick, add a little water. Serve the sauce at the table to spoon over the ribs.

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Pics of other pork spareribs variations made in the past

With bay leaves, black peppercorns and apple cider vinegar

With white wine, garlic, oregano and lemon slices

Mezzaluna Ravioli with a Pork Rib Sauce

Homemade mezzaluna (half moon) ravioli stuffed with a filling of ricotta cheese, mozzarella, garlic, garlic tops, arugula, baby spinach and lemon zest. The sauce is a pork ragu made with country style pork ribs. Pork is our meat of choice in this dish but you could use beef short ribs or chuck if you like. The pork ribs have a flavor that seems to be most complimentary here. 
You will need a pasta rolling machine for the ravioli or you can roll the pasta out by hand with a rolling pin. 

First brown a few country pork ribs on medium high heat. Then add onions, garlic and rosemary. Cover and continue to cook on medium heat until it looks like this, about 15 - 20 min.

Add a can of San Marzano tomatoes with their juice.  Break the tomatoes up with your hands. Add half a cup of red wine. Use the wine you will be having with the meal.

Cover and simmer on low for two hours adding a little water if the sauce gets too thick. The meat will become very tender and easily broken apart/shredded with a wooden spoon.

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For the ravioli filling - 

We pulled this nice garlic from our garden a little early and can use the green top in this dish as well as the cloves. If you have even just a small space for a garden, you should try to grow some of your own garlic and a few herbs (basil, thyme, rosemary, flat leaf parsley) it is so worth it. They are easy to grow and maintain - just wonderful weeds!

The fresh garlic is very aromatic and since it has not been cured and dried, the cloves are not easy to separate so we just sliced and chopped the whole head.

Saute the garlic, some of the garlic tops and lemon zest in olive oil, then add chopped arugula and baby spinach. Saute until they are just wilted. Let cool and stir into ricotta cheese.

Meanwhile roll the pasta into sheets - setting #4 on a pasta machine. Cut circles in the rolled dough with a round cookie cutter or an inverted drinking glass. Put a spoonful of the filling on each round and fold over, Pinching the edges closed.

Cook the ravioli in mildly boiling water (not in rapidly boiling water) until they float. Just a couple minutes.

Then plate up and sauce with the ragu. Sprinkle with some of the chopped garlic tops and a little pecorino cheese. I used more sauce than I normally would with pasta because it was so good and the ravioli could take it!

A Little of This, a Little of That

We couldn't figure out what to make for dinner recently. So, like what many of you might do, we looked for inspiration by opening and closing the refrigerator a half dozen times and looking through the kitchen cabinets, pulling out this and that, looking it over, ending up throwing a few things out, argued a little, just a little... 

The result was our home version of the Food Network show "Chopped". OK, this is what was in our "basket" - 

A pack of frozen ground pork

Some frozen peppadew peppers (they are sweet, sour and spicy hot)

A chunk of stale country bread (no mold)

The remnants (about 1/4 of a bag) of shredded mozzarella

Spinach and arugula mix (oh, we still have some of that left?)

A box of multicolored farfalle pasta that was a gift from my son and daughter-in-law

This is what we ended up making with those ingredients. It really turned out great with a lot of good flavors and textures - the sweet/sour/heat and char from the peppers, the creamy, bitter and color from the pasta and greens and the savory crunch from the meatballs. Nice!

Lisa stuffed the peppadew peppers with browned pork, breadcrumbs made from the stale bread, the mozzarella, olive oil, garlic and oregano from our garden.

Made meatballs with the extra stuffing 

Made the farfalle pasta and stirred in a couple hand-fulls of the arugula and spinach salad mix with some ricotta and pecorino cheese. The hot pasta wilted the greens just right.

Broiled the stuffed peppadews to put a little crunch and char on them. Addictive!

Penne with Bolognese Ragu Baked in a Crock

Lisa made this for dinner recently - penne pasta with Bolognese ragu, topped with cheese and baked in these cool red ceramic crocks her pack rat grandfather had stashed away.The crocks are 6" diameter and 2 1/4" tall. The ingredients are enough to make two of these but if you have something similar, close to the same size or glass casserole this should work with a little adjustment.

Just looking at this, you know it's going to be delicious, and it was!

Ingredients for the Bolognese ragu -
   
3 tbs olive oil
2 tbs unsalted butter
1/2 sweet onion finely diced
1 rib celery finely diced
1 medium carrot finely diced
1/4 lb ground chuck
1/4 lb ground pork
1/2 cup red wine
1/2 cup milk
1/8 tsp freshly grated nutmeg
2 cups whole peeled San Marzano tomatoes with their juice coarsely chopped

Put the oil, butter and onion in a saucepan over med high heat and saute until the onion has turned a golden color

Add the diced carrot and celery and continue sauteing for several minutes.

Add the meat, breaking it up with a wooden spoon. Add a little salt and cook stirring until the meat has browned.

Add the wine and continue stirring occasionally until it has evaporated. Add the milk and nutmeg and continue to cook.

Add the tomatoes and stir until they start to bubble then turn down the heat to simmer.

Meanwhile get the water boiling for the pasta. When it comes to a rolling boil add half a box of penne. Boil for only half the time recommended on the box - about 5 minutes - it will finish cooking in the sauce later.

Add the pasta to the sauce along with a couple dollops of ricotta and stir in. If it seems too thick add a little water to loosen it up. Spoon the pasta and sauce into the crocks. 


The cheese mixture for the top - ricotta, shredded mozzarella, garlic, fresh oregano, flat leaf parsley, olive oil. Spread evenly on top of the pasta in the crocks:

   
Bake at 375 for 30 minutes or until the top looks nice and golden.

Let rest for 15 minutes.

Enjoy with a good mixed green salad, some sliced mellon and a couple glasses of red.