Ok, so spring has finally arrived in PA. It has been beautiful for the past few days. I am also on a bit of a paid leave from work, as my corporate cafe is being remodeled. So, I felt like cooking something on the grill. I thought it was time for wild salmon already, so I headed to my local fish guy, Heller's Seafood in Warrington, PA. I have known Greg Heller and his crew for a long time. I bought my fish for the restaurant from them. They get wonderful stuff, but it ain't cheap. Apparently, the wild fish hasn't started running in the Pacific Northwest quite yet; we are a couple weeks away from Washington and Oregon fish. Right now, there is some Alaskan salmon, but it is hard to come by, and like $30/lb. That's out of my range. What they did have was some line caught Grouper. If you have never eaten grouper, it is a warm water swimmer from down in the Atlantic and the Gulf. It is a sweet, firm fish with just enough fat to keep it from being too dry and flaky.
Because it is indigenous to the warmer climes, I tend to think of lighter, more fruity accompaniments. But, I also had a bag of rainbow Swiss Chard in my fridge that needed to be cooked. I had a couple of blood oranges in there, too, a half a red onion, and a seedless cucumber. I bought the fish, two navel oranges and an avocado. And here's what I did:
I peeled all of the oranges with a knife, cutting off the top and bottom, and then running the knife down the skin. Then I cut the oranges in half and made half moon slices. They went in a mixing bowl. I cut some of the cucumber into chunks and added them. Sliced the red onion thinly and added it. Cut the avocado into chunks and that went in, too. I dressed that with extra-virgin, really fruity olive oil, a squeeze of lime and some sea salt.
I took a piece of foil, sprayed it and put the fish on. Put a couple slices of the orange and the onion on top and ground some of my neat South African Smoke Seasoning that I got from Trader Joe's. (If you follow my blog, you've seen a picture of it with some chicken) Drizzled a little olive oil on and a squeeze of lime, and sealed up the package, leaving a little bit open at the top. This went on the grill to cook. It was a thick piece of fish, so it took about 10-12 minutes.
While that was cooking, I heated some olive oil lightly in a saute pan, and then cooked the chard over a medium heat until it was getting soft, but a still a little crispy. That went on the plate as the base. The fish went on next, and then a topping of the orange/avocado/cuke salad. It was and incredible flavor and texture experience. Paying for line caught fish was totally worth it. I actually blew myself away! Damn! Do this dish with grouper, snapper, striper, monkfish, even salmon.
Here, take a look:
See you soon with more!
Damn, that looks good!
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