Sunday, September 14, 2008

somethin' fishy

My Aunt Tina divides her time between Connecticut (where her husband is from), Virginia (their home base), and Florida (where she comes to take care of my grandparents who are in their nineties, and who just celebrated their 70th wedding anniversary!!!). Anyway, she emailed me recently about a dinner party she had for her husband's family in CT and the fish she made sounded so yummy, I asked her to send me the recipe. It's from a Martha Stewart magazine (it was a photocopy so not sure what magazine exactly or what issue - sorry) and it's called Fish: Balsamic, Caper, and Anchovy Marinade. All of these ingredients are SO darned expensive here in Japan that I won't be making this very much, but it was nice for a special treat. Even though it's still hot as you-know-where, I fired up my massive oven (ha!)...

I just loved the colors in this dish (here, prebaked):

Dinner is served! I made "baked" (microwaved) potatoes and ribbon carrots and peas to go with it. Yum yum yum. (And we had cold mugicha - barley tea - for drinkies.)
Here's the recipe:

Makes enough for 24 oz. fish.

Best cuts: Thick halibut or other firm-fleshed white fish.

Best cooking technique: Marinate for 2 hours (though I ran out of time and only marinated it about 10 minutes), and then bake in and baste with the marinade in a 350 F (180 C) oven.

1/4 c. fresh lemon juice
1/3 c. extra-virgin olive oil
2 T. balsamic vinegar
1/2 red onion, sliced
1/4 c. chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley
2 anchovies, rinsed well and washed (my aunt and I both left these out, though)
1 T. capers
1 T. finely grated lemon zest (from 2 lemons)
1 t. black peppercorns, crushed
1 t. coarse salt

Whisk everything together and use immediately.

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

We've been eating quite a bit of fish lately and I, too, have been using quite a few red onions and capers. Haven't tried the anchovies in any of my recipes, though. I'll bet it was delicious!

Thistlemoon said...

That does look like an excellent dish! I hope to be a snowbird like your aunt someday soon! Florida is great but I miss New England!

Unknown said...

Happy Anniversary to your grandparents. Wow 70 years!!! Your recipe sounds great.

Abigail (aka Mamatouille) said...

kellypea - Thanks for the comment! Yes, it was gorgeous, but I didn't actually use the anchovies! Maybe next time...Oh, I did try to leave a comment on Sass & Veracity yesterday but for some reason couldn't get it to go through. I did it twice, and got through the capture code OK, but then it didn't seem to work anyway. Hmmm. Any ideas for me? I love your blog and have been reading it about a month now - I've got your baked ricotta, olives, and California rose bookmarked in case we ever move back to the States and I can actually get those ingredients! It looks gorgeous.

jenndz - The Leftover Queen was the first foodie blog I ever read, so thanks for the inspiration! And actually, I grew up in Orlando and really miss Florida!

ivy - Thanks for the anniversary wishes for my grandparents. I'll pass that on to them because they don't have a computer and read my blog! The recipes WAS yummy!

Abigail (aka Mamatouille) said...

kellypea - I guess my comment did go through on your blog! And yes, Thanksgiving dinner here is really hard to do.