Since I love to cook delicious meals, and I often have friends ask for my recipes, I thought it would be fun to start sharing some of my newest successes here, on my blog.
Breaded Red Snapper with Shrimp, Fennel and Oranges (serves 6)
from John Besh’s My New Orleans.
1 bulb fennel
4 oranges
12 jumbo wild American shrimp, boiled, peeled and halved lengthwise
¼ Cup Basic Lemon Vinaigrette (see below)
1 pinch cayenne pepper (I substitute Pepper Punch Red Pepper Flakes)
1 pinch sugar
Salt
Freshly ground black pepper
6 slices white bread, crusts removed
Leaves from 1 sprig fresh tarragon, minced
6 6-oz skinless red snapper filets
2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
1 handful fresh chives, chopped
Small sprigs from 1 branch fresh dill
Petals from 2 chive blossoms
- For the salad, slice the fennel as thinly as possible using a mandoline or a very sharp knife. Put the fennel into a medium bowl.
- Using a sharp knife, prepare the oranges by first cutting off the top and bottom of each. Then stand the orange on one end and slice off the peel and white pith from top to bottom, cutting around the entire orange, removing as much peel as possible and leaving as much flesh as you can.
- Working over the bowl with fennel to catch the juices, cut out each fleshy fruit segment from between the membranes on each side. Squeeze any remaining juice left from the pulp into the same bowl, discard the pulp.
- Add the shrimp, Lemon Vinaigrette, cayenne pepper and sugar to the fennel and orange segments, season with salt and pepper. Toss well and set the salad aside.
- Using a pasta machine or rolling pin, flatten each slice of bread to a thickness of 1/8 – 1/16 inch. Lay the slices of bead out on a work surface and sprinkle each slice with the minced tarragon.
- Season the fish with salt and pepper and place each filet on top of a slice of bread. Using a sharp knife, cut around the perimeter of the fish so that the bread perfectly matches the dimensions of the filet.
- Heat the olive oil in a large skillet over moderate heat. Place the pieces of prepared fish in the skillet, bread side down, and cook until the bread is golden brown, about 4 minutes. Carefully turn the filets over and cook the fish until it is lightly browned and just cooked through, 3-4 minutes longer.
- On each of 6 plates, place a small bed of fresh spinach and place one of the “breaded” filets on top, bread side up. Spoon some of the fennel-orange salad over each fish filet and scatter some of the chives, dill and chive blossoms on top. (Note: in John Besh’s recipe he also calls for a small amount of citrus hollandaise sauce under the fish, I don’t use it so skipped it here)
Lemon Vinaigrette (makes 1 ¼ cups)
3 tablespoons rice wine vinegar
3 tablespoons fresh lemon juice (Meyer lemons if you can find them)
2 teaspoons fresh lemon zest
1 shallot, minced
1 small pinch crushed red pepper flakes
¾ cup extra virgin olive oil
1 dash Meyer-lemon infused olive oil
Salt
Freshly ground black pepper