First Documentation - Only 374 More To Go

I would have like to have started this off with something simple, like one of the recipes for rookies at the beginning of the book. However, today was Good Friday, so that pretty much leaves me with the Fish and Seafood section. As if I wasn't already intimidated by grilling with charcoal, I am especially intimidated by fish. I don't have much experience with the stuff, even with Ol' Faithful. But, it was sink or swim time. The Bride and I went to the Hyde Park Fish Market this morning (always great people, great help, and a great selection) and landed on Sea Bass. The Big Book of Grilling had three recipes for Sea Bass, and The Bride and I chose the Curried Sea Bass With Tropical Fruit Salsa on page 303. I also made the executive decision that we needed a side, so I selected the Grilled Asparagus With Tarragon Butter recipe on page 341. Weber might have something to say about me giving away their exact recipes for free, so I will just show the basic ingredients, but not give away specific amounts.

Here are the ingredients for the Sea Bass:

and here is what what needed for the Asparagus:

The first step was to prepare the salsa:

Then I prepped the tarragon butter for the asparagus:

I started with four pounds of charcoal:

I know that I am inexperienced at this point, but nonetheless I decided that that this was not enough, and added another pound:

Okay, so while the charcoal was getting ready, it was time to prep the Sea Bass: Once I deemed the grill ready, I used paper towels, tongs, and vegetable oil to lube the grilling grates. This, I figured, would aid in the fish not sticking when it was time to flip or remove from the grill. I placed the fish face-down for ten minutes (talking to the awesome people at Hyde Park Fish Market, they told me that a good rule of thumb was ten minutes per inch of thickness for fish, and this bad boy was about two and a quarter inches) to achieve nice grill marks before putting it skin-side down. I then flipped it, and added the asparagus:Go baby, go!

The asparagus finished before the fish, so I had to pull them. We experienced a "fallen soldier."

Almost done...while the asparagus was hot, the recipe called for them to be tossed in the tarragon butter. I used one of my larger prep bowls.

And I'm spent!

Overall I was rather happy. The "ten minutes per inch" rule was pretty much spot-on. The fish was perfectly cooked, succulent, and just plain awesome. Overall, I would give this recipe an 8 out of 10. Having tooled around with some French techniques recently, I would say that a nice beurre blanc sauce would make this dish absolutely exquisite; perhaps something along the lines of a curried beurre blanc to tie it all together. The asparagus was nice, but next time I will cut the amount of butter in half. It is a fantastic herbed butter, and is rather versatile. I would like to try it on a steak. The salsa is amazing. I really wouldn't change it at all. It adds a nice element to the meal. It can overpower the fish, so I don't recommend putting the fish and salsa on the same forkful, but on the same plate is pleasant.

The beverage of choice was a Muscadet from the Loire valley of France. I have been enamored with Loire whites recently, especially the Chenin Blancs and Melons. Sure, Sancerre and Pouilly-Fume are nice, but for 10 to 15 bucks, the other whites from this region are a steal. Specifically, The Bride and I enjoyed a 2007 Chateau de L'Hyverniere Muscadet Sevre et Maine Reserve. The Hyde Park Fish Maket and the Wine Merchant are right next to each other, and if you buy your fish at the HPFM you can get 10% off any bottle that you choose to go with your meal next door.

So to sum up, this was a wonderful learning experience, and a bit of a confidence booster. Recently my exploits into charcoal grilling have left me devastated, even to the point of giving up cooking for about a week and half. Regardless of confidence, thought, it may be a bit before my next post. Easter is coming up, and I will be smoking some hams (That perhaps should be another blog....) for about a dozen people. It may be the middle of next week before I can grill again.