While we really like the recipe I’ve been using for ocean perch fillets for several years, I wanted to try it without the anchovy. Last night I substituted sorrel, because at the moment, with what I had on hand at the moment, it seemed like the most promising alternative.
The result was good, but not exciting; I’m going to keep experimenting with the recipe, perhaps trying some kind of shellfish as the finish, but I also expect to also return to the anchovies, probably in smaller amounts.
I love what these red fillets look like, almost as much as I love their taste and texture.
- six red-skinned ocean perch fillets (18 ounces) from P.E. & D.D. Seafood Company, rinsed, and dried, both sides brushed with 2 tablespoons of olive oil mixed with a total of little more than a teaspoon of a combination of very small chopped rocambole garlic cloves from Keith’s Farm and a thinly-sliced bit from the white section of scallion from from Phillips Farms, the fish seasoned, also on both sides, with sea salt and freshly-ground black pepper, placed skin side up inside an enameled cast iron pan and broiled, 4 or 5 inches from the flames, for 4 or 5 minutes, or until the skin had become crisp and the fish was cooked through, finished on the plates by drizzling with a small amount of sauce prepared by gently heating a few leaves of baby sorrel from Two Guys from Woodbridge in a bit of olive oil over a very low flame, with fresh leaves added after the heat under the was turned off, Whole Foods Market organic lemon wedges served on the side
- slices of a buckwheat baguette from Runner & Stone Bakery, from their stand in Saturday’s Union Square Greenmarket
- a large bunch of red mustard from Lani’s Farm, wilted in a little olive oil in which several large halved cloves of John D. Madura Farms garlic had been allowed to sweat a bit, seasoned with salt and pepper and finished on the plates with a drizzle of olive oil
- the wine was a French (Loire/Touraine) white, Vouvray Sec, Brisebarre 2014, from Astor Wines
- the music was the 1934 verismo opera, ‘Juha’, by the Finnish composer Leevi Madetoja, Jussi Jalas conducting the Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra and the Finnish Radio Youth Chorus