Summer sometimes feels like a race to enjoy all of the great produce while it's here. We're lucky to have a farmer's market close to us, and we have cherry tomatoes and green beans growing in our little side-yard plot. A lot of meals lately have been very simple: lots of grilled zucchini, green beans, steamed red potatoes, and as much corn on the cob as possible, along with something like chicken or pork chops slapped on the grill without too much thought. Our little cherry tomatoes (about a dozen a day) never even make it off the counter.
Whole grilled fish. Cooking with wood is fun, and cooking whole fish is fun, and together you get sort of a grilling speedball. I got some little red snappers from the Asian market because I have been thinking a lot about little grilled fish lately, particularly sardines and anchovies. Since we don't get those here, I had to settle for the snapper.
Started with the usual wood fire:
Laid the fish right on the hot grill after oiling both the grill and the fish:
When they were good and seared on the first side, I moved them away from the fire and closed the lid to finish them up. Since I'd oiled both the grill and the fish they lost a little skin but really didn't stick, and they held together pretty well:
The wood still smokes a fair amount, so while they cook they also take on a nice smoky flavor:
The sauce. I made another summer salsa, this one Thai-inspired with diced hearts of lemongrass, radish, and a little chile, seasoned with FLS:
This dinner was definitely hands-on: we ate the fish with our hands, since I don't know how to get the little bones out any other way, and had plenty of corn on the cob to go with it.
I served the fish au naturel with basil, cilantro, and fried shallots. This way to eat fish is definitely not for everyone, but the 5 year old thought that eating the head was the bomb, and my wife grew up on little fish that her brother and cousins had caught from local lakes, so this was old hat. And it is pretty fun to eat the meat off the little fish heads.
Hi, Meez!!
I've missed you at eG---always loved your posts. Hope all is well and would love to hear how you and your family are.
rachel d
Posted by: rachel d | February 08, 2008 at 02:35 PM