Risotto, Rockfish, Herb Puree and Squid Ink Tuile

Contributed by: Daniel "I'll Hire You Today" Mastrolonardo

FUN FACT: Upon presenting his meal to the judge panel at the 2019 Catch & Cook Competition, Fin + Forage’s executive chef Colin Moody, offered him a job at his restaurant on the spot. Daniel took home 4th place and a number of raffle items.

This meal is pretty easy, a little time consuming but you will learn amazing techniques that will assist you in the kitchen for the rest of your life, and best of all you will score major points with anyone joining you for dinner. This meal would pair beautifully with a rich and buttery Chardonnay like Rombauer. For the sake of timing, you will want to make sure your fish, carrots and risotto are served hot and the herb puree cold. You can make the tuille ahead of time (keep in a room temperature, dry area) and also make the puree ahead of time and keep in fridge. Then start the risotto and about 1/2 way through start your carrots the fish.

INGREDIENTS

Risotto

2 tsp olive oil
1 onion, chopped
5 cloves garlic, minced
1 1/2 cups Portobello mushrooms, sliced in thick cubes (.75")
1/2 tsp kosher salt
1/4 cup sour cream
1/2 tsp freshly cracked black pepper
2/3 cup chopped almonds
2 cups brown/wild rice
1 cup dry white wine
6 cups fish stock (awesome recipe here)
3/4 cup good quality parmesan cheese, grated

Risotto Directions

In a saucepan, keep stock warm on low heat. In a large heavy-bottomed pot, heat oil over medium heat. Add onions, garlic and mushrooms. Sautee until vegetables are soft, about 5 minutes. Add rice, salt and pepper then stir to toast rice a bit, about 3 minutes. Add wine to deglaze the bottom of the pan by scraping the browned bits with a wooden spoon. As Chef Colin says in his “Fish Cooking Basics” Video, “if you don’t have a wooden spoon, your Italian grandma will slap you.” Turn heat down to medium low and stir until liquid is absorbed. Add fish stock, a half cup at a time, stirring until liquid is just absorbed each time before adding the next portion of stock. Keep adding liquid and stirring until rice is fully cooked and creamy. It will take about 45 minutes to an hour. Once rice is fully cooked, stir in grated cheese, sour cream and almonds.

HERB PUREE

This puree will change your life. In a good blender, add plain greek yogurt, olive oil, rosemary, thyme, garlic, spinach, juice of 1 lemon, generous amount of salt, pepper, chili powder, paprika, spinach and a lot of Italian parsley. Strain with fine mesh into a squeeze bottle with a medium tip.

BAKED CARROTS:

6 baby carrots with tops still on, tops trimmed to 2 inches
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
5 cloves garlic, minced
1 teaspoon dried thyme
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
2 tablespoons chopped parsley leaves

CARROT DIRECTIONS:

Coat carrots in olive oil, balsamic vinegar, garlic and thyme; season with salt and pepper, to taste. Gently toss to combine. Place into oven and bake until barely tender, definitely still slightly crisp in the center –20-25 minutes at most. Optional: Use a torch to brown the skin.

SQUID INK TUILLE

The hardest part is getting the right ratio of batter to depth of canola oil in the pan. You’ll want a small, teflon frying pan (6”) or so, and you want to add just a thin layer of oil, enough to fully (borderline excessively) coat the bottom of the pan. While the oil heats up on high, put 1 part flour to 9 parts water (make at least 1 cup total of batter). I add a small amount of squid ink so that my lace tuille turns black but you can use food coloring or anything else you’d like to make it fit with your plate. Then pour an amount of batter in. This is the trial and error part. You’ll need to figure out how much batter for how deep your oil is. When you first pour it it, it looks like black, boiling sludge (make sure not to stir it or move the pan at all) but then starts to crisp up. It will definitely splatter at first, so have a splatter guard handy. Keep it crisping until the edges are matte and starting to lift from the pan. It’s crazy fragile so lift carefully and place gently on a paper towel. . For other beautiful garnishes and techniques, take a peek at this article.

FISH FILLET

You want to make sure that the fillet was treated well up to this point (read this article). Bring the fillet out at least 30 minutes prior to cooking it (or much earlier if it was previously frozen) - as with most meats, you don’t want to throw a cold chunk of meat onto the pan as it won’t cook evenly. When you bring it out of the fridge, coat it in olive oil, salt, pepper, a dash of garlic powder and a little paprika. Here are the keys to cooking a great fish fillet: 1) Make sure the pan is already hot with the oil before adding the fish - you’ll want your heat around a 7.5/10 aka medium high; 2) add the fish (if you’ve kept the skin on, add it skin side down on a pan slightly hotter than if without skin) and DON’T MOVE IT. Don’t flip it multiple times, don’t shift it around, don’t check the underside, etc. Almost the entire cooking process will be done on just one side. As the fish cooks, you will see it become less translucent and more white. Just as the white almost reaches the top of the fish, 3) gently flip it, keep the pan on the heat for about 30 seconds, then remove it from the heat and take the fish off the pan. The fish will continue to cook even when off the pan so don’t overcook it. Serve it brown side up. If cooked correctly, there should be a beautiful brown crust and the fish just barely cooked all the way through.

Just as a point of reference, this is what a well cooked fillet looks like.