Friday, July 19, 2013

Swordfish with Frilly Herb Salad


Per Nana~
Dorie has a bit of information at the end of this week's recipe in reference to "piment d'espelette". I did not realize that these chile peppers were from the Pays Basque region of France, but it brought back memories of Hubby and I driving through this beautiful area and seeing all the bright red peppers hanging everywhere. It was quite a sight.
I remember the little town of Bidart and having a cafe creme while sitting under rows of drying garlic and ham curing in the sunlight. I thought I would share the above photo that we had taken back then, not too good, but the peppers still stand out clearly. 

When Tricia and I were in Blois, France recently, we came across the weekly food market that had about 125 vendors. One of the tables(above) had a display of piment d'espelette that I found interesting. 

This week's recipe was an absolute winner in our house. I have not tasted Swordfish in many years and after getting over the sticker shock, I decided we should really eat it more frequently, it is so good.  I followed all the directions for a change, aside from the fact that I cut the recipe in half.  I added baby frisee to the parsley to top off the dish. Fresh corn from the local farm made this a delightful combination that we truly enjoyed.

This week I also decided to do a "make-up" recipe for the wheat berry and tuna dish. I have used wheat berry before, but it was used in the Italian Easter wheat pie that includes sugar, eggs and ricotta cheese.  I just loved this tuna rendition. The texture of the wheat berry and the addition of apple, onion, celery and pepper is so good.  After adding the egg and avocado to it, I had a delicious lunch. Hubby was not impressed. More for me to enjoy ~
Per Tricia~
I managed to make this dish, but remain firmly behind on all other aspects of life, due in part to the wonderful recent vacation. Thanks for the great comments about us sharing photos and be warned, I have been wading through tons of pictures each night. I hoped to get them linked to this post but didn't make it. My fingers are crossed for next week. Consider yourselves warned :)
A purchase on the recent trip at our favorite "souvenir" shop in the Loire Valley - the local grocery store !
We were delighted to see how many folks were on board for a NY area "Dorie Convention" - we will have to work something out for sure. For now, Nana and I still plan to hit Seattle in the fall and are VERY much looking forward to meeting all who can attend that one.
Do the labeled tupperwares look familiar ? Yup- Nana provided me everything except the
 Swordfish, know it was a  hectic week. How could I not make this one ?  And how lucky am I  :)
Now, that fish.  That EXPENSIVE fish. Our usual splurge is a nice hunk of Costo salmon. We all adore it and because I was particularly disorganized this week - we had a huge slab cooked mid week without my realizing FFWD focused on fish.  But I can assure you that I was not going to spring for Swordfish at $26 a pound for two teenage boys and a hubby to call a first course regardless. 
 Since Nana raved about how good it was, I sprung for one big one and we all taste tested.  This is the first time my fingers were crossed that the family WOULDN'T like it :)  But they did.  Luckily, since they will not be getting it anytime in the near future (if ever) they all agreed that the marinade was fabulous and would like to see it on other fish as all.  That, I can do ~
Happy French Friday !

9 comments:

  1. Glad to hear this was a winner all around.

    Look forward to meeting up with you in Seattle or NY or both! We booked our plane tickets to Seattle this week :-)

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  2. I felt the same way about swordfish.. hadn't had it in a long time and thought it was fabulous. I will just close my eyes when I buy it and know that it still is less than getting it in a restaurant. So glad Dorie brought me back to this fantastic fish.

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  3. I'd never eaten swordfish before this week - and was disturbed to see it in it's complete form at the Rungis market last week - avec swords! But I loved it too. But so $$$. I think the marinade will work with other fishes and chicken so will have to try that.

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  4. Nana: what a wonderful whaet berry salad, it is such a terrific recipe and I am glad that you also liked this recipe so very much - we all enjoyed that recipe and I have made it numerous times since. I love the picture that you posted of the peppers drying slowly in the sun! Fantastic!
    Tricia: what a fabulous swordfish treat you prepared for the whole family, it looks so delicious and I am delighted to hear that it was enjoyed by all!
    Finally, yesterday was the last day of school here and we were a tad exhausted - a very long school year - and I decided to skip this Friday´s post as we wanted to take the kids on a lovely afternoon trip to amazing Cologne and I just felt like blogging about that instead...
    Have a wonderful weekend! And, yes, I am very much looking forward to ALL your pictures as I am quite sure that you visited a lot of fabulous places!

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  5. I had never heard of the beloved 'pimente' before joining this group but it has become a beloved part of the pantry I will not be without again. Thanks for sharing your pictures of your pimente encounter at the source!

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  6. Both versions look lovely! In your photo of the pimente d'espelette display I see a jar that looks exactly like what I have! It's good to know I have the real thing.

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  7. Both versions of the swordfish look wonderful, and a beautiful wheat-berry salad, Nana! We loved that one. And the marinade was a keeper for sure! Will definitely be making it again! Lovely post!

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  8. I'm glad you both enjoyed this one! I'm looking forward to your photos.

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