Seasonal Recipe of the Week
My friend and fellow chef Cole Chabon, turned me on to this recipe for red snapper in a sauce of saffron and tomato and cream and I went nuts! So I thought we should do it on today’s show. It’s from The Silver Palate Cookbook. Now you could use a variety of fish, from red snapper to Dover sole, it’s all about the sauce. When John cooked it, he rolled the fillets and stood them up and stuffed them with julienne vegetables. John also suggested you could make the sauce a day ahead of time.
Ingredients
1 cup heavy cream
1/3 cup fish stock or bottled clam juice
1 tablespoon tomato paste
1/2 teaspoon anchovy paste
Black pepper to taste
Pinch of saffron threads
1 small ripe tomato, seeded and diced
1 tablespoon fresh chervil or parsley, chopped
2 red snapper fillets, 6 ounces each
Salt to taste
2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
Procedure
To make sauce: in a small saucepan, heat cream, tomato paste, fish stock, anchovy paste, and pepper just till simmering. Cook until reduced to 3/4 of a cup. Do not let boil. Stir in saffron and set aside and keep warm. Preheat the broiler. Oil a shallow pan and set aside. Toss the chervil and tomato together and set aside. Season the fillets with salt and pepper and lemon juice and place in one layer in the prepared oiled pan. Broil for 5 minutes. Pour a pool of sauce on each plate (warm plates) and then top with a broiled fillet. Top with tomato chervil mixture and serve.
