Good Fish_ Sustainable Seafood Recipes From the Pacific Coast - Becky Selengut [51]
If you are not serving them right away, drizzle the gnocchi with some olive oil or butter to keep them from sticking together. Or transfer the cooked gnocchi immediately into a sauté pan to brown them.
HOW TO SMOKE FISH AT HOME
If you have an actual, legitimate smoker, I’m jealous! For the rest of us: you can turn a wok into a makeshift smoker. I recommend doing this in an outdoor grill if you don’t have a good kitchen fan. (But if you do, turn on the fan, disable your smoke alarm, open a few windows, and get started.)
Set the wok over high heat. Place about ½ cup soaked wood chips (I prefer apple wood or alder) in the bottom of the wok. I use a propane torch to quickly ignite the chips, then I leave them to burn for about 1 minute, blow out the flames, cover the wok, and allow it to fill with smoke (about 2 minutes). Lacking a torch, you can instead simply cover the wok and wait for the high heat to get the wood smoking (this will take a little longer, 3 to 4 minutes). Once the wok is filled with smoke, carefully lay a circular rack (sprayed or brushed with oil) inside the wok. Season your fish with salt and pepper. Lay the fish carefully on the rack. Cover and smoke the fish over high heat for 8 to 9 minutes per inch of fish (measured at its thickest point). You’ll see the flesh turn a nice golden color when the smoke has penetrated. This method is called “hot-smoking,” which cooks the fish all the way through.
black cod
Names are secondary to experiences when you’re a child. Somewhere deep down in my childhood mind I might have known the fish I kept returning to was called sablefish, but that seemed beside the point. The point was reaching across the table with fork extended before my stupid brothers could take it all.
Sablefish was brought to our family table in what we called “the spread.” The spread happened when Uncle Vic and Aunt Selly would come in from “the city” (New York) and bring with them “the fixin’s” from Russ and Daughters. There would be bialys and bagels, sablefish and whitefish, herring, lox, and pickles. My grandmother would contribute onions, cream cheese, wedges of lemon, black olives, and big slices of her garden tomatoes. Bagel sandwiches would get piled so high we couldn’t stuff them in our mouths and instead had to deconstruct them with knife and fork. The spread, the accompaniments, the extended family around my grandparent’s big dining room table—this is what I think of when I taste black cod.
It wasn’t until years later that I realized sablefish and black cod are the same thing. In fact, I do believe I’ve said at a cocktail party or two that my two favorite fish were sablefish and black cod. At least I’m consistent.
WHAT MAKES THIS A GOOD CHOICE: Black cod from Alaska are abundant and healthful; Monterey Bay Aquarium’s Seafood Watch lists them as a “Best Choice,” and black cod from California, Oregon, and Washington as a “Good Choice.” U.S. Pacific black cod is also a certified sustainable fishery of the Marine Stewardship Council. Most of the world’s black cod comes from Alaska.
BY ANY OTHER NAME: Black cod (Anoplopoma fimbria) is also known as sablefish.
SEASON: Alaska: March through November. British Columbia: Year-round (but peak is January through April). California, Oregon, Washington: August through October.
BUYING TIPS: I like to buy fish fillets that are center-cut versus buying tail pieces, so that I get a thicker piece that is more resistant to overcooking. With black cod, on the other hand, I sometimes prefer tail pieces because they are boneless (black cod bones are not difficult to remove once the fish is cooked, but sometimes it’s nice to eat with abandon). Besides, overcooking is very difficult with black cod. This fish is full of fat and flavor, high in healthy omega-3 fatty acids. You’d literally have to walk completely away from the kitchen for 30 minutes to dry this fish