Lucid Food_ Cooking for an Eco-Conscious Life - Louisa Shafia [59]
Add a dash of water to the goat cheese and stir until it’s pliable. Using two spoons, place a generous spoonful of goat cheese in the indentation of each apricot; scoop the cheese with the first one and use the second to push the cheese onto the fruit. Spoon a few drops of the balsamic vinegar over the apricots and season with more pepper. Serve immediately.
Smoked Farmed Trout Purée with Cherry Tomatoes
A fresh take on the deli favorite, smoked whitefish salad, this version is full of herbs and dressed up by sweet cherry tomatoes. Smoked fish is salty, so you may not need to salt the purée. The fillets contain tiny bones, but as a general rule, the smallest ones are soft and edible. Rainbow or golden trout farmed in the United States is a recommended seafood choice because unlike many carnivorous farmed fish—which eat more protein than they provide to humans—trout efficiently convert their feed into protein. What’s more, rainbow and golden trout are mostly farm-raised in tanks, so there is little risk of them contaminating wild populations.
Serves 4 to 6
½ cup mayonnaise
¼ cup Dijon mustard
1 cup loosely packed minced fresh dill
1 cup loosely packed minced fresh flat-leaf parsley leaves
4 scallions, green parts only, minced
4 teaspoons freshly squeezed lemon juice
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
½ pound smoked rainbow or golden trout, skinned and boned
Crackers, bread, or thinly sliced vegetables for serving
1 pint cherry tomatoes, quartered
Place the mayonnaise and mustard in a small bowl with the dill, parsley, and scallions, setting aside 1 tablespoon of each of the herbs for garnish. Add the lemon juice and a few grinds of pepper. Stir and set aside.
Grind the trout in a food processor for 10 seconds, until completely broken down. Transfer the fish to a large bowl and fold in the mayonnaise. Taste and adjust the seasoning, if necessary.
To serve, spread the purée on crackers and scatter the tomatoes over the top. Season with salt and pepper and garnish with a sprinkling of the reserved minced herbs.
Marinated Mackerel with Dill and Horseradish Cream
This lightly pickled mackerel is “cooked” through by the acid in the vinegar. Use high-quality fish, and keep it refrigerated until you marinate it. Use a glass or ceramic baking dish as metal can interfere with the pickling process. Both Spanish and king mackerel are fished using low-impact methods, and populations in the Atlantic and the U.S. Gulf of Mexico are thriving. They reproduce in high numbers and mature quickly, so mackerel are considered safe from overfishing. Start this recipe the night before serving so the fish has time to marinate.
Serves 6 to 8 as a starter
2 small Atlantic mackerel about, ¾ pound each, filleted and pin bones removed
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
4 shallots, thinly sliced
1 (750-ml) bottle dry white wine
½ cup white wine vinegar
2 tablespoons honey
1 tablespoon black peppercorns
2 tablespoons dried coriander seeds
1 teaspoon juniper berries
2 bay leaves
1 cup sour cream or crème fraîche
1 cup minced fresh dill
¼ cup prepared horseradish
Toast points or crackers for serving
Rinse the mackerel fillets and pat them dry. Lay the fillets in a glass or ceramic baking dish, skin side down, and season with salt.
In a saucepan, combine the shallots, wine, vinegar, honey, peppercorns, coriander seeds, juniper berries, bay leaves and 2 tablespoons salt. Bring to a boil. Decrease the heat to medium and simmer, uncovered, for 5 minutes.
Turn off the heat and pour the hot liquid over the mackerel. Cover tightly and let cool to room temperature, then refrigerate overnight.
Put the sour cream in a large bowl. Set aside a few tablespoons of the dill for garnish, and fold in the remaining dill and horseradish. Season with salt and pepper.
To serve, drain the mackerel. Break off pieces of mackerel and place them on the