This recipe was one of the first ones I was eyeing from the spring menus in the Sunday Suppers at Lucques cookbook. More specifically, the main attraction for me was the cucumbers in creme fraiche. The combination of ingredients mentally tasted so delicious. The refreshing - preserved lemon, shallots, mint and creme fraiche. And the savory and deep - cumin and fennel seeds.
Just as I suspected - awesome! I couldn't help but keep spooning over more cucumbers over the flaky moist snapper. Plus I needed a cucumber with every bite of fish and green rice, for the refreshing crunch and the tangy creme fraiche. Mmmm.
The cucumbers slices were spooned on and below the warm snapper, causing some of the creme fraiche to melt onto the fish and rice. The sprinkling of arugula under the warm fish provided a nice bite of pepperiness, even wilting a tiny bit to my pleasure.
And the green rice, made with a herby broth with chives, cilantro, mint, and parsley, was the perfect base for the snapper and the cucumbers. No one herb took over the broth and even the fennel seeds didn't hijack the dish with its strong licorice flavors, although this may be because I didn't use fennel bulb as the recipe required. I just wanted to be safe since too much licorice would definitely ruin my dinner.
The flavors of each component of the dish balanced so well and came together to make happiness in my mouth. Yay! Warm snapper, marinated simply with parsley, black pepper and lemon zest. Crunchy, refreshing Persian cucumbers in tangy creme fraiche with refreshing mint and preserved lemon. Nutty basmati rice flavored with a medley of herbs.
The next day I took a generous portion of the leftover cucumbers in creme fraiche and made a sandwich at work with a small sprinkling of arugula. It was one of the best lunches I've had lately.
*Check out Grant's blog Well Fed for his post of this recipe. A Suzanne Goin fan too! Grant's way more diligent with his posts though with the step by step pictures and instruction. :) I am kind of lazy.
9 comments:
If you ever need some help with your blogging, just let me know.
I'm sure I could take over all the tasting and the eating so your hands will be free for picture taking and typing.
:D
you can even model your hands like sloe did, you lean fingered people.
dex - professional taster of immeatchu post dishes
:D
This looks so delicious- where do you usually buy your fish? I love the fish at Whole Food and Bristol Farms but don't feel like forking over a kidney to buy it. The fish at Von's is horrible and TJ's doens't have much....
i usually get my fish from whole foods. i've thought about going over to the farmer's market on 3rd & fairfax but haven't felt like making that extra visit. i agree, regular supermarket fish is pretty gross and tj's is not that appealing either.
for this dish i bought one fillet of snapper which cost under $7 for sure (maybe about $5?). i cut this into two servings so it wasn't that bad at all. maybe it was one of the cheaper fishes.
finding a fish monger sounds useful. but where??
Yoony, the fish looks great. I usually get my fish at an asian market. Bought 1.25 lbs of Chilean Seabass for $9/lb... tasted great. Better than buying it at ralph's/whole foods for $35/lb. Ridiculous. As for fish at Ralph's, they use food coloring to preserve that natural color of the flesh.
thanks dylan!
eww to ralphs. that's gross. say no to supermarkets. which asian market do you goto? i live near korean markets but it's not worth making that extra trip to get fish though. unless i need a lot which is very rarely.
I go back to the parents every weekend in San Gabriel Valley to get good food and shop at 99 Ranch. Speaking of Korean food, I need to hit up Ka-Ju Mah-ket very soon... been craving Korean.
Yoony, where can I find preserved Meyer lemon? Help! I tried Surfa's and whole food.
Judy
hi judy,
thanks for stopping by. i know regular preserved lemons are available at gourmet stores but i'm not sure about meyer lemon ones. i made mine with last of the winter season meyer lemons. i hear they are still growing though and that meyer lemon trees are available for sale. thought about making it at home? it's really easy.
also try calling mr.marcel and look on the internet.
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