I'm back and have Salt Crust Roasted Fish to show for it

Oh hey! I’m still alive in case you weren’t sure. I survived my first semester of law school and have been super lazy ever since.

My past couple of weeks have consisted of waking up at 1030am, playing Call of Duty Black Ops, calling my mom and talking about nothing in particular, making dinner for Adam and I regularly (woot!), playing fetch with my BFF Louie, and taking showers at 4pm. It’s been pretty awesome.

You’ll be happy to know that my old cooking skillz have not been entirely pushed out of my brain by contract law and civil procedure, and I am just as enthused about trying new recipes as I was BLS (before law school).  I’m going to try really hard to cook more next semester and will definitely make more of an effort to blog every now and then. I’ve got a long list of recipes to try this year, friends.

One that had been on my list for a long time was Salt Crust Roasted Fish. NYE dinner:

It was pretty impressive coming out of the oven. Basically, you prepare the fish by packing wet salt over it and roasting it at a high heat. The salt makes a crust that must be cracked away from the fish after pulling it out of the oven. Peel the skin off and what’s left is one perfectly roasted, perfectly seasoned and exceptionally moist fish.

I’ve seen this method done on a show once (was it Tyler Florence on Conan?) and found a couple of recipes on epicurious.com that were similar. There are a few variations: some pour straight dry salt over the fish to cover it, some mix salt with egg whites, some mix salt with water. The water-salt method seemed the easiest and least messy so I stuck with that.

If you know me well, you know how much I like salt. And you know we have no less than 4 types of salt in our kitchen. And even with that kind of bias, I PROMISE this dish doesn’t taste overly salty. The skin of the fish tastes a little salty but that gets tossed out (or consumed by the chef when no one is looking).

Happy New Year, everyone.

Salt Crust Roasted Fish
Serves 4
The recipe I’ve posted below uses a cooking time/weight ratio I found on epicurious.com. I added my own herbs. (As you should as well.)

•  2 pounds coarse salt
•  1 cup water
•  a 2-pound whole red snapper (I used Thai red snapper), Branzino or Sea Bass, cleaned, leaving head and tail in tact
•  half a lemon, thinly sliced
•  fresh herbs for stuffing the fish and placing over it, like thyme, parsley, or dill
•  fine-quality extra-virgin olive oil for drizzling

Preheat oven to 450. In a large bowl, add water to the salt a little bit at a time. It should feel like wet snow. If you can pack it into a ball and threaten your husband with it, you’re good.

Sprinkle some of the salt on the bottom of a parchment lined baking pan that is slightly larger than your fish. Place the fish on top. Stuff the fish with slices of lemon and herbs. Place a few sprigs of herbs and lemon on top. Save a few slices of lemon and herbs for garnish.

Pack the salt onto the fish leaving no major holes or gaps. The fish must be completely covered in salt.

Place the fish in the oven and roast for 30 minutes.

Bang the pan on the oven a few times to loosen the salt crust. Alternatively, you can crack it with the back of a knife (careful not the damage the fish!). If you’re brave, do what I did: carefully grab the parchment paper from beneath the fish and quickly flip the whole thing over on its back. The salt will crack away on its own. Just be careful not to burn yourself (or lose your fish on the floor).

Peel the skin away from the fish with a fork. It should come right off. Transfer the fish to a serving platter, drizzle with olive oil and garnish with herbs and fresh lemon.


Pack the salt onto the fish leaving no holes or gaps. The fish must be completely covered in salt.

Place the fish in the oven and roast for 30 minutes.

Remove from oven. Bang the pan on the counter a few times to loosen the salt crust. Alternatively, you can gently crack it with the back of a knife (careful not the damage the fish!). If you’re brave, do what I did: carefully grab the parchment paper from beneath the fish and quickly flip the whole thing over on its back. The salt will crack away on its own. Just be careful not to burn yourself (or lose your fish on the floor).

Peel the skin away from the fish with a fork. It should come right off. Transfer the fish to a serving platter, drizzle with olive oil and garnish with herbs and fresh lemon.

I hope you still find reasons to be my friend after I share this

because I know a lot of you only hang out with me in case it happens to be one of those nights I make ceviche tostadas. I know it. You know it. Louie knows it. Let’s just be honest here.

So I’m going to tell you how to make it, but promise you’ll still be my friend? Yes? Good.

Ceviche is a very beachy dish--one I ate a million times during the many trips we took to see my mom’s family in Mexico. It's kind of like a cold salad made with fish that marinates and essentially cooks in citrus juices. That’s right. There is no heat in this process but you wont be eating raw fish. Don’t be scared. If you use prawns, like I did, they will go from this:


To this:


overnight.

And yes, I like making ceviche in the dead of winter. Reminds me what it’s like to sit out on the beach near my mom's and feel warm...

Mismaloya Beach, Puerto Vallarta, Mexico

I’ve made ceviche with lobster, halibut, red snapper, and scallops but my favorite recipe includes shrimp. Fresh or frozen. Prawns are more widely found in the UK (they aren’t shrimp, but do look and taste similar) so that is what I used the other night. Almost any firm, mild-tasting fish works in this recipe, though. My friend Jenny even used defrosted tilapia once and said it was delicious!

You know what else is delicious? Ceviche de Soya. It’s the vegetarian version. I’ve never made it personally, but I have had my mom’s. (Sorry for holding out, Kate. I will make some for you and Dyl next taco party--I promise!) It’s been all the rage for the past few years amongst health fanatics in Mexico (including, like, all of my aunts who are always on a constant mission to lose weight) since it’s even healthier than fish ceviche. I’ve included instructions for that version, as well.

Ceviche
Yield: 4 mains
We eat ceviche atop tortilla chips and tostadas and serve it with extra Tapatio sauce for those who like theirs even spicier.The shrimp will need to marinate about 8 hours or overnight, so plan accordingly.

Ingredients
• 1 lb raw shrimp, peeled, de-veined and chopped into 1/2-inch pieces
• The juice of 10 limes (enough to fully submerge the shrimp)
• 5 medium firm tomatoes, cored, seeded and diced into 1/2-inch pieces
• ½ medium red onion, finely chopped
• 1-2 jalapeno peppers, cored and seeded, minced
• 3 tablespoons chopped cilantro
• 1 tablespoon mint chiffonade
• 1-2 tablespoons Mexican hot sauce (preferably Tapatio)
• Sea salt and pepper, to taste

In a large non-reactive bowl, marinate shrimp in lime juice 8 hours or overnight, stirring occasionally. When fully cooked, shrimp will look pink on the outside and opaque when sliced down the middle. Drain lime juice.

Add the next 6 ingredients, and salt and pepper, to taste. Stir gently with a large spoon. Serve with extra wedges of lime, sliced avocado and homemade tostadas.*

Ceviche de Soya
In place of fish and 10 limes, use an equal amount of rehydrated dried soya meat and 3 limes: cover soy with water (about 2 quarts) add a bay leaf, a smashed glove of garlic, a vegetable bullion cube and some salt and pepper. (In Mexico people use chicken bouillon cubes, but I guess that kind of defeats the purpose if you’re a vegetarian.) Boil for about 10 minutes, remove from heat, and let stand for 15 minutes longer.

Strain soya removing as much water as possible (squeezing between paper towels helps), and mash up with a spoon. There’s no need to marinate in lime over night.

Add the remaining ceviche ingredients, per instructions above. Dress the ceviche with the juice of 3 limes.

*Make your own tostadas: Heat a medium non-stick skillet over medium-high heat. Coat the bottom of the pan with vegetable oil. Fry corn tortillas, about 30 seconds to 1 minute on each side, until puffy and golden.

Cook's Note: My friend Stephanie asked me a few very good questions about this recipe. I'm posting them here in case anyone else was wondering the same things.

1) What the heck is mint chiffonade (and where can I get it) and 2) what does in a "nonreactive bowl" mean?

A chiffonade is a method of chopping that produces thin ribbons of mint or other leafy vegetables. You simply take a stack of mint leaves, roll them up like a cigar from end to end, and slice short ways. "Chiffonade" in this recipe is linked to a wiki explanation with pictures... This type of cutting is purely for show--the ribbons of mint make for a nicer presentation. You may also rough chop the mint instead.

A nonreactive bowl is a bowl made of a material that won't react with the food that's in it-- especially citrus. Stainless steel, glass and ceramic are non reactive, copper and other metal bowls are not.