Striped Bass with Guanciale and Tomatoes, with Lemon Risotto

stike · July 2012

Since Easter or so, haven't been doing much other than standard fare, your basic typical cooks. so when we hosted 'Essexcounty' (erstwhile forum member) and his wife Saturday, we decided to try something a little different.

Essexco and his wife are both monster cooks. She's a former caterer, and both cooked at the first two NH fests. it's always a great time when we have dinner at their place. but this was our turn.

about a month ago we were given SIX slabs of striper (bass) that a friend of a friend had caught. almost 15 pounds of fresh caught fish. we had some that night, but I had to freeze five of them, regrettably. they froze well though.

decided to cook some of that. this was one side (slab), cut into four decent chunks, and the tail (for leftovers)

witness the 'foodsaver' texture on them.

what else do we have around here? aha. something i have been waiting a long time to cook with.
the Guanciale... in front. this was hung to dry in March

zippy (old-forum denizen) cooked a fantastic pasta dinner with some of this when we were in georgia for the GA Mtn Fest. but i hadn't cooked with it yet myself. so i had to find a way to introduce it.

I sliced it up

rendered the slices on low in the cast iron (stove top). but they were cooking before rendering, so i pulled them and chopped the slices

back in to render more quickly, before it would have crisped up too much. got it just between 'crisp' and 'chewy'

not a lot of pics for what was next. That's below if you want to read it.

here's the dinner, plated

made a Lemon Risotto as a side dish. I was leery, but it sounded light, and lemon would be good with the fish, right? It was fantastic. simple blanched then grilled asparagus. would have liked more grill/smoke on it, but hey, asparagus is always good.

here's how we did the fish:
render the guanciale, set aside and keep the fat in the cast iron pan.

fry/sear the bass in the fat on one side for about 4 minutes. flip, sear about a minute on the other side. take it off and set aside.

thin sliced onion and garlic goes into the pan til translucent, then

crush a few tomatoes whole, maybe add some sauce or a can of tomatoes if need be. cook down (in the same pan/fat). add back in most of the guanciale (about a third of a cup total). season, add a decent three-finger pinch of pecorino cheese, stir to melt and to bring it together. keep some cheese for serving, too.

as the sauce is coming together, put the bass on the hot grill (the lesser-cooked side down), with a little smoke (oak, in my case). give it some grill marks, about three minutes or so. plate it grill marks up, lay some of the sauce across it, top with more cheese. sprinkle remaining guanciale bits/crisps on the sauce

the sauce was really good. i kept wanting to add herbs or something, thinking it wouldn't have 'enough' but my wife convinced me to just follow the recipe. she was right. the guanciale flavor came thru surprisingly.

the guanciale is a cross between bacon and pancetta. i think it may be the most flavorful part of the pig. but it's a lot of fat. not to be served to your cardiologist

Hi54putty · July 2012

Great cook. If I had that stuff hanging in my basement my wife would be filing for divorce.

I enjoy following your process.

Mickey · July 2012

OK, your house for dinner

stike · July 2012

most of that stuff hanging there IS my first wife

Hi54putty · July 2012

most of that stuff hanging there IS my first wife

Nice. Reminds me of a guy I worked for out of college. He was married to his second wife and always referenced his "first divorce." Second wife did not like that phrase very much.

burr_baby33 · July 2012

I also egged some striper last night that I caught over the weekend. Mine was just standard grilling, nothing elaborate like yours but so good.

stike · July 2012

yeah, burrbaby. simple is good too. last night's sounded more complicated than it was. it's an easy cook.
striper is good on the grill.

i caught these fresh, and did them the next day simply direct on the grill

and this was another cook. pan fried and served with some white sauce. i think it may have been garlic. dunno.

in the back, with some potatoes, summer squash, and grilled romaine

cazzy · July 2012

Damn Stike!! Great looking food and excellent playing!

nolaegghead · July 2012

Striped bass is one of my favorites.

Little Steven · July 2012

yeah, burrbaby. simple is good too. last night's sounded more complicated than it was. it's an easy cook.
striper is good on the grill.

i caught these fresh, and did them the next day simply direct on the grill

and this was another cook. pan fried and served with some white sauce. i think it may have been garlic. dunno.

in the back, with some potatoes, summer squash, and grilled romaine

You caught them? You need to find some new fishing buddies
:((

stike · July 2012

yeah. the ones i have been fishing with just drink. need to find some new fishing clowns

Little Steven · July 2012

Just look at it this way...our cost per pound will go way down when we get one

stike · July 2012

so far it is about a thousand dollars a fish

burr_baby33 · July 2012

Stike, do you catch them off Atlantic coast? I fish Lake Cumberland in Kentucky. Have small house overlooking the lake. Having the house, boats marina, etc runs up the cost per fish. Probably be less expensive if I just hired a guide.

burr_baby33 · July 2012

When I fish in Alaska the cost of fish brought home is around $100 per pound. On my lake it is around $2,500 per pound

stike · July 2012

the striper from last night was from a gifted batch. i didn't catch them.
the other meals were from a few we caught off Marblehead MA a year ago.

was a commercial venture. we split one fish and the owner of the boat sold the rest.

i don't get out much. maybe once a year. steven is referring to some striper we were going after on Lake Lanier.

we two do pretty well, but there was a drunken hillbilly and philly lawyer on board, and they really cramped our style

gdenby · July 2012

A fine looking meal. Good ingredients, nice prep. Not many homes could have a sign over the dinner table, "Today's special, house made charcuterie."

But the earlier pan fried bass... Looks great. My wife, who officially hates fish admitted she would eat it.

AleBrewer · July 2012

Looks great Stike! I just picked up some sea bass and oysters in Portsmouth today....really looking forward to the bass on the egg. Oysters will be on the half shell. Will be serving asparagus as well. No risotto though.

Love the front porch pic too!

stike · July 2012

we didn't have oysters (looked for some, but they weren't that good). but we did buy some cherrystones and littlenecks to have as appetizers

we like to open the littlenecks by putting them on a paella pan or plate, in the egg raised indirect. a little smoke, too.

as they pop open we take them off and eat them.

this was a batch from a long time ago, but we did them the same way

the cherrystones we just knifed open and ate raw.
you in portsmouth NH?

AleBrewer · July 2012

Love littlenecks on the grill!

Not too far from Portsmouth....about 1/2hr away.

The Cen-Tex Smoker · July 2012

most of that stuff hanging there IS my first wife

=)) =))

Made my day right there.

Great looking grub by the way. I love striper. Your's looks just like halibut with that line running through the middle of the filet. Great looking fish

brianwdmn · July 2012

I will echo the praise for a beautiful cook and presentation. Thank you for sharing the detailed photos and descriptions of the steps in preparation. You're a very good teacher.

stike · July 2012

so C~T, is that stripe supposed to be there? hahaha

brian: thanks for the ego boost.

lakewade · July 2012

Outstanding Stike!

The Cen-Tex Smoker · July 2012

so C~T, is that stripe supposed to be there? hahaha

brian: thanks for the ego boost.

We used to sell a lot of it and I don't remember it but I'm was drunk most of the time. Great fish though

stike · July 2012

Here are the recipes. I modified the Bass recipe from a pasta recipe which used gunaciale that I found on the web. I used more guanciale than a quarter cup i think, more like half a cup. You could use bacon or pancetta for this too. Not maple bacon though, too sweet. Savory bacon (Ruhlman/Polcyn) if you have it.

Striped Bass with Guanciale Tomato Sauce

Adapted from Michael Tucker

Ingredients:

four to six thick chunks of striped bass
1 medium onion, sliced thin
3 cloves garlic, sliced
1/4 to 1/3 pound guanciale, diced or in long thin batons
3 cups canned San Marzano tomatoes (about a 28-ounce can)
and/or fresh tomatoes as desired
1/2 teaspoon red chili flakes, or to taste
Salt
1/4 cup grated aged pecorino cheese, more for serving

Directions:

Render Guanciale in a 12 inch skillet until crisp, pull the guanciale (leaving the fat) and set aside
Sear sea bass in the hot fat briefly, flesh side down first, about a minute or until just colored. Flip to skin side and pan sear for four minutes approx.
Remove bass to plate, set aside. Turn down the flame or remove the pan too cool a bit and to keep the fat from burning
Over medium heat, to the heated fat add onion and garlic, and sauté until transparent.
Break up tomatoes and add. Cook about 15 minutes, crushing tomatoes with a spoon, until sauce has become somewhat concentrated and homogenized. Season with chili and salt and stir in a large pinch of cheese. Remove from heat. Stir in cooked guanciale (keeping some aside for serving)
While sauce is coming together, about five minutes from serving, place bass flesh side down on a hot grill, three to four minutes (thickness varies, cook until 145-150 or so).
Plate Bass skin side down, top with sauce, cheese, and remaining guanciale bits

Lemon Risotto

Bon Appétit | May 2002

6 cups canned low-salt chicken broth

3 1/2 tablespoons butter
1 1/2 tablespoons olive oil
2 large shallots, chopped
2 cups arborio rice or medium-grain white rice
1/4 cup dry white wine
1 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese (about 3 ounces)
2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley
2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice (I used juice of a medium lemon)
4 teaspoons grated lemon peel (I used all the zest from the same lemon)

Preparation

Bring broth to simmer in large saucepan over medium heat. Reduce heat to low; cover to keep warm. Melt 1 1/2 tablespoons butter with oil in heavy large saucepan over medium heat. Add shallots and sauté until tender, about 6 minutes. Add rice; stir 1 minute. Add wine and stir until evaporated, about 30 seconds. Add 1 1/2 cups hot broth; simmer until absorbed, stirring frequently. Add remaining broth 1/2 cup at a time, allowing broth to be absorbed before adding more and stirring frequently until rice is creamy and tender, about 35 minutes. Stir in cheese and remaining 2 tablespoons butter. Stir in parsley, lemon juice, and lemon peel. Season risotto with salt and pepper. Transfer to bowl and serve.

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