Asparagus and Mushrooms Grilled and Swordfish (or Tuna), Sicilian Style with Tomato Sauce and Fresh Mint

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You can prepare a fantastic meal and get many of your ingredients at the Long Beach Farmer's Market, open every Wednesday from 10-6.  You can buy your fish, pasta sauce, pasta, bread and herbs at the market.  (Ingredients available at the market have an asterisk* next to them!)  Some other (not your run of the mill mainstream everyday) places to check out for ingredients that are in the hood: Bob's Natural Foods, Trader Joes, Wild By Nature. I'm a big fan of Fairway and I make pilgrimages regularly.  The Red Hook store is amazing, and there's a great art show on now on the water that's worth a visit.  (Click on the links!)

While everyone is firing up the barbeque and polishing their white shoes, here's an'anti-grill' alternative for swordfish or tuna.  This is one gorgeous Sicilian swordfish recipe from Nancy Silverton, whom I've always known as a pastry chef, most notably of Spago and Maxwell's Plum. But, don't let this recipe swallow your grill-joy. (Serve it alongside your burgers and dogs.) Alternatively, prepare it on a Wednesday or Thursday, after you buy a fresh gorgeous hunk of swordfish (or tuna) at the Long Beach Farmer's Market! 

Be sure to visit Papa Pasquale for sauce and pasta.  (You use prepared sauce for this recipe.) 

Get your Italian bread to sop it all up from Bread Alone.  

And there are plenty of fresh young veggies to choose from for both salad and side dishes.  

The red and green organic asparagus* are sweet and delicious. Dan said they'll probably be around for another week or two.  Don't miss them. You'll dream about them until next spring.

Steam them or grill(!) them (put a little oil on them and grill them, turning them often until they're starting to bubble and they look so good, you can't stand it anymore and you have to take one off and eat it.) And if you don't have a grill, put them on a sheet pan, a little damp, drizzle a little oil on them and coat them evenly. (I sometimes scatter fresh thyme over the spears and some salt and freshly ground pepper too.) Oven roast them at 350º, shaking the sheet pan to turn them until they're done to your preference.)

I oven roast my shitake mushrooms* with the smallest amount of olive oil.  Be careful to not over-roast them, or they'll taste like rubberbands.

Buy some freshly made cheese* for your cocktail hour - and a few pickles* couldn't hurt.

Sicilian Swordfish with Tomato Sauce and Fresh Mint

Adapted from Nancy Silverton's book A Twist of the Wrist

(You can get used copies of this book for less than $3.00 + shipping.)

(Never grate parmesan cheese over Italian dishes with fish.  It's wrong, it's gross, it's anti-cuisine.)

Ingredients:

4 6-oz. swordfish steaks*, about 1" thick (or tuna*, if swordfish isn't your cup of tea)

kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper

4 tsp. extra virgin olive oil

lemon, for squeezing over the fish

1 generous Tbsp. finely chopped fresh mint* leaves.

(for the sauce)

1/4 c. pine nuts

1 pint (or a 26 oz. jar, or about 2 cups) marinara* or pasta sauce* of choice

32 small pitted black olives

3 Tbsp. capers

1/4 c. dried currants 

2 cloves garlic, grated or minced (about 2 Tbsp.)

4 (good quality) anchovy fillets

generous pinch of crushed red pepper

Procedure:

Adjust oven rack to middle position.  Preheat oven to 325º F. (after, you, will be increasing oven temp. to 500º F.)

Toast pine nuts at 325º, on a baking sheet, for about 8-10 minutes, shaking the pan occasionally for even toasting, until lightly browned and fragrant.  Set aside, and reserve 1 Tbsp. for serving.)

NOW, increase oven temperature to 500º F.

Combine pasta sauce, olives, capers, 3 Tbsp. toasted pine nuts, currants, garlic, anchovies and crushed red pepper in a large ovenproof skillet and cook over medium-high heat for about 5 minutes, stirring occasionally, just to warm it. 

Pat swordfish steaks dry and season both sides with salt and pepper. 

Place steaks in the skillet on top of the sauce and drizzle 1 tsp of olive oil over each piece of fish.  Place skillet in oven for 6-8 minutes, or until fish is opaque and flakes apart easily when pierced with a sharp knife, but is still moist.

Lift steak out of sauce and place on plate.  Stir the sauce to incorporate the juice from the fish. Spoon the sauce over the fish and squeeze a few drops of lemon juice over each steak and sprinkle with chopped mint and the reserved toasted pine nuts.

Serves 4