Pompano Pontchartrain Recipes

POMPANO FILLET WITH FLYING FISH ROE

Steps:

• Combine the lime juice, mirin, soy sauce, ginger and cornstarch in a small bowl making sure the cornstarch is well dissolved. Dredge the pompano fillet in flour and season with salt and pepper. Place a bed of daikon julienne on a dish and place a ring of pea shoots around the outside of the dish. Repeat for each serving. Heat the oil in a large skillet over high heat for 1 minute. Add the fish fillets and saute until crisp on both sides about 4 to 5 minutes. Add the lime juice and cornstarch mix to the pan and cook for 1 minute over high heat until the liquid thickens. Stir the fish roe in quickly and immediately pour some caviar sauce over each fish fillet. Serve with jasmine rice.;

POMPANO BUSTER

Steps:

• Rinse fish and pat dry. Baste the grill rack with clarified butter. Break the eggs onto a platter and mix with the clarified butter to form an egg wash for the fish. Preheat the broiler. Dust the fish with flour. Brush with egg wash on both sides. Place under broiler and broil for 5 minutes. Remove from the oven turn the fish over and brush and brush with egg wash. Return to the broiler and broil until golden brown. Remove the shell and then the sand track from the shrimp and cut them in half lengthwise. Wash the mushrooms, dry and cut into 1/2-inch slices. Saute shrimp and mushrooms a few minutes in a hot pan coated with a little clarified butter. Squeeze about 2 teaspoons of lemon juice over the mixture and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Add 2 ounces Sherry and ignite. Wash, dry and chop the chives. Add to shrimp-mushroom mixture.
• Blend the 2 teaspoons of salted butter with the 2 tablespoons of flour to form a "Beurre Manie." Add butter-flour mixture to the pan and stir until well combined. Heat a serving platter. Slide fish onto platter, cut in half from the head to the tail and pour shrimp-mushroom sauce over fish.

SALT-BAKED WHOLE POMPANO WITH PARSLEY OIL

Steps:

• To make the parsley oil, bring a saucepan 1/4 full of water to a boil and add the parsley. Cook just until the leaves turn bright green, about 30 seconds. Immediately drain and plunge the leaves into cold water to stop the cooking.
• Drain the leaves again and wring out as much water as possible. Transfer parsley to a blender and add the olive oil. Blend until pureed. Transfer to bowl and refrigerate for at least 1 hour and up to 1 day. Strain the oil through a fine-mesh sieve, pressing on the solids to extract as much oil as possible. Discard solids and refrigerate the oil.
• To make the fish, preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Rinse and pat the pompano dry and season it inside and out with pepper. Place the rosemary and garlic inside the cavity. Place the salt in a large bowl. Whisk the egg whites together with 1/4cup water and pour it over the salt. Using your hands, distribute the liquid evenly through the salt.
• Choose a baking dish just slightly larger than the fish and pour a half-inch layer of the salt into the bottom. Place the fish over it and pour the remainder of the salt over and around it, making sure that a good layer covers the fish on all sides. Bake the fish for 35 minutes.
• Remove the fish from the oven. Wrap the head of a hammer in cloth and use the flat side to break the salt. Pull the salt away to expose the fish and gently lift it from the salt, brushing away any that adheres to the skin. Place the fish on a platter and peel back and discard the skin. Pour parsley oil over the fish, surround it with lemon slices and serve.