STRIPED BASS SALAD

By BobD

Ingredients

• Serves 6
• Court Bouillon (see recipe below)
• 1 large cucumber
• 1 medium red onion, sliced thin (about 1 cup)
• 2 to 3 tablespoons coarsley chopped fresh Italian parsley
• 1 pound striped-bass fillets or steaks or any other firm-fleshed fish, like sea bass or black bass, or head and trimmings from a 5-pound whole fish
• 1/2 cup extra-virgin olive oil, or as needed
• 3 tablespoons red-wine vinegar, or as needed
• Crushed hot red pepper
• Salt

Details

Servings 6
Adapted from lidiasitaly.com

Preparation

Step 1

Prepare the court bouillon as described in recipe below, but use white-wine vinegar instead of white wine. While it is simmering, trim the ends from the cucumber, peel it, and cut it in half lengthwise. Scrape out the seeds- or leave them in if you like them- and cut the cucumber pieces into half moons. Place the cucumber, red onion, and parsley in a mixing bowl.

Slide the bass into the boiling court bouillon and reduce the heat immediately to a simmer. Cook until the fish “opens up”-barely starts to flake- about 8 minutes. Remove the fillets and cool them to room temperature. Peel off the skin if necessary, and scrape or cut away the soft, darker meat from the skin side of the fillet. Flake the fish into big pieces, removing any bones and adding the fish pieces to the mixing bowl as you do.

Drizzle the olive oil and vinegar over the salad and toss to mix. Season generously with crushed red pepper and salt to taste. Spoon in enough of the reserved cooking liquid to make the salad nice and juicy. Taste the salad, adding more vinegar, salt, or crushed red pepper if you like. Mound the salad high on a deep serving platter and spoon the juices left in the bowl over it. If you like, drizzle the olive oil onto the platter around the salad.

For Court Bouillon:
2 quarts water
1/2 cup dry white wine (replace with white wine vinegar for this recipe. See note below)
2 celery stalks, trimmed and cut into 1-inch lengths
2 medium carrots, peeled and cut into 1-inch lengths
4 bay leaves
1 teaspoon black peppercorns
Salt

Bring the water, wine, celery, carrots, bay leaves, peppercorns, and salt to a boil in a wide casserole or skillet. Adjust the heat to simmering, cover, and cook 10 minutes.

NOTE:
In preparing the court bouillon, substitute white-wine vinegar for the dry white wine. The vinegar will help keep the fish fillets in this recipe intact, but it can toughen shrimp and other shellfish