Seven Fishes in Five Dishes

Being home for the holidays means I get to finally hang out with my whole family, which as it so happens hasn't occurred since May of 2010. And I'll be away from my city, my home, for over 2 weeks. So as a little nod to my oh so Italian Brooklyn home, I decided to put on a Seven Fishes dinner. Originally meant to just be 3-4 fishes, once I actually got to the fish market my stomachs made all the decisions and I turned it into  a pretty aggressive seven fishes in five dishes dinner.

The stone crab claws were our number 1 last minute decision. Meaty, unctuous, delicious... if you haven't tried them yet, book a trip to Miami asap and go here. Or if you can't do that, just check with your local fish market, as these puppies are in season right now. Oh, and they're also a sustainable fish, as they aren't killed to get their claw meat, the crabs just regenerate another one.

I also cannot say no to sea urchin, especially as a first time sea urchin openers. And into the soup it went.

I did a take on my favorite seafood soup, she crab bisque. Made with shrimp stock and topped with uni, it was delicious. And 3 fishes in one dish.

Above here I did a rock shrimp biscuit. Simply my favorite biscuit recipe with some chopped up rock shrimp thrown in. Would be perfect with some old bay butter too, but I didn't get that far.

Sardines and the branzino.

The sardines I stuffed with lemon slices and topped with capers, tomatoes and breadcrumbs. Simple and classic.

 

And the salt encrusted branzino. The first picture above was before baking , then after and finally, once we had removed the crust. This. Was. Delicious. And the perfect dinner party trick, it wow'd everyone, myself included.