Swordfish Meuniere Recipes

Steps:

• Preheat the oven to 250 degrees F and place a sheet pan in the oven.
• Dry the fish on both sides with paper towels. Combine the flour, 2 teaspoons salt, and 1 teaspoon pepper on a dinner plate. In a low, shallow bowl, whisk the eggs with 1 tablespoon water. Put the bread crumbs on another plate. Dredge the fish on both sides in the seasoned flour and dust off the excess. Dip both sides into the egg mixture and, finally, dredge both sides in the bread crumbs.
• Heat 1 tablespoon butter and 1 tablespoon olive oil in a large (12-inch) saute pan and cook 2 fillets at a time over medium to medium-high heat for 2 to 3 minutes on each side, until cooked through. Transfer the fish in one layer to the sheet pan in the oven. Add more butter and oil and cook the rest of the fillets, transferring them to the sheet pan as they're done. Toss the arugula with enough Lemon Vinaigrette to moisten. Place one fillet on each plate and pile the arugula salad on top. Heat the capers in the saute pan for 30 seconds and sprinkle over the fish and salad. Sprinkle with grated Parmesan, a squeeze of lemon juice, and the fleur de sel. Serve hot.
• In a small bowl or measuring cup, whisk together the lemon juice, olive oil, 1 teaspoon salt, and 1/2 teaspoon pepper.

Steps:

• Preheat a charcoal grill or broiler, or heat a grill pan.
• Sprinkle fish with salt and pepper on both sides. Place oil in a flat dish, and add soy sauce, vinegar, rosemary, garlic, coriander, cumin, lemon rind and pepper flakes. Blend well. Place fish steaks in marinade, coat well on both sides, cover with plastic wrap and let stand for 10 to 15 minutes.
• If the swordfish is to be cooked on a grill (or grill pan), place fish on grill and cook for 3 to 4 minutes. Turn and cook for 3 minutes more. Cook longer if desired. If it is to be cooked under a broiler, place fish on a rack and cook for 3 to 4 minutes on each side. Serve with a string bean salad.

Steps:

• Heat the ghee or oil in a large cast-iron skillet over medium-high heat until melted. Stir together the curry, paprika, salt and pepper. Pat the swordfish dry, and season on both sides with the spice mixture. Cook one side of the fish without moving it, until it is golden and releases easily, about 3 minutes.
• Flip the fish, add the greens and tomatoes (on the vine), scattering evenly over the top of the fish. Cover with a lid, reduce the heat and cook over medium heat until greens are wilted, tomatoes have burst and fish is just cooked through but still very moist, 4 to 5 minutes.
• Meanwhile, toast the bread: While warm, rub each piece vigorously with the garlic clove.
• Remove the fish from the heat and serve immediately, with toasted garlic bread, spooning the juices from the pan over each portion. Squeeze lemon over the top.

Steps:

• The French excel at exquisitely wrought and technically challenging fish dishes, like bouillabaisse and lobster Thermidor. However, they are just as enamored of simpler recipes that focus on preserving the pristine beauty of their seafood. Sole meunière is a perfect example. To prepare it, sole, a succulent, flat white fish, is pan-fried in butter until crisp-edged and tender, then served with brown butter pan sauce, a sprinkling of parsley and a wedge of lemon. (The term meunière means in the style of the miller's wife, and refers to the flour in which the fish is dredged before frying.) Except for the browning of the butter, the ingredients are kept in their most elemental form. Yet together they create a dish of incomparable harmony and depth. In its most traditional presentation, sole meunière is made with the whole fish, then filleted tableside. You can still find it served that way at old-school French restaurants all over the world. But for the most part, home cooks use sole fillets, which makes the process faster and easier - and only slightly less flavorful and juicy than when the fish is cooked on the bone. Unlike a lot of classic French cuisine, sole meunière requires almost no advance preparation and very little time at the stove. It is one of the quickest ways to get to dinner, and you probably already have flour, salt, pepper, butter and lemon on hand. All you need is a beautiful piece of fish. That fish does not have be Dover sole, especially given that in recent years, its sustainability has become an issue (not to mention the fact that it is very expensive). Other flat, white, flaky fish will cook up nearly as well, and will taste delightful when pan-fried and smothered in brown butter. After all, there are very few things that wouldn't.
• With over 100 cataloged preparations, sole is one of the most esteemed fish in French cuisine, and sole meunière is the signature dish. It is the plainness of the recipe that makes it seem at once universal and utterly French. Almost all coastal cultures have some version of lightly fried fish, but only in France is it smothered in brown butter. Little is known about how sole meunière came to be, though we do know that for at least the past century it's been a specialty of Normandy. "Le Guide Culinaire," by Auguste Escoffier, which was first published in 1903, lists several variations of the dish, including sole meunière with eggplant, with grapes, with cucumbers and with various kinds of mushrooms. However, it is likely that the dish is much older, since it is so very basic. Sole meunière has long been an extravagance, a costly fixture on the menus of many fine French restaurants. That is because it is traditionally made with Dover sole, a flat fish with delicate and buttery white meat, which separates easily from the bones. It is that combination of simplicity and luxury that makes it compelling. Elaborate adornments are not necessary, as was made clear in an edition of "Larousse Gastronomique" from the early 20th century: "Sometimes the serving of fish cooked à la meunière is decorated with slices, or half-slices, of lemon, rounds of radish, cutout pieces of beetroot and sprigs of parsley. This kind of ornament is quite useless and not at all in keeping with the recipe." Today most French cooks would agree that you need nothing more on top of your buttery sole than a lemon wedge and a hint of parsley. That is the easiest lesson you can learn from French cooking: When you have perfect ingredients, less is more. Above, "Pleuronectes Solea, the Sole."
• Skillet Use a 12-inch skillet, which should be large enough to fit the length of your fish. A heavy-duty nonstick or well-seasoned cast-iron pan will help keep the fillets from sticking, making them easier to flip and keep whole. But a stainless steel pan is fine if you're careful when flipping.Spatula A tapered fish spatula makes flipping delicate fillets a bit easier, but any spatula will work.Wirecutter, a product recommendations website owned by The New York Times Company, has a guide to the best nonstick pans and spatulas.
• Sole meunière highlights the simple flavors of fresh fish, butter, lemon and parsley. Fish is the center of the dish, so using a quality fillet is important. The fish is pan-fried in clarified butter, which can take on heat without browning; a recipe is below.
• Clear, golden clarified butter can withstand heat without burning for a longer period and at a higher temperature, making it ideal for pan-frying. When you make it, you are essentially removing the water content and white milk solids from the butter. The process is simple and takes just a few minutes.
• Sole meunière is the kind of recipe that moves quickly once you start cooking, so it's best to give it your full attention. Have the ingredients ready before you begin.• Use good butter: European-style butter with a high fat content (at least 82 percent) works best here because it contains less moisture than regular butter. • If you don't want to clarify your butter, use a combination of oil and regular butter instead. You will end up with a more neutral and less buttery flavor, but the recipe will still work. (If you decide not to clarify, then it is especially important to use that high-fat, European-style butter.) Or you could use ghee, which is basically clarified butter in which the milk solids have been allowed to brown before being removed. It has a lightly caramelized, nutty flavor. • Patting the fish dry before dredging helps the flour cling evenly to the fillet, rather than clump in the damp spots. • Season the fish itself rather than seasoning the flour. This gives you more precision and control over the seasoning.• In a classic sole meunière, white pepper is used partly for aesthetics. If you want to use black pepper, that's fine. • Keep an eye on the fish: When it has finishing cooking, it should be opaque, tender and not too firm. Plunge your fork into the thickest part of the fillet. There should be no resistance. That's how you will know it's done. • Set your oven to its lowest temperature, and use it to keep the first round of fish warm. This is an easy way to make sure dinner comes to the table at the right temperature. Placing the just-cooked fish on a warm plate before it goes into the oven helps, too.
• Sole meunière is the most basic of dishes to prepare, which makes it easy to swap the fish or augment the seasonings to suit your taste. You don't need Dover sole to make this dish delectable. Instead, look for local, sustainable, flaky, mild white-fleshed fillets with a mild flavor. Other varieties of sole (including winter sole and lemon sole), halibut and flounder will work well. Or try scrod, cod, hake, trout, salmon, bass, swordfish, sardines or blackfish. Add a pinch or two of minced sturdy herbs like rosemary, thyme or savory, or ground spices such as cumin, coriander, paprika or curry powder, to the brown butter as it's simmering. If you want to make the dish more substantial, add cooked vegetables to the pan with the butter. Diced sautéed cucumber, shallot or onion, wilted spinach, grated zucchini, cubed eggplant or mushrooms would all do nicely. For a slightly more elaborate garnish that won't overwhelm the flavors of the dish, substitute other soft, leafy herbs for the parsley. Basil, tarragon, coriander and chives are good candidates. Other citrus, such as Meyer lemon, lime, grapefruit or sour orange wedges, can stand in for the usual lemon.
• Photography Food styling: Alison Attenborough. Prop styling: Beverley Hyde. Additional photography: Karsten Moran for The New York Times. Additional styling: Jade Zimmerman. Video Food styling: Chris Barsch and Jade Zimmerman. Art direction: Alex Brannian. Prop styling: Catherine Pearson. Director of photography: James Herron. Camera operators: Tim Wu and Zack Sainz. Editing: Will Lloyd and Adam Saewitz. Additional editing: Meg Felling.
• All Chapters
• Ratatouille

Steps:

• Combine all ingredients, except swordfish, in a bowl and mix together well. Set aside.
• Preheat a grill to medium-high, using mesquite wood. Place swordfish on grill and quickly sear. Dredge swordfish in the white wine mixture and then return to the grill. Cook until desired doneness; fish should be opaque and a knife should slide in easily.
• Remove fish from the heat and serve with fresh vegetables and a starch of choice.

Steps:

• dip the fish in milk, and dredge with the flour.
• in a pan, put the butter and oil and mix.
• place the fish in the oil mix, and coat thoroughly.
• fry on a moderate heat for about 15-20 minutes, turning regularly, until fish is browned.
• sprinkle with parsley and serve with some boiled potatoes.

Steps:

• Heat the oven to 150 degrees. Have an oven-proof platter that can hold the fish in a single layer ready. Dust the swordfish lightly with salt. Sprinkle the pepper on both sides, pressing the grains into the fish.
• Heat the oil to medium hot in a heavy skillet, about 12-inches in diameter, to hold the fish in a single layer. Sear the fish, pepper and all, until barely cooked through and still a bit pink in the center, about 3 minutes on each side. Transfer to the platter and place in the oven. Turn off the oven.
• Add the butter to the skillet. When it melts add the shallot and sauté, stirring, until translucent, a couple of minutes. Add the Cognac and swirl in the pan a minute or so until somewhat reduced and syrupy. Add the cream and parsley and continue cooking, stirring, until somewhat thickened. Remove from the heat.
• Remove the fish from the oven and pour the sauce over it, then serve, or transfer each portion to individual dinner plates, spoon on the sauce and serve.

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 400°F. Mash butter, parsley, garlic, 1/2 teaspoon ground mixed peppercorns, and lemon peel in small bowl. Season to taste with salt.
• Heat oil in heavy large ovenproof skillet over medium-high heat. Sprinkle swordfish with salt and ground mixed peppercorns. Add swordfish to skillet. Cook until browned, about 3 minutes. Turn swordfish over and transfer to oven. Roast until just cooked through, about 10 minutes longer. Transfer swordfish to plates. Add seasoned butter to same skillet. Cook over medium-high heat, scraping up browned bits, until melted and bubbling. Pour butter sauce over swordfish and serve.

Steps:

• Heat a large nonstick skillet over medium-low. Rub 1 tablespoon of the oil all over the swordfish and season with salt. Add to skillet and cook until golden underneath, about 5 minutes. Flip and cook until golden underneath and medium throughout (flesh should be opaque, firm and flaky), about 5 minutes longer. Transfer fish to a shallow baking dish.
• To the skillet, add the remaining oil and the capers, and cook over medium-low, stirring occasionally, until capers are sizzling vigorously but not browned, about 2 minutes. Remove from heat and stir in caper brine, lemon juice, pepper, parsley and chives. Pour the caper-herb oil over the fish. Let marinate at room temperature, turning once or twice and occasionally spooning the caper oil over the fish, for 15 minutes.
• Divide fish among plates and drizzle with some of the caper oil. Serve warm or at room temperature, with lemon wedges and crusty bread.