Seafood and a charcoal grill are naturals and we grill in the ClockTower backyard. The fish cooks quickly and retains its moisture, and gathers smokey flavors.
Let’s grill seafood en brochette.
For a party of six or so assemble six large sea scallops, one salmon steak...
...less than a pound of monkfish and about a pound of jumbo shrimp.
Butterfly the steak and cut it into equal sized cubes.
Slice the scallops into halves.
Trim the monk to a similar size, and leave the jumbo shrimp whole.
Ready?
Now slice a couple lemons very thin and prepare small bamboo skewers.
One of each piece slides on the skewer.
Now for the marinade, one cup of plain yogurt, one shallot diced, one tablespoon of fresh ground pepper, a small fist of chopped fresh dill plus the juice of one whole lemon, then salt and mix it up.
This is lighter than eggy, mayonnaise based sauces and pure white, so add a bit of turmeric to give it a healthy, pale yellow glow.
Then dump it on the skewers, cover and refrigerate over night.
Yum.
Everything can be prepared ahead so all you have to do
with your guests is hangout, drink and grill.
We’ll use toasted brioche for sandwiches, so let’s make a sandwich spread.
Put a big dollop of crème fraîche into a non-reactive bowl and chop a handful of little French-pickle cornichons.
I do love that word. :-)
Mince in a tablespoon of capers, add another bit of dill, a lot of ground pepper, one teaspoon of good Dijon mustard and the squeeze of half a lemon.
Mix and let it marry in the fridge overnight.
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And now the fun part!
Make sure your grill is very hot, roast your potatoes with olive oil, salt and rosemary and sear the skewers quickly on each side.
Now toast your brioche to give them fancy grill lines, butter them with the crème fraîche pickle-spread and serve with coleslaw and lime wedges, to make a hot seafood, citrusy sandwich.
Every bit as good as it looks! Ah, fleeting summer.
