Nothing says Cape Cod like scrod and sea scallops for an entree. Flaky white scrod is excellent for rolling and stuffing. Sea scallops make the stuffing moist like the ocean air of a Cape Cod morning. The Newburg Sauce tastes good on just about anything, but for some reason it seems to tastes better on a cool spring night east of the Bourne Bridge.
If you are wondering what scrod is, Webster’s Dictionary defines it as “a young fish (as a cod or haddock)”. Scrod in restaurants is indeed just young cod. There is a small difference in the quality of the meat in the immature fish. I’m sure a sophisticated palate could probably make the distinction, based mostly on texture. The truth to buying scrod is to make sure that it is fresh. When scrod is frozen, the flakiness of the fish tends to form more ice crystals within the layers. This sometimes can make the frozen fish taste synthetic, so always try to buy it fresh.
When Susan Fernald raved about this dish she had at Starlight Café in Nantucket I confess that, at first, I didn’t even understand what she meant by “gingersnap fluke.” And when I did, I thought it sounded downright weird. Boy was I wrong. The ginger, sweet, and acid deliciously offset one another. If you weren’t told what they were, you wouldn’t be able to place the flavors—but the results are excellent and really unique.
Bill and Denise Atwood from The Red Pheasant served this tuna preparation at the restaurant last summer to great acclaim. The salad combination is unusual but the balance of tart, sweet, and salty combine well and it is delicious. It is worth searching out the finest tuna–try Cape Fish and Lobster in Hyannis. Â
Summer is the season when we move the bulk of our cooking out of the kitchen and onto the grill, and when vegetables, salads, and fruits move from the sidelines to the center of our plates. Keep in mind that fruit doesn’t have to be relegated to dessert; it makes a lovely savory companion to fish and meats when grilled with olive oil and sprinkled with herbs or used in a fresh salsa as follows. The recipe is courtesy of Elsa Sampou, who offered us a batch to go with the striped bass her husband Andre caught and was kind enough to share with us. The sweet fresh fruit offsets the rich taste of the wild bass and it would also be delicious made with local peaches, although it was awfully good made with supermarket mangos.Â
If possible, grill over lump hardwood charcoal as it imparts a nice smoky note to the fish, but a gas grill or even an oven at 350 degrees works just fine.
Adapted From Chef Christian Schultz of the Barley Neck Inn
This sauce is classic French and is rich with wine, butterand cream.Here it is applied tomonkfish, which is available from area waters. Some of our tasters found themustard too assertive when we first made this so we reduced the amount used byChef Schultz.The truth is thatmustard varies greatly in strength depending on how old they are and who the purveyor is. If you wantstronger mustard flavor when you taste it at the end by all means addmore.
Another tip: To make the monkfish medallions easier to workwith, ask your fishmonger to remove the membrane that sometimes remains on thetail meat.
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