As is our wont since we began spending weekends by the sea -- and by one of North America's most important seafood ports -- we pondered what seafood we would like. I had noticed we've had a fairly tight rotation of fried cod, scallops meunière, and salmon. Not that any of this is a bad thing, but I decided to check the social media of our local fishmonger for ideas. Kyler's was featuring swordfish, with which we have apparently had only one noteworthy experience since beginning this blog.
I began a lazy search for recipes, which is to say I checked the Big Green Egg web site -- too lazy even to fetch the Big Green Egg Cookbook from our kitchen. My minimal effort was rewarded with just one result to choose from on the site: Grilled Swordfish with Corn-Avocado Relish -- one of those recipes whose title provides the bulk of the instructions.
On Friday we picked up some ingredients for the relish -- drawing on Pam's expertise in avocado selection -- and then selected two swordfish steaks with the help of one of Kyler's most expert mongers. We got them into the fridge right away, and then prepared the relish at midday Saturday, so that it would have time to chill and meld.
Small deviations from the relish recipe: I sautéed the corn in chipotle-infused olive oil, I used dry cilantro because we did not have any fresh, I used jalapeño instead of Serrano (because this is New England and most stores have few pepper varieties), and I added just a touch of thyme-infused white balsamic vinegar because, well, just because.
I had trouble with the Egg so its temperature was a bit low, and this might have worked in our favor. I grilled for about 10 minutes on one side and 8 on the other. We were generous with the relish because it won't last very long. We also reserved one of the steaks to be reheated tomorrow in a cast-iron skillet for what we know will be great leftovers.
This was, as Pam commented, Yum. In addition to a very nice relish (which we called salsa because we really don't know the difference), this was delicious because I managed to get the fish cooked but not overcooked.
Lagniappe
This did indeed work as leftovers -- we had it the very next day because of the avocado. Returning the grilled fish to a well-oiled and seasoned, hot cast-iron skillet, I seared it for about one minute on each side. I then lowered the heat and covered the pan, so that the interior of the fish could be gently warmed without drying out.
Meanwhile, I cooked some local fresh corn-on-the-cob, so we had corn ON the fish and WITH the fish. Pam declared leftover "shark bake" (though no shark was involved) a success.
And regarding that Big Green Egg issue: it is amazing that it had been working at all recently. I had been occasionally clearing it of ash that I could reach, but it was totally clogged with ash I could not reach. It got a thorough cleaning today -- its first in the six years we have had it.
