Tied in a Bow April 2015 | Page 38

Place the fish in the hot pan, sear the fish for 3 minutes on each side.

In the meantime, prepare the salad, mix the set aside dressing well and pour over the fennel and parsley.

Mound it up in the middle of the serving plate and use the browned stuff in the bottom of the saute’ pan.

Remove the fish and place on paper towels to rest.

Pour off some of the excess butter and olive oil mixture and discard.

Then pour the remaining browned pan goodness into the wine sauce, earlier prepared.

Remove from the heat and add diced cold butter to the mixture and stir until the butter is melted and the sauce is glossy.

Serve the crispy red snapper with fresh fennel and parsley salad with a drizzle of citrus glaze.

Chef’s Note: “Don’t strain the sauce. You want some of the fronds to stay in the sauce and straining it would take everything out. Do not allow the fish to smoke. Your ‘secret weapon’ may be used at this point if you want your sauce to be thicker. What you have now is a ‘buerre blanc’ – an elegant thin wine and butter sauce. You can use it as is…thin is good. If you prefer a thicker sauce you can make the slurry and add it slowly to your buerre blanc, bringing it to a mild boil while stirring.”

Chef Lynn Johnson has just published his latest book, "Delicioso" which is available at www.amazon.com, www.createspace.com and on Kindle. It is also coming soon to a bookstore near you.