Grilled Swordfish with Husk Cherry Salsa #SundaySupper

It’s been a long time, but know that I feel the urge to blog again, I’ve rejoined the fab people over at Sunday Supper. For those of you that don’t know, it’s a great bunch of food folk who post recipes from a specific theme each Sunday. There’s information at the bottom of this post on how to join. I’m going to do my best to keep up! This week’s #SundaySupper Tastemaker event is being hosted by Candace from Authentically Candace. Thanks for the hosting!

A friend of mine with a garden that is fair size bigger than ours and with some ingredients that are ‘experimental’ for my limited gardening knowledge, lets me come over and explore. While she and I were walking around her garden one day, I came across these Husk Cherries. They’re also called Choke Cherries or ground cherries.

As you can see, they’re covered in paper, much the way a tomatillo is. They’re about the size and color of  a Sun Gold tomato, maybe a little smaller in size. Inside, they’re structurally akin to a tomato.

They’re sweet. They’re tart. They’re like candy. They’re fabulous. Definitely going in my garden this year.

But now that I have them, what am I going to do – aside from admiring them!

They’re a pain to peel because they’re so small. They’re sticky.

But once peeled and rinsed, you just want to do something fabulous with them. I searched and searched until I came across a recipe from Michael Simon, who I am liking more and more every day.

 

FOR THE HUSK CHERRY SALSA

• 1 pound ground cherries (husked, washed, and sliced in half, about 2 cups)
• 1/4 cup thinly shaved red onion
• 1 tablespoon minced jalapeno
• 1 lime (juiced)
• 1/4 cup olive oil
• 2 tablespoons roughly chopped cilantro
• kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper

Combine all ingredients and season with salt and pepper. For better flavor, let sit for 1 hour before serving.

FOR THE SWORDFISH:

• 1/2 cup olive oil
• 3 tablespoons chopped fresh mint leaves
• 3 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
• 1 tablespoon chopped fresh basil leaves
• 1 garlic clove, minced
• Salt and freshly ground black pepper
• 4 (5 to 6-ounces each) swordfish steaks

Prepare the grill (medium-high heat). Whisk the oil, mint, lemon juice, basil, and garlic in a medium bowl to blend. Season the lemon and olive oil mixture with salt and pepper, to taste.

Brush the swordfish steaks with 2 tablespoons of the lemon and olive oil mixture. Grill the steaks until just cooked through, about 3 minutes per side (depending on thickness of steaks). Transfer the steaks to plates.

Add the Husk Cherry Salsa to the top of each Swordfish steak and you’re done!

Take a moment to visit the other great Easy Dinner Recipes for Two!

Chicken Recipes

• Chicken and Cheese Quesadillas by Pies and Plots
• Chicken Marsala by A Mind “Full” Mom
• Classic Coq Au Vin for Two by The Crumby Cupcake
• Creamy Parmesan Skillet Eggs by The Texan New Yorker
• Date Night Chicken Teriyaki Stir-Fry by Gourmet Every Day
• Lemon Chicken Thighs and Buttered Noodles for Two by Our Good Life
• Orange Chicken by A Day in the Life on the Farm
• Saffron Chicken Tagine by Palatable Pastime
• Spicy Salsa Chicken by Simple and Savory

Pasta Recipes

• Chicken and Spinach Pasta with Creamy Sun-Dried Tomato Sauce by Pook’s Pantry
• One Pan Shrimp and Asparagus Linguini by Jersey Girl Cooks
• Scallop Pasta with Garlic and White Wine by Caroline’s Cooking
• Skillet Rigatoni alla Vodka for Two by Eat, Drink and be Tracy

Pork Recipes

• Porchetta by Cosmopolitan Cornbread
• Roast Pork Loin with Plum Sauce by Sew You Think You Can Cook

Red Meat Recipes

• Filet Mignon with Shiitake Mushrooms by Cooking Chat
• French Onion Filet Mignon by The Chef Next Door
• Honey Lime Steak Kebabs by Cindy’s Recipes and Writings
• Mini Mushroom Meatloaf by Cricket’s Confections
• Mushroom Topped Pepper Steak for Two by That Skinny Chick Can Bake
• Pan Seared Sirloin Steak Dinner for Two by Life Tastes Good
• Pan-Seared Nutella Skirt Steak by Brunch-n-Bites
• Petit Filet with Red Wine Pan Sauce & Garlic Mash by Authentically Candace
• Rack of Lamb with Strawberry Mint Glaze by Sunday Supper Movement
• Steak Au Poivre by Renee’s Kitchen Adventures

Seafood Recipes

• Baked Salmon with Ginger Marinade by Feeding Big
• Crab Caesar Salad by What Smells So Good?
• Crab Imperial by Monica’s Table
• Creamy Shrimp & Sausage Skillet by Crazed Mom
• Grilled Swordfish with Husk Cherry Salsa by From the Bookshelf
• Peppadew Trout en Croûte by Food Lust People Love
• Shrimp and Grits with Andouille Cream Sauce by Soulfully Made
• Surf and Turf for Two by The Freshman Cook

Veggie Recipes

• Colorful Matchstick Salad with Mint Vinaigrette by Culinary Adventures with Camilla
• Curried Split Peas by Wholistic Woman
• Edamame Waldorf Salad by Ninja Baker
• Saffron and Leek Risotto – Served 2 Ways by Sprinkles and Sprouts

Join the #SundaySupper conversation on twitter on Sunday! We tweet throughout the day and share recipes from all over the world. Our weekly chat starts at 7:00 pm ET. Follow the #SundaySupper hashtag and remember to include it in your tweets to join in the chat. To get more great Sunday Supper Recipes, visit our website or check out our Pinterest board. Would you like to join the Sunday Supper Movement? It’s easy. You can sign up by clicking here: Sunday Supper Movement.

Perfect Roast Chicken

This is so much less about roasted chicken than it is about chicken in general.

Really, once you’ve roasted one or two chickens, you have the basics down pat and there isn’t much to change aside from herbs and citrus and, perhaps, what you roast around it.

My fall back recipe – as I cannot for the life of me keep oven temperatures or timing in my head – is an oldie but a goodie, from the Barefoot Contessa Cookbook by Ina Garten. I admit. I’m boring. I stuff a head of garlic that I cut in half horizontally, a lemon that I cut in half, and whatever fresh herbs I have around inside the chicken. I liberally sprinkle with kosher salt and pepper, and Bob’s your uncle. Potatoes, carrots and onions around the chicken. Completely fix it and forget it.

As most of you know, I am now living in DownEast Maine – and why is it called downeast Maine? Well, I’ll tell ya! Coastal schooners laden with goods for Portland and other Maine ports would leave Boston, Massachusetts keeping their compass headings generally east or northeast, hoping that the prevailing wind from the westerly quadrants would stay behind them. Hence, they sailed downwind in an easterly direction. Hence, they were traveling down east. Things are very different here.

And you must be wondering why, if I don’t really use a roasted chicken recipe am I prattling on about roasted chickens and living on an island off the coast of Maine.

El Dia de la Pollo Muerto … the day of the dead chickens.

A some of our friends once a year purchase chicks. They’re so very cute when they’re little. We would go over and look at them, watch them grow. I would wonder why, unlike the laying birds that are free range, these chicks were penned. Seems you can have either laying chickens or eating chickens.  They raise a bunch of eating chickens. Once they’ve been tended to and loved and fattened up … well, el dia de la pollo muerto.

HORRIFYING! I know! Growing up in the big city, while you try to be conscientious about how animals are being raised and what they’re being fed, you don’t necessarily give much though to the in between raising and purchasing/eating.

Around November, the Dear One and some of our friends get together and – to quote the Queens of Hearts – off with their heads.

I have been invited to attend this gala event. I have politely declined, trying not to make the squelched up face I’m making as I type. ‘They’ say it’s quick and painless (let’s ask the chicken that!) and rather quick to go from live chicken to ready to eat. I don’t know the actual process, but there are beheadings, and contraptions that look like dryers that do the defeathering, and the descriptions just get worse from there.

My last conversation with our friend MG went something like this –

MG: You should come. It’s great. Fascinating to watch.
ME: Are you kidding? No way, no how, no time.
MG: Oh, it’s not so bad. Quick.
ME: Well, what time do you start? But DON’T count on it. And I’m not helping
MG: ME? No, no, no, no. I don’t go. I can’t bear it.

Seriously, Dude?

So I stay home. Thinking good thoughts for the poor little chickens giving so much of themselves for my roasting pan, and convince myself that the chickens going to my freezer are all from the grocery store. You see, the one request with these 8-10 incredible chickens that come into the house … no feet, no heads, no feathers, no guts, and please put them in plastic bags so I can pretend there was just a fantastic sale on chickens.

I do wonder if the laying hens feel guilty. There they are, well fed, out all day playing in the sun with the turkeys and guinea fowl, goats (meanest little creatures ever born), and the pig, Kevin. Why are they safe? Are they to be next? One will never know the mind of a chicken.

That being said, these are probably the best chickens I have even eaten. Cooked here only for those deserving, chosen few.

This past go round, I was honored with a big bag of chicken livers and skin … pate and cracklings … more no that later.

• 1 (5 to 6 pound) roasting chicken
• Kosher salt
• Freshly ground black pepper
• 1 large bunch fresh thyme, plus 20 sprigs
• 1 lemon, halved
• 1 head garlic, cut in half crosswise
• 2 tablespoons (1/4 stick) butter, melted
• 1 large yellow onion, thickly sliced
• 4 carrots cut into 2-inch chunks
• 1 bulb of fennel, tops removed, and cut into wedges
• Olive oil

NOTE: I skip the melted butter, use whatever fresh herbs I have around, and substitute potatoes for the fennel.

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F.

Remove the chicken giblets. Rinse the chicken inside and out. Remove any excess fat and leftover pin feathers and pat the outside dry. Liberally salt and pepper the inside of the chicken. Stuff the cavity with the bunch of thyme, both halves of lemon, and all the garlic. Brush the outside of the chicken with the butter and sprinkle again with salt and pepper. Tie the legs together with kitchen string and tuck the wing tips under the body of the chicken. Place the onions, carrots, and fennel in a roasting pan. Toss with salt, pepper, 20 sprigs of thyme, and olive oil. Spread around the bottom of the roasting pan and place the chicken on top.

Roast the chicken for 1 1/2 hours, or until the juices run clear when you cut between a leg and thigh. Remove the chicken and vegetables to a platter and cover with aluminum foil for about 20 minutes. Slice the chicken onto a platter and serve it with the vegetables.