We are heading into tomato season and since we’ve had many good hot days I’m guessing it will be a good year. I can only guess about that since I have a black thumb! I may have come from a family of farmers but I’m a city dweller on my father’s side and did not inherit the family ability to grow anything as long as there is a square inch of dirt. However, I was flipping through my Canal House Cooking books looking for something for dinner and landed upon their Red Tomato Preserves recipe, which struck me as the perfect thing to put on top of grilled swordfish. For those of you who may not be familiar Canal House Cooking is a good old fashioned cookbook company. Canal House was started by two women, Christopher Hirscheimer and Melissa Hamilton. They both have extensive backgrounds in photography, cooking, journalism, and art and several years ago they decided to focus on creating their own line of cookbooks called Canal House Cooking-home cooking by home cooks for home cooks. You can order their books online at their site or at bookstores, or off of Amazon.
The books are charming and loaded with great ideas and lovely pictures to escape into and recipes to try. The Red Tomato Preserve recipe came from Volume # 4. Since it’s not my recipe to give I can’t publish it here, but it is made with tomatoes, lemon zest and juice, thinly sliced ginger, sugar, and cinnamon. The end flavor is sweet, spicy, tart, with a touch of heat from the ginger. I have many future plans for this preserve, I’d love it on toasted baguette slathered with goat cheese and topped with arugula. Or a spoonful a top a grilled pork chop served with roasted butternut squash. I could also see it mixed with fresh strawberries and served over vanilla ice cream.
Last night however I was all about the swordfish. I loved grilled swordfish bathed in lemon juice and liberally sprinkled with dried oregano (yep, call me Greek). I served my swordfish with Mustard Roasted Cauliflower over a bed of spinach. A dollop of Red Tomato Preserves on top and a few Kalamata olives finished it off. This is something you can serve hot, or serve room temperature on a hot summers evening with a glass of crisp white wine, or an icy cold lemon drop.
Grilled Swordfish
2 large swordfish steaks
Olive oil
Salt and pepper to taste
1 lemon
Dried oregano
Brush the swordfish on both sides and season to taste with salt and pepper. Set aside while you’re heating the grill. Place the swordfish on a hot grill and grill each side about 3-4 minute, depending on how thick your swordfish steaks are. Remove to a platter and squeeze the lemon juice over the fish and sprinkle liberally with dried oregano. Two serve cut each swordfish steak in half so that you have four portions. Place a bed of lightly seasoned spinach (olive oil, salt, pepper) on the plate, spoon roasted cauliflower over top, and top with Red Tomato Preserves and garnish with black olives or salt cured capers if desired
Serves 4.
Mustard Roasted Cauliflower
1 head cauliflower cut into floweret’s
2 t Dijon or Sweet Hot mustard
2 T butter, melted
2 T coconut oil, melted
½ t chipotle powder
Pinch sugar
Salt and pepper to taste
Heat oven to 375. Place the cauliflower in a medium bowl. In a small bowl whisk together the Dijon, melted butter and coconut oil, chipotle, pinch sugar, and salt and pepper to taste. Pour over the cauliflower and toss to combine well. Pour onto a cookie sheet and bake about 20-30 minutes. About half way through the cooking time stir the mixture so that it browns evenly. You want the cauliflower to be brown and caramelized for the best flavor.
Serves 4
