Ceviche of Sea Trout with cilantro lime puree, charred and pickled jalapeno, red onion and tomato. I've been on a Spanish food kick lately and have been experimenting with ceviche. I thought the ceviche I made at the last dinner was a little too complicated and I wanted to clean this one up. I chose Sea Trout only because it was what the farmer's market people told me was the freshest fish they had and I pretty much listen to everything they tell me about their fish. The cilantro lime puree came about because I really love the flavor of cilantro and its too pasty if you puree it by itself. The tomato and onion are for color and a little bit of contrast, and the pickled Jalapeno was an idea I got from a dish at Momofuku Noodle bar. I really love how the heat from the jalapeno gets the taste buds going and helps them appreciate the fresh fish.
Flounder with asparagus, ramps, morels and a morel coulis. I've wanted to try using morels for a while but have been turned off by the price. Fresh morels are generally only around in late spring and dried ones are about 20-30 dollars for not very many morels. Nonetheless I've pressed on...I actually got the motivation for this dish from Tom Colichio's cookbook, Think Like a Chef. He has a chapter on trilogies and the spring trilogy focuses on ways to combine morels ramps and asparagus. I might try to think of something better than simply sauteing the morels, ramps, ramps and asparagus but I'm happy with the morel coulis that I made with no directions whatsoever (pat on the back.) I used sherry, butter, shallots, reconstituted dried morels and the left over water from reconstituting the dried morels. I think the sherry butter and shallots all help bring out the morel flavor and focus and concentrate it. I will definitely make this dish in a couple of weeks if i can still find ramps.
