GREAT WAYS WITH LLAMPUGA

On yesterday's show, our resident foodie, Jane Hagan (from Associated Marine Services in Santanyí)came up with two great recipes for this season's tastiest fish: llampuga.


"This is a great dish for this time of year and can be prepped well in advance and cooked
in front of your guests. I learned this from a Cuban girl and I love the simple way that fish can be cooked and yet taste quite sensational! There are a lot of instructions here and it needs to be served immediately after cooking but do it once and you'll see just how easy cooking good-tasting fish can be.

Cuban-style Barbequed Llampuga(You'll need to fillet the fish or ask your fishmonger nicely and they're happy to do it for you)

Ingredients:
Fillets of llampuga
Sweet white onions – finely sliced and separated into rings
English mustard power
Lime juice
Extra virgin olive oil
Salt and freshly ground black pepper

Take some large sheets of tin foil, large enough to hold the fish fillet easily and enable you to fold it into an 'envelope' with lots of room for air; in other words you want a loose wrapping so that the fish steams in its own juices. Use a double layer of tin foil so it doesn't break during cooking.

Place some onion slices in the middle of the sheet, covering an area roughly the size of the fish fillet.

Drizzle a good amount of olive oil over the onions and season with a little salt and pepper. Take care not to overdo the salt as it will spoil the lovely fish. Salt can always be added by the person eating it at the end!

Mix the mustard power with lime juice to make a paste that's quite runny, and spread over the fish evenly but not too thickly.

Place the fish on the onions and squeeze a little more lime over it, with another squirt of olive oil. Seal the foil packet really well.

Make sure the BBQ is good and hot (but not blistering) before placing the packages on it and cook for 7 minutes or so. Remember that the onions should be on the fire side, with fish on top. You'll know it's cooked because there'll be a little bubbling sound from the parcels.

Give each person a parcel and let them open it themselves, but don't leave for long as the fish keeps cooking – so it's best to have everybody ready. Believe me, they'll take one sniff of that lovely aroma and be ready with knives and forks primed! Serve with a green salad - and a nice spicy rice dish really complements the fish.

Caribbean Blackened Dolphin Fish

Dolphin fish, or llampuga as we know it here, is to be found year-round in the Caribbean and the locals cook it with spices that blacken and burn a little as they are fried. Surprisingly, the burnt spices give the fish a delicious flavour. You'll need to make up an Adobo if you can't find one in the tores (quite difficult in Mallorca).

Ingredients:

For the adobo, make a mix of the following:

1 tablespn garlic granules or powder
1 tablespn dried oregano
1 tablespn onion power or granules
1 teaspoon turmeric
½ teaspoon cumin
1 teaspoon ground black pepper
Good pinch salt

Llampuga cut into cutlets of about 20mm thick (without head and tail)
Cornflour mixed with equal quantities of adobo mix.
Sunflower oil for frying

Take the llampuga cutlets and dip them into the cornflour/adobo mixture, giving them a good coating. I simply take the fish out of the bag from the fishmonger and there's enough moisture on the fish to get the dry mix to stick.

In a frying pan put lots of oil – I don't skimp on the oil but it's not a deep fry. Heat up to a fairly high temperature and put in the fish.

Fry on both sides to seal nicely – a minute each side – and then turn down to a medium heat
and cook thoroughly. The adobo spices will turn black but don't worry, it tastes delicious – but if it does get very smoky the heat's probably too high.

Last week I served this with Tumbet and it was a great combination. But it goes well with a nice coleslaw or a mixed salad with papaya or pineapple.

For next time (Sunday show, with Jan Edwards, on October 5), I'm going to give you
two more BBQ recipes to cook before we pack up the BBQs for the season. Luckily we
still have quite a few weekends left to enjoy eating outside – yippee!

Happy eating!"

Posted by Jan Edwards