Friday, April 20, 2007: Marlin steaks with Tapenade
Finally, the weather has turned. I had 20 minutes to kill before a meeting downtown today, pulled out my iPod, warmed up my blackberry and just sat (basked) in the sun. On days like this, who needs an office…
Stopped at the fish mongers on the way home and grabbed two marlin steaks. Sprinkled them with some olive oil, salt and pepper and let them marinade while the gas grill warmed up.
While that was taking place I quickly whipped up a tapenade to go with it:
1 Tablespoon capers
1 Tablespoon lemon juice
2 Tablespoons olive oil
5 Tablespoons pitted calamata olives (about 20 olives)
1 Clove garlic
Put all ingredients in the bowl of a food processor and give it a whir until it’s smooth – about 30 – 40 seconds. Transfer to a bowl and place in the fridge to give it a chill…
A bunch of asparagus (it’s Spring!) were snapped, washed and then blanched for three minutes in heavily salted boiling water. After three minutes, they went into an ice bath to stop the cooking process and give them a brilliant green colour.
Finally, the kids I and got out some sponges, a bucket and lots of soapy warm water and we set up and cleaned the patio furniture.
With the gas grill humming, the marlin was cooked about five minutes a side, turning 90 degrees after 4 minutes to give it nice cross-hatch grill marks.
K. came home and she made two Kir Royales, took the asparagus out of the ice water and gave it a douse of olive oil, lemon juice and a spinkling of kosher salt. The asparagus went on the grill for 3 or 4 minutes to finish it off.
We switch to prosecco once the food hits the plate…
The Verdict
The boy absolutely devours the marlin. At first we can’t get enough fish on his plate, he’s wolfing it down so quickly.
Our daughter, who loves olives more than just about any other food, thinks the tapenade is the greatest thing ever. She puts it on her asparagus, on her fish, on her baguette…by the end she was eating “the olive sauce” as she called it straight up off a spoon. I don’t know why I didn’t think of making tapenade for her earlier.
It’s a nice meal, but it’s even nicer as it’s our first dinner outside this Spring. I’m hopeful the nice weather is here to stay and we’ll have plenty more meals on the back deck.
