Tim LaBant, chef and owner of the restaurant The Schoolhouse at Cannondale in Wilton, Conn., loves to develop big flavors using unique ingredients and a combination of new and classic techniques. Here are LaBant's recipes for pan-roasted bronzini, or Mediterranean seabass, and fregula salad:
Recipe: Pan-roasted bronzini fillet (on this page) Recipe: Fregula salad (on this page)1. Start with a scaled, de-boned fillet.
2. Season both sides lightly with salt.
3. Heat a heavy nonstick pan until beginning to smoke. Add canola oil.
4. When oil begins to let off wisps of smoke, gently lay fish into pan placing the skin side down. Be cautious not to let oil splash on yourself.
5. Immediately apply light pressure to the top of the fish for 20 seconds to ensure good contact between the skin of the fish and the pan.
6. After one minute, turn heat to medium.
7. After three minutes, edges of fish should be cooked and fish should be flipped in the pan.
8. After another minute of cooking on the flesh side of the fish, the burner can be turned off and a tablespoon of butter can be added to the pan and basted over the fillet.
9. The fillet shouldn't take longer than five to six minutes to complete cooking.
To roast the beets for the salad:
1.Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F.
2. Wash and dry beets.
3. Rub beets with oil and lightly season with salt
4. Place beets in roasting pan (Pyrex will work) and cover with foil and place in oven
5. Cooking time varies with size of beets. (SuperBall size: 30 minutes; ping-pong ball size: 45 minutes; lime size: 1 hour; lemon size: 1.5 hours.) Test doneness with a skewer. Skewer should go through without much resistance.
6. Let the beets cool for 3-5 minutes, but while they're still hot hold one at a time inside a paper towel and rub the skin off the beets. Clean dish towels work great, except for the mess.
To cook the fregula for the salad:
Fregula is a Sardinian pasta made from semolina and it looks like Israeli couscous. It is usually toasted in an oven before you buy it, and it has a nutty, toasty flavor. It cooks similar to other pastas.
1. Bring salted water to a boil
2. Add fregula. Stir occasionally to avoid sticking.
3. Strain when fregula has reached desired doneness (usually after 10-15 minutes).
To put the fregula salad together:
Mix all the ingredients in a non-reactive bowl. Toss and serve.
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