Grilled fish skewers

[fresco]

I want to make fish skewers tonight and salmon, scallops, fresh sage and bacon sounds tantalizing. If you've tried something like this or have other suggestions, your feedback is eagerly awaited.

[carswell]

Heading off in another direction altogether...

Brochettes of Salmon Marinated in Yogurt and Indian Spices

About 1 pound skinless salmon filet, cut into 1½-inch chunks (you should have around 16 chunks)

Scant 1/2 teaspoon anise seeds

1/2 teaspoon cumin seeds

1/2 teaspoon coriander seeds

1/2 teaspoon yellow mustard seeds

8 green cardamon seeds, hulled

1 clove

10 black peppercorns

1 cup whole-milk yogurt

1–2 chilies, seeded and minced

Fresh ginger, a piece about the size of the first joint of your thumb

2 green peppers, cored and cut into 1½-inch squares

1–2 medium onions, preferably red, peeled and cut into 1½-inch squares

Sea salt

Place the spices in a small skillet and fry over medium-high heat until they are toasted. Transfer to a mortar or grinder and grind to a coarse powder. In a nonreactive bowl, combine the spices, chilies, yogurt and ginger, either squeezed through a garlic press or finely minced. Add the salmon, cover and refrigerate at least 1 hour.

When ready to cook the fish, take a skewer and on it thread a piece of pepper, a piece of onion and a piece of fish (the fish should be only lightly coated with yogurt). Repeat three times so that the skewer contains four pieces of salmon. Repeat for the other skewers.

Grill the brochettes over a medium fire or broil them close to a hot broiler 2-3 minutes a side, around 10 minutes in all. Season with salt and serve.

Two servings

[EJRothman]

Monkfish cubes, wrapped in bacon, interspersed with cherry tomatoes and drizzled with basil oil.

[guajolote]

I'd make seperate skewers with the salmon and scallops. When I grill scallops I leave them on about 45 sec a side, and salmon takes quite a bit longer. The bacon and sage sound great on the slamon, but may overpower the scallops. I'd put a little butter, thyme, and parsley on the scallops.

[tissue]

wrap chunks of swordfish in pancetta, drizzle with olive oil.

[fresco]

Thanks for all the suggestions--they sound great. Got rushed for time, so headed for fishmonger and came back with not salmon but swordfish, tuna and scallops. Will incorporate some of your suggestions--separating out the scallops makes a lot of sense. Think I have both bacon and pancetta so may experiment. Also, rosemary is coming up in the garden, so will try that on some of the skewers.

Love monkfish, but none on offer. Will try them at a later time. Thanks a lot.

BTW--Will be serving Jim Dixon's roasted cauliflower for the second night running. Had to just about physically restrain my son from gulping it from the roasting pan yesterday for fear there would be none to dress the pasta. A huge hit.

Edited June 27, 2003 by fresco (log)