Nut-Crusted Haddock with Farmers Market Vegetable Saute

If you live in New England and have an appreciation for locally grown foods, chances are that you wish you lived in some place like Oregon or Virginia, where your Facebook friends seem to be enjoying beautiful bounty from their farmers markets from March through November. Or maybe year round if you have friends in Florida.

Well, yankees, our time has come. My local market is getting bigger and more beautiful each week as local farms are harvesting more and more. It started with just greens but now there are beets, radishes, broccoli, tomatoes, even zucchini and CORN! You know you it’s prime time when corn comes around. Sweet, local, organic – that’s the corn I really want to splurge on and what I eagerly snatched up last week.

I also picked up our fish share – flounder and swordfish this week – along with thick scallions, bright radishes and a few plump tomatoes. And I managed to throw it all together in one easy meal that doesn’t even require measurements. Come on, you like recipes without measurements, right? It’s not all that different from taking a chance on a CSA or filling your bag with farmers market goodies without a meal plan in place – you just have to go for it and know that good things will come. Alright, fine, I’ll throw in some measurements. But don’t feel you have to stick to them exactly. 

And they will. There was little forethought into this meal as I picked up my goods on Saturday and was scraping together a meal plan for the week on Sunday afternoon. And I’ll readily admit two things: I rarely think to cook with radishes and I almost always forget about cutting the corn off the cob. But these two are really good for sauteeing up in a skillet. They don’t need much time to just begin to caramelize but still retain that fresh, light taste of summer. You know the one I’m talking about. Spoon it over fish, and I don’t think you get much more summer than that.

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Nut-Crusted Haddock with Farmers Market Vegetable Saute

Yield: 2 servings

Ingredients:

1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil, avocado oil or other high heat cooking oil
1/4 cup arrowroot starch
1/4 cup cashew meal or almond meal
2 6oz filets of haddock
salt & pepper
2 ears of corn
1 small bunch radishes, trimmed and diced small
1 medium tomato, diced
juice from half of a lemon
2 cloves of garlic, minced
1-2 large scallions, thinly sliced
a few large fresh basil leaves, thinly sliced

Directions:

Heat oil in a large skillet, preferably cast-iron, over medium-high heat.

Combine arrowroot and nut meal on a large plate. Sprinkle fish with salt and pepper. Press both sides into the nut meal mixture and then place in hot skillet. Cook for about 6 minutes, turning halfway though, until browned on both sides. Transfer to a plate and keep warm.

Cut the corn from the cobs. Add corn and radishes to the hot skillet, adding a bit of extra oil if needed. Saute for 3-4 minutes, until starting to brown. Add tomatoes, lemon juice, garlic and scallion and continue cooking for 1-2 more minutes. Turn off heat and stir in basil. Spoon over fish and serve hot.

Cara Lyons, www.carascravings.com