Sautéed Red Snapper - Charred corn, Bacon, Spring Onions & Louisiana Crawfish

Chef Nathan Gresham

Chef Nathan Gresham of Galatoire's Bistro cooked this dish during the Louisiana Seafood Cook-Off in 2009. A sautéed red snapper filet with creole tomoao and saffron butter sauce.
Servings: 8

Ingredients

Sautéed Red Snapper

8, 4 oz. filets of red snapper, skin on
Grape seed oil, enough to cover pan
Flour to dust the fishSalt and pepper

Charred Corn, Bacon, Spring Onions, and Crawfish

3 ears of corn
1 cup Louisiana Crawfish Tails
12 each Spring onion, peeled and cut in half
6 oz.  Smoked bacon lardon
3 Sprigs of fresh thyme
1/2 Tbspl.  Chopped garlic
1 tsp. Creole seasoning
Splash of sherry vinegar, to deglaze
Salt and Pepper, to taste

Creole Tomato and Saffron Butter Sauce

2 ea.   Creole Tomatoes, rough chopped
1Shallot, fine diced
2 Tbsp. Tomato Paste
3 ea. Garlic clove, smashed
1 cup Champagne
¼ cup Heavy cream
2 ea. Bay leaf
Pinch Saffron, in juice of half squeezed lemon
5 ea. Black peppercorn
½ lb. Cold butter, cubed
1 Tbsp. Butter, soft

Directions

Sautéed Red Snapper

Heat skillet, add the oil to the pan.
Season the fish with salt and pepper on both sides; dust with flour.
Place fish skin side down into the skillet. With a metal spatula lightly press the fish to ensure even cooking. Cook for about 2 minutes, then flip the fish and cook for another minute. Remove fish from pan and place on a paper towel to rest.

Charred Corn, Bacon, Spring Onions, and Crawfish

Clean corn of husk. Using a blowtorch or a grill, char the outside of the corn. With a sharp knife cut the kernels of the cob, set aside.
In skillet begin to cook down the bacon until crispy. Remove bacon from skillet and add onions. Cook onions until they are tender and have a nice brown color.
Add the charred corn, thyme sprigs, crawfish tails, and garlic. Cook for about 2 minutes to bring all the flavors together.
Season with salt, pepper, and Creole seasoning. Deglaze with sherry vinegar, stir and take off heat.  Adjust seasoning if needed.

Creole Tomato and Saffron Butter Sauce

In a sauce pot, melt 1 Tbsp of butter, and the shallots, garlic, peppercorns, and bay leaves. Cook on low heat to sweat for 1 minute.
Add the chopped tomatoes and champagne; let it simmer for about 2 minutes then add the tomato paste and saffron, lemon mix. Once it has cooked down by half and the cream and continue to reduce.
Once the sauce has cooked down to au sec (almost dry) turn off heat and whisk in the cold butter a couple pieces at a time until all the butter has been incorporated.
Strain the sauce through a chinois into a metal container. Place in a warm place until ready to use.
Toss ingredients together.
To Plate:Spoon a small amount of the corn and crawfish mixture onto the middle of the plate and top with a piece of fish, skin side up. Spoon the sauce on the plate around the corn and crawfish mixture. Garnish the fish with the spicy micro greens and serve.

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