[Music Playing]
Hi, I'm Chef Scott Samuel here at The Culinary Institute of America
at Greystone in Napa Valley.
I'm gonna make a dish today incorporating red grapes, corn, and mahi-mahi.
It's a grilled mahi mahi with a red grape and corn salsa and a spicy grape coulis.
So, the components of this dish are in front of me.
And first of all - my salsa will have fresh red grapes that I've quartered,
fresh white corn,
fresh red pepper - diced,
cilantro - minced,
a little bit of a serrano pepper - that have been seeded and minced,
shallot, lime juice....
And I will finish this with olive oil. So, those components are the salsa.
I'm gonna combine them. It's gonna be a fresh salsa with a nice cool bite with a spicy aftertaste.
The coolness of the grapes with the sweetness of the corn and the bite of the Serrano
should play really well with the grilled mahi mahi.
The sauce that I'm gonna create is going to be incorporating green grapes,
then I'm gonna purée and strain,
and then incorporate that with Crème fraîche, lime juice, a little bit of honey,
and some cayenne for the heat.
And the last component will be the mahi-mahi
(or any other white fish) that we're going to marinate with a little bit of
canola oil, lime juice, and then season with salt and cayenne,
and grill it up simply. So, three components come together with this dish,
and the highlight is the red grapes and the sweetness of it.
So, let's make the salsa.
The first thing I want to do is we're gonna combine all these fresh ingredients.
A cup of red grapes, a cup of sweet corn,
our half cup of red pepper,
1/2 a cup of mint/cilantro,
the spiciness of our Serrano,
shallot, and lime juice.
So, what makes this salsa "a salsa," is a the salt that brings out the moisture of the fruits and vegetables,
the lime juice that I've just added...
....and heat. We add a little bit of cayenne.
So, this salsa is best after we let it sit for about 15 to 20 minutes,
for the flavors to combine.
And the last ingredient I have in this will be my olive oil.
So, salt, pepper, olive oil, the sweetness of the grapes....
Let's let this sit.... Set this aside for about 20 minutes.
So, let's make the spicy green grape coulis.
First thing we want to do is take about a half a cup of green grapes.
We're gonna purée them, extract the juice and the pulp.....
So, I want to strain out the skins while extracting the juice and the pulp of the green grape.
So, with the back of a ladle and a strainer.... Kind of just pushing....
....to get as much of the purée of the grape together. This is going to add some body to our sauce.
So, there's our green grape juice. We want to take our Crème fraîche — half a cup of Crème fraîche.....
lime juice....
A little bit of acid to bring out the flavor....
And our honey — sweetness to balance....
And our quarter teaspoon of cayenne....
And our kosher salt to lift the flavors.
Very simply whisk together. Now I have a nice sauce to pair with my mahi-mahi and my salsa.
And mahi-mahi.... Very simply, all I want to do is....
....marinate it in a little bit of canola oil....
.....and lime juice.....
And I only want to do this for about 10 minutes. The lime juice — the acid in the lime juice will start to cook the fish.
I'm not looking to cook the fish like a ceviche. What I'm looking to do is add some flavor.
So, let's grill the mahi and then assemble this dish.
My Mahi's had a chance for about 10 minutes to sit in the lime juice and canola oil,
and you can see a little bit of the edges are getting opaque.
That's the lime juice starting to cook our mahi. We don't want to go too much longer.
That's exactly what it should look like.
So, you notice I didn't put any salt in the marinade.
I don't want to add salt early on, because it pulls out the moisture, and then my fish will tend to stick to the grill.
So, I will season it right the second before we put it on the grill.
Grill pan is hot.
Seasoning with kosher salt and cayenne.
What I like to do is — right before I put it on the grill — I'll oil the grill to season it.
And I'm going to put it presentation-side down.
[sizzling sound]
So, look. I've had this on for about three minutes on one side,
and I haven't even touched it yet, because I don't want it to stick.
But I'm looking at the edges, and I'm starting to get a little bit of opaque...
That's my fish cooking. Now, I should be able to turn it.
About a 45 degree angle.
And we'll let it go for another minute before we turn it again.
In the meantime, I'm gonna season the backside.
Okay, so I've had a chance to cook probably 50% of the way on the presentation side.
Now I'm gonna flip it. And just sear it.
Because I want this fish to still have a little bit of moistness in the center.
It's gonna flake. That's going to be my sign that it's done.
[sizzling sounds]
All right, so about another minute on this backside.
And then we're ready to present.
So, the components I have ready for plating.....
Are my salsa which has had a chance to marinate and infuse the flavors....
....And my spicy Green Grape Crème Fraîche.
And I'll be garnishing with some fresh red grapes.
Okay, let's take a look at our mahi.
It's almost there. We've got probably another 30 seconds to cook this.
But I know that there's gonna be some carryover heat. So I'm gonna take it off.
Remove it to a warm plate, while I get my plate presentation ready.
So, a little bit of Crème Fraîche down on the plate, topped with the perfectly cooked mahi.
We're gonna add our grape salsa.
Couple fresh grapes.
And there we have our Red Grape and Corn Salsa with Grilled Mahi Mahi and a spicy Green Grape Crème Fraîche.
Enjoy.