Ingredient Alert: Tilefish (Amadai)

Previously, on tastingmenu.wordpress.com –

* https://tastingmenu.wordpress.com/2011/04/29/morimoto%E2%80%99s-sweetfish-and-rice-red-snapper-and-rice-two/

…Third, I included at least one dish that a layman could prepare. I wanted the viewers to think, “I can prepare that too.“…  -Iron Chef Rokusaburo Michiba

I recently got inspired to cook tilefish and wanted to make tilefish rice (like the one prepared by Iron Chef Michiba [less the grated yam sauce]).  I expected that I could basically replace the snapper with tilefish in Iron Chef Morimoto’s recipe and finish it with some sansho and sesame seeds. After making a few phone calls, I discovered that Captain Marden’s of Wellesley, MA had it available in fillet form (HMart, has it, but only in steak format and unwilling to provide me with fillet portions.  Captain Marden’s staff indicated to me that tilefish is currently in season and they will have it periodically

The in-season information was confirmed when I went over to Sakanaya to pick up 2 lbs of toro. Kawamura-san had blocks of sushi-grade tilefish available in the refridgerated display case.

Thank you to the staff of  Captain Marden’s and Sakanaya!

http://www.captainmardens.com (fillet portions for cooking, non sushi/sashimi-grade)
http://www.sakanayaboston.com (for sashimi/sushi-grade)

Here’s the Tilefish Iron Chef Battle: