Here’s the method seafood professionals use for quickly removing the heads, skin-on fillets, and bones from pre-gutted whole fish.

1. Remove the Head & Collar

Grab hold of one of the fish’s fins by the head and pull up, using it to lift the flesh up to make cutting easier.  Cut down into the fish with the blade angled towards the head.  Stop when your blade hits the backbone.

Flip the fish and make another similar cut down to the backbone.  Cut through the backbone and remove the head & collar meat.

2. Cut Above the Backbone to Remove the First Fillet

Turn the fish so that the gutted belly is towards you.  Place your knife at the head end, just above the backbone.  Angle the blade of the knife slightly up (away from the backbone).  Run the knife through the body of the fish from head end to the tail.  You should be able to remove one whole fillet (belly fat & bones still attached).  Set it aside.

3. Cut Below the Backbone to Remove the Second Fillet

This cut’s a little trickier.  Return your knife to the head end of the fish, this time just below the backbone.  Angle the blade of the knife slightly up (towards the backbone), but not so much that you cut into the backbone.  Run the knife through the body of the fish from head to tail.  You should be able to remove the backbone & tail.

4. Cut the Belly Fat/Bones From Each Fillet

Take one fillet at a time.  Hold your knife at an angle fairly close to the curve of the fish’s belly meat, make a flat cut across the belly, just under the bones and fat to lift them off & remove them.  Make one final cut straight down at the bottom of the fillet to remove the bottom skin & fat.  Repeat with the other fillet.

If you want to take the skin off of your fillets, see how to remove fish skin for tips.

You’ll want to use a different technique for flatfish (like halibut).

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This light, bright, effervescent cocktail combines the fruity, floral, sweet & slighly tart flavor of elderflower with sparkling white wine.  Because elderflower syrup has a fair amount of sweetness, it’s best if the sparkling wine used is quite dry.

Ingredients:       (Makes 1 Drink)
1 oz Elderflower Syrup
Dry Sparkling White Wine
Orange Twist

Directions:

1. Add elderflower syrup to champagne flute.

2. Fill the flute with sparkling wine.

3. Garnish with an orange twist

Buckwheat Crepê Sausage Rolls with Pheasant Cognac Sausage, Crème Fraiche, Caviar, and Dill

This gourmet version of sausage rolls, or “pigs in the blanket”, uses buckwheat crepês as a wrapping around the sausage. These become even more upscale when topped with crème fraiche, caviar, and dill which pair nicely with the smoky and sweet aromatic pheasant cognac sausage.

Ingredients:

1 cup Buckwheat Flour
1/4 teaspoon Salt
2 Eggs
1 1/3 cups Milk
3 tablespoons Melted Butter
Additional Butter for frying crepes

4 Pheasant Cognac Sausages
Crème Fraiche
Caviar (Salmon Roe or other)
Fresh Dill

Directions:

1. In a large bowl, combine flour, eggs, milk, butter, salt using electric mixer until smooth.

2. Make the Crepes – Melt butter in a large crêpe pan. Pour 2/3 of the scoop of batter into pan and turn the pan gently to spread the batter around the whole pan. Cook until edge of crêpe turns light brown, about 1 minute. Loosen edges gently with spatula and turn crêpe over. Cook until bottom begins to brown in spots, about 30 seconds. Transfer to plate and cover with foil. Repeat with remaining batter, spraying pan with oil spray as needed and keeping the crêpes warm.

3. Fry or grill sausages, turning often, for about 10 minutes or until browned and cooked through.

4. Place one sausage on one end of a crêpe and roll the crêpe up tightly. Slice into 1-inch rounds with a sharp knife.

5. Arrange the crêpe sausage rolls on a platter. Top each roll with a dollop of crème fraiche, caviar, and dill.

Recipe Development & Photography by Natasha Price, 5 Star Foodie

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Roe & Caviar Recipes

This ragu pasta sauce may or may not be 100% authentic, we came up with it while playing around in the kitchen, but the results are undeniably tasty.  It’s easy, beefy, tomato-y, herby, and very satisfying.

We made this version using ground kobe beef, but you could easily substitute ground grass-fed beef, ground bison or even ground kangaroo.

Ingredients:   (Makes Enough for 4 Servings of Pasta)
1 cup chopped Onions
1/4 cup minced Carrot
1/4 cup minced Celery
1lb Ground Kobe Beef
1/2 cup White Wine
1/2 tsp Fennel Seed
3/4 cup Beef Stock
One 6oz can of Tomato Paste
1/2 tsp Salt
Generous cracking of Pepper
1/2 tsp Dried Oregano
1 Pinch of Dried Thyme
1 tbsp Fresh Basil, chiffonade (thinly sliced)

Directions:
1. Heat some oil in a large pan and sweat the carrots, onions, and celery until tender.

2. Remove & reserve the vegetables, then add the beef to the pan.

3. Brown the beef, then drain off most of the rendered fat.

4. Return the vegetables to the pan along with the white wine, oregano, thyme, fennel seed, tomato paste, beef stock and salt & pepper.

5. Simmer gently for an hour or longer, stirring occasionally.

6. Just before serving, stir in the basil.

7. Serve atop pasta finished with grated parmesan cheese (ideally parmigiano reggiano).

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Pasta & Pasta Sauce Recipes
Ground Meat Recipes
Kobe Beef Recipes

One of the reasons why we love Asian cuisine is that there are so many different and unique flavors and ingredients to experience. Our newest recipe challenge will take your kitchen to the East and features a tasty array of Asian ingredients to experiment with.

We’ll send you samples of Adzuki Beans, Dried Maitake Mushrooms, Mochi Rice, Dried Star Fruit, Organic Millet, and Hijiki and your task will be to create TWO original recipes using at least four of the ingredients. The extra twist in this contest is that you have to create one recipe for an appetizer and the second for a main course.

Feel up to the challenge? Here’s how it works:

1. Send your name, mailing address, blog name and URL to Katie at kwallace (at) marxfoods (dot) com by 1/20. Several participants will be chosen to participate.
2. Create your original recipes for an appetizer and a main dish and post both recipes in a single post on your blog by 2/19. Don’t forget to send the link to Katie!
3. All of the recipe submissions will be published on the Marx Foods blog and be put to a vote.

Two winners will be chosen for this contest, one through the public vote and the other through an internal poll of the Marx Foods staff and the participating bloggers. Both winners will be announced 2/24.

The stakes are high for this challenge! Each winner will receive their choice of either 4 Kobe Tomahawk Steaks or 5lbs of sushi grade Yellowfin Tuna.

Get hungry and go East!

Butter poached lobster tail, caramelized chanterelle mushrooms and fluffy, delicious pasta pillows stuffed with a creamy, sweet parsnip puree.  Are you drooling yet?

If not, consider that the above culinary delights are all tossed in a cognac butter sauce made with lobster stock and lobster roe butter (though you could substitute chicken stock & plain butter) for even more lobster flavor.

You’ll likely have extra agnoloti to freeze or serve with another dish.

Drink Pairing: oaky Chardonnay

Ingredients:                                     Makes Four Servings
1 Large Butter Poached Lobster Tail, Cubed (How to Butter Poach Lobster)
1lb Fresh Chanterelle Mushrooms
2tbsp + 1tbsp Unsalted Butter
1 tsp Shallots, minced
1 tbsp Cognac
2 tbsp Lobster Roe Compound Butter (could substitute more unsalted butter)
1/2 cup Lobster Stock (could substitute chicken stock)
Chopped Parsley for Garnish

Pasta Dough:
1 3/4th cup All Purpose Flour
6 Egg Yolks
1 Large Egg
2 tsp Extra Virgin Olive Oil
2 tsp Whole Milk
Big Pinch of Salt
Rice Flour for dusting

Pasta Filling:
1lb Parsnips, peeled & each cut into three chunks
1″ by 1″ portion of Orange Zest (removed with a peeler)
1 cup Heavy Cream
3 sprigs Fresh Thyme
1 Bay Leaf
Salt

Optional: Chive Oil & Lobster Claw Meat for Garnish

Directions:
1. Make the pasta dough – Mound the flour in a large bowl, make a well in the center, and add the eggs, milk, olive oil, and salt to the well.  Make the pasta dough following the well method (how to make pasta).  Add more milk or olive oil as needed if the dough is too dry.

Knead the dough until it develops a silky texture.  Wrap it in plastic wrap & let it rest for 30 minutes.

2. In a saucepan combine the parsnips, heavy cream, bay leaf, thyme, orange zest and salt.  Simmer until the parsnips are tender.

3. Remove the thyme and bay leaf, then move the mixture to a blender.  Puree until smooth yet stiff, stopping the blender and scraping down the sides or stirring as necessary.

Taste, then add salt & pepper as needed.

4. Lightly flour the pasta dough & roll it out using a pasta machine or mixer attachment.

5. Melt two tablespoons of butter in a large frying pan.  Tear the chanterelles down the stem into large strips.  Add to the melted butter.  Sauté the chanterelles until they’re caramelized & emit a nutty aroma. Reserve.

6. Roll out the pasta on your machine to setting # 7 (just until it is thin enough to be semi-translucent).

7. Dust your counter with rice flour and lay down a sheet of your pasta.  Fill a piping bag or zip top bag with the parsnip pasta filling.  If using a zip top bag, snip off one corner to be the nozzle.  Pipe a line of filling down the center of the sheet.

8.  Brush the pasta sheet with a line of water just below the filling and fold the water brushed side over the filling to make a tube with a large flap on one side.

9. Pinch gaps in the filling to form the individual pieces (fewer gaps = larger pieces).  Use a pizza cutter or pastry wheel to cut off most of the top flap.

10. Use the wheel to cut the pieces apart by rolling between the gaps.  Fold the filled portion over the remaining top flap, folding in the two cut sides to close each piece.

11. Add the agnoloti to boiling salted water & boil for 5-7 minutes.

12. Melt the remaining tablespoon of butter in a large frying pan.

Add shallots to the melted butter, sweat until softened, then add the caramelized chanterelles.  Add the cognac, burn off the alcohol, then add the lobster or chicken stock.

13. Once the liquid in the pan has reduced, remove it from the heat and stir in the roe butter or substitute (if you’re using lobster roe butter, it’ll change color from green to orange).  Add the lobster meat, agnoloti & parsley.  Toss to combine.

14. Serve finished with chive oil and lobster claw meat if desired.

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Pasta Recipes

Savory Potato, Fontina, and Truffle Beignets

Pairings of truffles with potatoes or cheese are classic. Here, the truffles are combined with both potatoes and Fontina cheese to make savory deep-fried beignets. These scrumptious bites must be served immediately after frying to get that terrific contrast of texture between the crispy outside and the melted cheese on the inside.

Ingredients: (yields about 16 beignets)
1 Large Potato, boiled & peeled
1 Egg
1 1/2 cup All-Purpose Flour + additional flour as needed
1/3 cup Water
3-4 tablespoons Fresh Truffles, chopped
1 cup Fontina Cheese, shredded
Canola oil, for frying
Lingonberry Preserves (optional)
Salt to taste

Directions:

1. Put the boiled potato through a ricer. In a bowl mix together the potato, egg, flour, water and salt to taste to form the dough. If the dough is still very sticky, add a little more flour. Mix in the chopped truffles and fontina.

2. Drop small balls of dough in 350°F oil and deep fry in batches until golden on both sides.

3. Serve immediately, with lingonberry preserves if desired.

Recipe Development & Photography by Natasha Price, 5 Star Foodie

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Cheese Recipes

A Marx Foods customer going by the web pseudonym “Old Gator” was kind enough to share his tantalizing recipe for matzo brei made with a blend of hedgehog mushrooms, chanterelles, and black trumpet mushrooms.  It looks like an incredible upgrade for a classic Passover dish!

You crumble a couple of sheets of matzo – preferably a very thin Passover style matzo (though the health conscious amongst us can happily default to whole wheat matzo too) – and soak it in three or four well beaten eggs with a tablespoon of cream or half and half and salt and pepper to taste. Dice up a medium onion or a handful of scallions, two or three crushed and diced garlic cloves, salt, pepper, a little tarragon and a dash of nutmeg and sauté this in about three tbsp butter in a saucepan until the onions are transparent. Then roughly chop the mushrooms – I used the hedgehogs, chanterelles and black trumpets – to yield about two thirds of a cup when chopped. Saute those with the onion mixture over medium heat until the mushrooms soften and the aroma starts making you drool (this is all very precise and scientific). Then pour the matzo and egg mixture over it, stir it around a bit, cover and let it set up like a frittata. Thet thar is breakfast. Matzo never had it so good. Neither did those visiting relatives.

A variation, which works well: crumble one sheet of the matzo very finely into the egg, cream, salt and pepper mixture and let soak. Pour the sautéed mushroom mixture into the matzo and egg mixture in a bowl and mix. Heat up some coconut oil in a frying pan over high heat (I fry in coconut oil because of its easy digestibility and its very neutral flavor). Break the second sheet of matzo into roughly 2” squares. Make “sandwiches” of these squares with the mushroom, egg and finely crumbled matzo mixture, letting each “sandwich” soak in the beaten egg mixture for a few minutes to moisten thoroughly but not get too soft. Using a spatula, transfer the “sandwiches” into the coconut oil and fry until golden on both sides. Drain on paper towel and serve. You can probably think up some sauces for the “sandwiches” but frankly, they don’t need ‘em. These things disappeared off the platter so fast I thought for a minute they had encountered an equal portion of anti-matter.

Of course you know where this can lead – to a sort of French toast stuffed with the mushroom mix, too.

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Mushroom Recipes

When you buy whole lobsters, you’re getting more than just the tail and claw meat.  Within the body and legs can be found a lot of good flavor, as long as you know how to extract it.

Here’s the technique for taking the cleaned lobster bodies (minus their claws, tails, and innards) and turning them into lobster stock for use in sauces, soups, and other dishes.

Ingredients:
4 Lobster Body Shells (cleaned of innards) & Legs
1/3 cup Cognac
5 Carrots, peeled & roughly chopped
1/2 head of Celery, leaves removed, ribs roughly chopped
2 Onions, peeled & roughly chopped
1/2 bunch Fresh Thyme
1/2 bunch Fresh Fennel

Directions:
1. Tear or cut up the lobster bodies into large chunks and sauté them in a little oil over medium heat until their shells turn orange, stirring occasionally.

2. Move the toasted shells to a stock pot and crush them lightly with a wooden spoon.  Continue to brown.

3. Drizzle in the cognac, then add the carrots, celery & onions.

4. Sweat briefly to start the vegetables cooking down, then fill the pot with water.  Add the thyme & fennel.

5. Simmer for 1 hour, stirring occasionally.

6. Strain out the solids & discard them.  Use the stock in recipes or chill/freeze for later use.

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Culinary Techniques

This gorgeous, simple cocktail is very smooth with a pleasant mild huckleberry flavor, rum & a hint of lime.

Ingredients:      Makes 1 Drink
3/4oz Huckleberry Simple Syrup
2oz White Rum (we used Bacardi)
1/2oz Lime Juice
Fresh or thawed Huckleberries for garnish

Directions:
1. Fill a shaker with ice and add the simple syrup, rum and lime juice.

2. Shake & strain into a martini glass.

3. Garnish with a few floated huckleberries & serve.

Mixologist: Jonny Spielsinger

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Huckleberry Recipes
Cocktail & Beverage Recipes