Hogfish Key Lime Piccata
The air is warm but the ocean is still a little crisp. The Taste of Key West is a coming event and that’s how my internal clock tells me it’s April. Many dive year round here in the Keys but for the Conchs (Key West Natives) the majority wait until April to get back in the water.
Whether going out to the islands with friends and family to enjoy a few cold ones and some fresh conch with key lime; freediving on the patch reefs and wrecks; or going for a wassa (grouper) under the roots in the mangrove islands being out on the water has always been a passion of mine.
As kids, my friend Eric and I would go out on his 12’ homemade wooden boat to some patch reefs in about 10’ to 15’ of water about 200 yards offshore of South Roosevelt Boulevard. We would fill the deck of the boat with gray snapper, grouper, lobsters, and my favorite hogfish. Getting to my teen years we would be in the boat every day after school till the sun was down or even later. I bet we have checked under almost every rock from Boca Grande to American Shoal. It was pretty amazing free diving thirty feet deep as kids. Eric and many other conch friends of mine dive a lot deeper still to this day. Myself being a chef I am a little more buoyant than I used to be! These days I need tanks and weights in order to get to the bottom but still enjoy it as much as I did the first time I went out.
I think the best part of the spring is when you come back from that first dive trip of the year. You’re sunburnt and exhausted but have such delicious fresh fish to enjoy it makes it all worth it.
One of my favorite ways to prepare hogfish is not a traditional Key West recipe but I managed to Cubanize it just right. I call it Hogfish Key Lime Piccata. It has it’s own identity. It’s nothing like a traditional piccata and not Cuban enough to be Cuban but is simply delicious.
Hogfish Key Lime Piccata
- 1 Hogfish filet
- ½ cup flour
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 3 button mushrooms sliced thinly
- 1 tablespoon capers
- 2 oz key lime juice
- 4 oz white wine
- 1 tablespoon whole butter
- Sea salt to taste
- Fresh ground black pepper
Preparation:
Preheat a medium sized sauce pan. Season fish filet with salt and pepper then dredge in flour. Add the olive oil to the pan then sauté the fish filet. Once you flip your filet add your mushrooms and capers. Turn down to medium high heat and sauté for about a minute. Then add your white wine and key lime juice. Reduce all liquid by ½ then remove fish filet (make sure that it is completely cooked). Turn off heat and add your whole butter and stir until the butter is melted. Pour all the sauce over your fish and serve with linguini.
Hope you all enjoy!!!
Leave a comment
Comments will be approved before showing up.
Chef Martin Liz
Author
Culinary Author, and Chef, Martin Liz is a 3rd generation native, Key West Conch. He is classically, French trained and specializes in Key West's fresh seafood. Spearheading the 'Ocean To Table' movement, Chef Martin makes an amazing array of truly unique, Key West and Caribbean delicacies, utilizing local seafood and exotic, indigenous flora and fauna. His natural creativity, coupled with classical training and a desire to preserve the largely lost, culinary traditions of his heritage, meld an exotic mix of Cuban, Asian, Afro-Caribbean and French-West Indies with tastes that are exclusively, undeniably, Key West. Famous for his "Caja China" (Cuban, China Box) Pig Roast, Key West-Fresh Paella, Island Style Smoke and a passion for upscale, Beach Barbecue with indigenous wood flavors, Chef Martin's mission is to bring back the traditional flavors of Key West, that have been lost in time. Chef Martin is also an accomplished, "Gastronomical' Columnist and Published Author, who has been featured in many TV shows, magazines and periodicals including HGTV and Travel Channel's 'Bizarre Foods America', to name a few. He has also conducted seminars, educating guests on the thing he knows best - Conch Cuisine and Culture, at the Atlanta, and Key West Food and Wine Festivals. His culinary accomplishments have landed him, working alongside such well known, chefs as Top Chef Judge, Michael Shwartz, Culinary Author and Chef, Kevin Graham and Norman Van Aken. Chef Martin Liz is currently focusing on a few key, consulting projects, and enjoying keeping Key West Conch Cuisine and Culture alive, through private parties, classes and educational seminars. Chef Martin is available at 305.896.2087 or _culinaryconch@gmail.com