Seafood for Lent
By Faith Bahadurian, Special Writer
It used to be typical for Catholics to avoid red meat and poultry on Fridays year-round, but for many it’s now more of a Lenten observation. And even though the dietary restriction may be about sacrifice, that term hardly applies today since so many people are trying to eat less meat anyway.
Many restaurants have added seafood specials during Lent, including one of my shore favorites, Bahrs Landing in Highlands, where I can’t resist ordering fried belly clams each time I go. They’re offering weekday discounts during Lent and special dishes like the Stuffed Scrod Nantucket Style below. (Visit bahrslanding.com for coupon.)
Another popular Lenten choice is fish and chips. The fish should be cod or other oceangoing white fish, and the coating light and grease free. Main Street in the Princeton Shopping Center makes an exemplary fish and chips. Bahrs uses pollock, and the Silver Palate recipe below calls for flounder. And of course, you can add “chips” or frozen fries, or just cut a few potatoes into wedges, dredge in Old Bay and oil, and bake them in a hot oven before you start the fish. Then let the oven cool down to keep everything just warm as you fry in batches.
Last, sometimes a great hot sandwich can constitute dinner, and I believe that’s true of the “Frenchified” open-face beauty below, which raises the term “tuna melt” to a whole new level.
STUFFED SCROD
NANTUCKET STYLE
Adapted from Bahrs Landing,
serves 3-4
Jay Cosgrove, whose family owns Bahrs, told me something I never knew: that scrod is slang for a “slice” of cod. There is a lot of butter in this recipe, but that’s why we find restaurant food so delicious – cut down if you must. F.B.
1 pound fresh scrod or pollock fillets, skinned (thick cut preferred)
1 green bell pepper diced
1 red pepper diced
¼ cup chopped scallions
½ cup mushrooms, chopped (button or baby bella)
¼ pound shrimp, peeled and chopped coarse
¼ pound sea scallops chopped coarse
3 tablespoons canola oil
6 ounces butter (1 ½ sticks), divided
Salt pepper to taste
1 cup Ritz Crackers, crumbled, divided
Pre-heat oven 425 degrees. For stuffing, sauté peppers, scallion, and mushrooms in the oil and half the butter for 3 minutes. Add shrimp and scallops and sauté for 3 minutes. Add rest of butter and sauté 1 minute. In a separate bowl, add half the crumbled Ritz crackers and contents from sauté pan. Mix together, put in bowl, and cool for 15 minutes in refrigerator.
Place fish in a casserole dish. Cover fish with stuffing and add remaining crackers to top. Bake in oven for 14-16 minutes.
FISH AND CHIPS
FOREVER
Adapted from “The New Basics Cookbook,” Julee Rosso & Sheila Lukins, Workman (1989). 4 portions.
1 cup milk
2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
¼ cup unbleached all-purpose flour1 teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon cayenne pepper
¼ teaspoon baking soda
Freshly ground black pepper, to taste
1 egg, beaten lightly
2 tablespoons club soda
2 teaspoons grated lemon zest
Vegetable oil for deep frying
8 founder fillets, 3 ounces each (or pollock, haddock, cod)
Flour for dredging
Salt, to taste
2 onions, thinly sliced and separated into rings
1 or 2 firm lemons, sliced paper-thin, seeds removed and patted dry.
Combine milk and lemon juice in a small bowl and let stand until slightly textured and thick, 3 minutes. In a second bowl, toss flour, salt, cayenne, baking soda, and pepper. Stir in milk mixture, egg, club soda, and zest. Let stand, uncovered at room temperature, 20 minutes.
Heat oil to 360 degrees in a deep fryer (electric, or deep pot on stove).
Coat fillets lightly in flour seasoned with salt and pepper. Stir batter, then dip in the fillets. Let any excess drip off. Gently lay fillets in the heated oil, in batches to avoid overcrowding, and fry just until golden and crisp, 3 minutes per side. Keep warm in a low (250 degrees ) oven.
Flour onion rings, dip in batter, and let excess drip off. Do same with lemon slices. Fry them, in batches until deep golden and crisp. Serve immediately.
PROVENCAL TUNA MELT
Adapted from food52.com. Serves 2.
Good quality tuna makes this open-face sandwich special. Is it French? Is it Italian? You decide with your choice of cheese. It could be Gruyère or Swiss, Fontina or Bel Paese, or even a dilled Havarti. You can make these as closed sandwiches by using 4 thinner slices of bread. In that case put the tuna mixture on 2 of the toasted slices and the cheese on the other two, and then put them together after broiling. — F.B
1 6-ounce can tuna packed in olive oil, about half drained
¼ of a red bell pepper, ¼ inch dice
Green parts of 2 scallions, ¼ inch slices
2 teaspoons capers, drained, roughly chopped
1 teaspoon fresh thyme, minced
2 tablespoons mayonnaise
Juice of ½ lemon
Pinch red pepper flakes
2 thick slices country bread or ciabatta
Olive oil
Slices of soft melting cheese, as much as you like.
Drain about half the oil from the tuna, and put the tuna and remaining oil in a bowl.
Add the red pepper, scallions, capers and thyme. Add just enough mayonnaise to bind the mixture. Squeeze in the lemon juice and add the red pepper flakes. Gently stir everything together.
Turn on the broiler, and set your rack on the second “notch” down from the broiler element/flame.
Lay bread slices on a baking sheet, brush with olive oil and broil for just a minute or two until browned on one side.
Remove baking sheet and use tongs to turn over the bread. Divide filling between the slices, and broil for just a minute to warm filling. Then add the cheese and broil another minute or two until cheese is bubbly.
Serve with crisp white wine.
Faith Bahadurian blogs at http://njspice.net (also www.twitter.com/njspice).

