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- Fried fish sandwich toasted with sparkling wine
- Posted 2006-08-08
- PERFECT PAIRINGS THE CHEF Sometimes, even celebrity chefs get too much media exposure. Rocco DiSpirito certainly falls into that category. Just a couple of years ago, he was on the cover of Gourmet magazine and tapped as one of the Top 10 new chefs by Food & Wine magazine. Today he is a chef without a restaurant, selling his line of pots and pans on QVC. (To his credit, he sells a lot of pots and pans.) To some in the industry, he's one of the bad boys of the kitchen; others say he's a creative genius who made a few bad decisions. DiSpirito was born in the New York City borough Queens in 1966. "I grew up in an Italian family that adored food," he writes in his award-winning cookbook, "Flavor, Rocco DiSpirito" (Hyperion, $35). He graduated from the Culinary Institute of America in 1986 and earned a bachelor's degree in business from Boston University in 1990. "I wanted to be a French chef - I spent a year in France and then returned to the states to work with various French chefs," he writes. Among those chefs were some of the best in the business, including Charlie Palmer, David Bouley, Jean-Michel Diot and Gary Kunz. In 1994, DiSpirito opened Annabelle, which closed after just six months despite glowing reviews. He then opened Dava to equally great reviews. Ruth Reichl of The New York Times wrote in 1995, "Rocco DiSpirito isn't a name you are likely to forget. But you are bound to be hearing a lot of it, because Mr. DiSpirito is turning out food so personal and intense you can't help asking, 'Who's the chef?'" Despite the great reviews, Dava, too, was history after six months. In 1997 things began to turn around for DiSpirito when he opened Union Pacific in New York. The restaurant was a hit, earning three stars from The New York Times. For six years, DiSpirito was on a roll, authoring best-selling cookbooks and garnering awards and adulation. Gourmet magazine called him America's most exciting young chef and People magazine called him the "sexist chef alive." His "Flavor, Rocco DiSpirito" won the James Beard Cookbook Award. But things began to unravel in 2003. While remaining at the helm at Union Pacific, DiSpirito unwisely decided to open Rocco's 22nd Street with Jeffrey Chodorow. His new partner was a financier and convicted felon with a history of litigation under his belt. The embarrassing fiasco that followed was broadcast for two seasons around the world in an NBC realty television series, "The Restaurant." The show featured a restaurant in disarray, highlighted by a nasty power struggle between the two. Ultimately, the pair wound up in court and the restaurant closed. During this period, the once thriving Union Pacific was having its share or problems capped by a scathing review from New York Times critic Marian Burros, who described waiting nearly an hour and a half for less than stellar food. "The unevenness of the cooking I sampled over four visits brought up the same question," she wrote. "Is Rocco DiSpirito, the chef, spending more time at Rocco's on 22nd Street, his television-created spaghetti parlor, than at his premier restaurant, which opened in 1997?" By "mutual agreement" Rocco and his Union Pacific partners parted ways and the restaurant closed in late 2004. DiSpirito then had a short career in radio ending in less than a year because of "creative differences" with management. At this writing, the chef is still restaurantless, and is now selling his cookware and making media appearances, including "Celebrity Poker" and ongoing bits on the "Tony Danza Show." According to his Web site, DiSpirito is working on a new cable TV reality show called "The Good Life." We wish him just that. THE DISH DiSpirito may not be the best restaurateur, but there is no doubt he is a wiz in the kitchen. Our featured dish, a fried fish sandwich with curry aioli, was inspired by a DiSpirito favorite from his youth. "I won't claim any lofty inspirations for this sandwich," he explains in his cookbook. "It's the evolution of my childhood passion for Mrs. Paul's fish sticks and my later discovery of British fish and chips. I started getting creative with fried fish condiments in college, when I worked part time in a cafeteria at Harvard (not just any cafeteria, mind you!). The aioli here has some great flavors, including curry, garlic and lime." THE WINE The match that immediately comes to mind for this dish is a crisp and cold bubbly. Nothing contrasts and complements with the rich flavor of fried foods better than a refreshing sip of sparkling wine. They were made for each other, one enhancing the enjoyment of the other. We've selected one of California's best sparklers, the flagship Roederer Estate Anderson Valley Brut to go with our crunchy fish dish. This is not only a wonderful sparkling wine but it is a great value at about $20. It is a multivintage wine, which means it might have wine from different years blended into it. Roederer is located in the Anderson Valley and owned by the legendary 200-year-old French Champagne maker by the same name. It consistently scores in the high 80s and low 90s in Wine Spectator. The dry-crisp wine sports intricate small bubbles with subtle citrus and pear flavors and a bit of an almond finish. COD SANDWICH WITH CURRY AIOLI 1 head garlic, top 1/4 cut off 1 cup plus 1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil 1 1/2 tablespoons curry powder 1 tablespoon sugar 2 tablespoons fresh lime juice (about 1 lime) 1 tablespoon white wine vinegar 1 egg 1/2 teaspoon salt, plus more to taste Ground pepper, to taste 1/2 cup corn oil 2 boneless cod fillets, 6 to 8 ounces each, cut in 1/2 lengthwise (yields 4 filets) 1 cup Wondra or all-purpose flour 12 scallions, dark green tops only, sliced lengthwise into ribbons 1-inch thick 8 slices brioche, challah, Pullman loaf, or other good-quality white bread 1/4 cup butter (1/2 stick), at room temperature Yields 4 servings. Preheat oven to 375 F. Wrap garlic in foil and roast in oven until cloves are completely soft, about 40 minutes. Remove from oven and, when cool enough to handle, squeeze garlic paste from individual cloves. Heat small saute pan over low heat with 1 tablespoon olive oil. Add garlic paste and curry powder, and lightly saute for 3 minutes, stirring. Remove pan from heat and stir in sugar, lime juice and vinegar. Stir until sugar is completely dissolved. Transfer paste to food processor and puree until smooth. Add egg and 1/2 teaspoon salt through the feed tube, and continue to puree until smooth. Slowly pour remaining 1 cup of olive oil through the feed tube, adding it drop by drop until an emulsification is created, then adding the rest in a steady stream. Transfer aioli to small bowl and season to taste with salt and pepper. Hold aside. Heat large skillet or saute pan, preferably cast-iron, over medium-high heat. Add corn oil and heat until very hot. Season cod fillets with salt and pepper and dredge in flour. Shake to remove excess. Carefully slip fillets into skillet and cook until golden brown and crisp on both sides, about 5 minutes per side. Transfer fillets to paper towels to drain. To the same pan, add scallion greens and saute until wilted and tender, about 3 minutes. Remove greens and wipe pan with a bunch of paper towels. For each slice of bread, butter one side and spread the other with aioli. Assemble sandwiches by layering cod and scallions inside bread slices with the aioli sides facing in. Reheat same pan over medium heat. To cook all 4 sandwiches at once, heat a second skillet or saute pan over medium heat. Place buttered sandwiches in pan and saute, turning once and pressing with a spatula to flatten, until golden brown on outside. Remove sandwiches from pan and cut in 1/2 on the diagonal. Serve with more curry aioli on the side, if desired. - From "Flavor, Rocco DiSpirito" (Hyperion $35). - - - Ron James welcomes comments and suggestions. E-mail him at ronjames@perfectpairings.us. Listen to his "Gourmet Club" radio show and see archives of previous columns at www.perfectpairings.us. © Copley News Service Visit Copley News Service at www.copleynews.com.
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