Recipe: Grilled Red Snapper with a Sweet Corn Coulis and Basil

We asked Director of Culinary Arts Chef Mike Handal for his input and he offered up these two recipes for an elegant but easy grilling dish that is perfect for summer. Try them out for dad on Sunday.

Ingredients

Grilled Red Snapper:

• 4 six-ounce red snapper filets, skin on
• 2 Vidalia, or other sweet onions, thinly sliced
• 20 ounces corn kernels — fresh if in season, otherwise frozen
• 1 ounce butter
• 4 fluid ounces heavy cream
• 1 bunch basil
• 4 ounces extra virgin olive oil
• 2 shallots, chopped
• 2 red bell peppers, cut in small dice
• Salt and pepper, to taste
• Extra virgin olive oil
• 2 tablespoons basil chiffonade

Haricots Verts Salad:

• 1 pound haricots verts, trimmed
• 8 each white mushrooms, thinly sliced
• 1 shallot, minced
• 4 fluid ounces vinaigrette

Instructions

Makes 4 servings

1. To make the snapper, sweat the sliced onions in the butter until soft. Add 12 ounces of the corn kernels and cook for another minute. Add the heavy cream and heat through. Purée the mixture in a food processor, and strain through a mesh strainer. Season with salt. Add some more cream if the coulis is too thick.
2. Remove the basil leaves from the stems, and quickly blanch and shock to bring out the color. Puree with the olive oil in a blender for 1 minute. Strain through a fine chinois. Sauté the shallots in olive oil until soft and lightly browned. Add the remaining four ounces of the red pepper dice and sauté for another 2 minutes until cooked through. Season with salt and pepper.
3. Lightly brush the skin side of the red snapper, with the olive oil and season with salt and pepper. Grill, skin side down until the skin is marked. Turn and continue to grill until just cooked through another 3-5 minute. To plate, ladle the coulis in the center of the plate. Drizzle with the basil oil. Place some of the sautéed corn and red pepper over the coulis and top with the red snapper over the coulis. Garnish with the basil oil. To make the salad, blanch the haricots verts but do not shock. Add the remaining ingredients to the haricot verts and toss.
4. Place in a stainless steel bowl and cover tightly with plastic wrap. Marinate ingredients for 45 minutes.