The final Slow Food Fast recipe by Ali Saboor is a souvenir from his last trip to Iran in 2020. “There was this little store that ground their own tahini by hand,” Mr. Saboor said. “It was the most amazing thing, so delicious.”
The base of this meal is a large spread of tahini greens mixed with a plethora of sweet sorrel and mint. On top of that is a heap of salad greens tossed with a Calabrian chili dressing and then finished with a sumac-dusted fish of branzino pan-seared. The balance of colors –pale green tahini and bold magenta-colored and flecks of sumac are the same for this dish as the balance of sweet and nutty flavors.
Sumac-Dusted Branzino With Green Tahini and Spring Greens
Mixed with a lot of sorrel and mint, A vibrant tahini sauce is a perfect accompaniment to branzino that has been seared and an enticingly dressed salad.
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup mint leaves
- 1/2 cup parsley, sorrel, or cilantro leaves
- Two cloves of garlic, roughly chopped
- One lemon, plus as many as required
- Salt Kosher
- 3/4 cup tahini
- 2-3 Calabrian Chiles in oil draining or small dried red chiles
- One teaspoon sugar
- 1 cup and two tablespoons of olive oil
- Four (6-ounce) fish fillets, branzino or trout with skin on
- 2. teaspoons sumac ground
- Six cups of bitter greens for babies, baby arugula the kale, or mix
Directions
- Prepare the green Tahini sauce. Blend sorrel, mint, and garlic in a food processor or blender. Blend until roughly chopped and blend. Blend in the juice of 1/2 lemon and a generous amount of salt. When the motor is on, pour in tahini, drizzle it over, and blend to create an extremely thick sauce. This should take about 30 seconds. Mix with about 1/4 cup of liquid ice to loosen it, adding more as needed until the sauce becomes smooth and spreadable. Sprinkle with lemon juice or salt to taste. The flavor should be spicy sweet, tangy and delicious. Remove the green tahini and wash the food processor.
- Make the Calabrian Chile Dressing: Remove the stems of the chiles. If you do not want to add too much heat, remove the seeds. Cut chiles into small pieces and then add them to a blender or food processor, along with the juice of a half lemon. Add sugar, salt, a pinch, and 1/4 cup olive oil. The mixture should be smooth. Adjust the seasoning by adding salt, sugar, or lemon juice according to your taste.
- Dry fish, then score the skin on each fillet across the diagonal about three times. Sprinkle all over using salt and sumac. Set a large pan over medium heat. Once it’s hot, mix it with two tablespoons of olive oil. Lay the fish on top, skin-side down. Work in batches, if needed, to prevent overcrowding the pan. Carefully press the fillets down to avoid curling while the fish cooks. After the skin has crisped, 3-4 minutes later, use a spatula or a knife to flip it over and cook until the flesh flakes off when you press it, around 2 minutes.
- Just before serving, lightly dress salad greens lightly with Calabrian Chile dressing in the large bowl. For the salad, sprinkle green tahini evenly on each plate. Sprinkle tahini with salad greens dressed. Put one fillet, skin side up, inside each salad. Serve immediately.