BROILED SWORDFISH WITH SEAFOOD CHEESE SAUCE

BROILED SWORDFISH WITH SEAFOOD CHEESE SAUCE image

Yield 2 pigs or four moderate eaters

Number Of Ingredients 19

Ingredients

1/2 cup wild rice
1 cup fish bouillon (I like Knorr)
2 cups water
2 lbs. broccoli crowns
2 lbs. swordfish in one inch steaks (four pieces if for four, two if for two piggies)
2 tbsp butter
8-10 leaves basil cheveril (rolled lengthwise and cut into 1/8 inch wide strips horizontally)
1 tbsp minced garlic(3-4 cloves)
dash of salt and pepper
Cheese sauce:
4 tbsp butter
4 tbsp flour
2 cups fish bouillon
2 tbsp dry white wine
1/2 cup grated dill havarti
1/2 cup grated Jarlsberg or Gruyere cheese
dash of cayenne pepper and mustard powder
1/2 cup chopped raw shrimp
1/2 cup chopped raw scallops

Steps:

First, place wild rice, fish bouillon and water in a tight lidded 2 or 3 qt. pot. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat to low and let simmer, covered, for an hour. Use the half hour before continuing by prepping broccoli, grating cheese, chopping seafood, eating appetizers, drinking wine, whatever. After half an hour: Melt butter; add garlic and basil when butter is barely liquid. Add salt and pepper, remove from heat and brush over swordfish. Broil steaks (or, better yet, grill them on a barbeque), turning once, until just past opaque in the center (make a little cut in the middle of the steaks or press on the meat lightly, knowing the firmness it should be when cooked correctly {takes a few times}). Total cooking time should be about ten to twelve minutes, depending on how hot your flame is. Meanwhile, steam the broccoli after slicing up the stalks two times to quarter it length-wise to the base of the florets. Bring water to a boil in a steamer, then reduce heat to medium low, add florets stem down and gently steam for about ten minutes while the fish is cooking. Whille all else cooks, make a roux of the butter and flour, add the 2 cups fish broth when the roux has turned light golden brown, whisk until bubbling and smooth, then add the wine, cheeses, pepper and mustard and continue to stir until smooth again and approaching, but not reaching, a boil again. Add seafood just before fish is done and let set in the hot cheese sauce for a few minutes. If you have timed everything correctly, it should all be done at once. Place the steaks, broccoli and wild rice artfully on four plates (or two -- oink!), drizzle the steak with seafood cheese sauce and bring the remaining sauce to the table in a gravy boat. Tastes great with a good chardonnay.