Main Courses

Variations on this dish are found throughout the Jewish Mediterranean. This is a robust dish best made with strong-tasting fish like fresh tuna or mackerel. Bitter lettuces, garlic and white wine bring out the hearty flavors of the fish while sweet fennel and fresh tomatoes add softening tones.

You'll find variations on this recipe all over the internet. What distinguishes mine is the absence of ginger. I love the flavor of ginger, but sadly ginger does not love me, so I have to leave it out. This recipe is typically written for the grill, but it does equally well under the broiler, so I've written instructions for both, along with how to make the marinade safe for consumption. I sometimes make this for shavuos, because it's a good protein for a dairy meal.

This recipe came together when I had an abundance of shishito peppers and a desire to use my grandmother's very old enameled cast-iron dutch oven. I didn't expect the shishitos to grow nearly so well in my foggy cool conditions, but there they were in abundance, and it made for a lovely dinner. Lingcod is a mild, firm white fleshed fish (although the flesh can actually start out blue or green! it's okay, that's normal). Other firm white fleshed fish like halibut, rock cod, or tilapia can be substituted in for lingcod, here. And similarly, other thin-walled mild-but-with-a-little-kick peppers (like padron or banana) can be subbed in for the shishitos.

This recipe is written on the back of a letter from my youngest uncle to my great aunt Bessie, who was such a wonderful person that I named one of my children after her. Herring with milch is a very traditional Eastern European/Ashkenazic dish. Milt/milch is the male fish equivalent of roe, and considered a delicacy. I’m not sure where you can get a herring with milt today, but if you have a fishmonger who sells these… here’s a recipe for how to deal with it to make spiced pickled herring with it.

(suitable for Vegans)