Bistro V’s Jeremy Downey sears grouper and sautés spring vegetables.
By Jan Walsh
Photography by Beau Gustafson
Forgo the summer fish fry. Try executive chef and partner of Bistro V, Jeremy Downey’s healthy, seared grouper with local spring vegetables instead. And experiment with a French chervil
pistou to top it off. Downey describes it as the perfect topping to most spring dishes.
Ingredients:
1 8-ounce grouper filet
Salt and pepper
1 Cup olive oil
4 Fingerling potatoes, cut in half lengthwise
5 Grape tomatoes
1 pod garlic
1 bunch asparagus, biased cut or cut on diagonal
¼ Cup chicken stock
2 Stalks Swiss chard, cut chiffonade style
1 Teaspoon butter
1 Handful of fresh oregano
1 Handful of fresh parsley
1 Handful parsley chervil
1 Lemon, squeezed
Procedure:
Season grouper salt and pepper. Heat cast iron skillet drizzled with olive until hot. Sear front side down. In a sauté pan, add olive oil and four fingerling potatoes, flesh side down. Add four to five grape tomatoes and one pod of garlic. Sear until they start to blister. Continue searing fish in cast iron for five minutes. Add asparagus to the sauté pan for one minute. Splash with stock and reduce. Add Swiss chard. Add butter and squeezed lemon. Flip fish onto the other side. Cook for 4 more minutes. Add dashes of fresh oregano and parsley to sauté. Plate sauté. Add fish atop. Finish with a pistou, made of made of garlic, and equal parts of parsley, chervil, and 
oregano blended together. Serves One.
Published by B-Metro Magazine, June 2017