Agnolotti with miso butter, pea sprout garnish
I admire foragers and one day hope to be one. But for now I was lucky enough to participate in the first Sunday Seafood Supper at Fin Your Fishmonger in Guilderland, held on February 18. These events will happen on a monthly basis (and possibly expanded to a Saturday night seating) so check it out if you’re interested in a future event.
Chef Rob Handel is quite a guy. He gathers wild cherries, taps his own maple trees, and forages black walnuts to make noisette. Even in the dead of winter, he was able to turn out a meal in which each course had a local or foraged element.
Salad with house made peanut miso dressing (the highlighted sprig at right is a wild chive leaf)
We started with hand-rolled agnolotti topped with miso butter and filled with house-made ricotta. The garnish was pea shoots which Rob had grown over the few days prior to the event. Then, on to cod dumplings floating in a broth made from maple water—the first, not-sweet tapping of this year’s sap harvest—and flavored with juniper twigs. Next arrived a refreshing salad with a dressing featuring house-fermented peanut miso and crowned by a couple of perfectly broiled prawns—Fin definitely knows their fish.
Branzino with olive tapenade, toasted barley pilaf, blackened green beans
This was followed by my favorite of the courses, a branzino (sea bass) filet coated with tapenade and served over a delicious barley pilaf made with toasted barley cooked in more of the maple water. We finished with a “lime mousse” which was more like a custard, impossibly rich and creamy. Chef Handel says he took a standard pie filling recipe (key lime pie?) and added more cream for a stand-alone dish. It was topped with a syrup made with those sour cherries I mentioned which had been aging in his cellar since last spring.
Lime mousse with sour cherry syrup and house-made graham cracker
I found the dishes very comforting and complete and the foraged elements approachable, almost too much so. I realized when I bit into the fish with its intense olive topping that I was looking for more assertive flavors like that. Perhaps at future events the chef will make available some extra amounts of the foraged ingredients for the more adventurous guests to sample on the side. But I’m not complaining. It was a smoothly executed first effort, and the table conversation (most of the diners were State employees who knew Dora of Fin from the stall she runs in the basement of Empire Plaza) was more than enjoyable. I’ll be back.
Fin Your Fishmonger is at 2050 Western Avenue in Guilderland, NY, south and west of the Crossgates Mall. Fresh fish and take-home meals are available Tuesday-Saturday and a limited selection of fried fish rolls, fish tacos and such can be ordered to eat in house. 518-452-4565.
