Ed's Style

Here is the latest Wednesday night dinner. I was in the mood for something light given that we are going to feast heavily the entire upcoming Christmas weekend and I just happened to have some Rockfish fresh in from Virginia waters. You can call it Striped Bass wherever you are, but here, we call it Rockfish. Always have, always will.


There is no better preparation for rockfish than Ed's Style, although there are fancier and more elaborate. It is so good that it is the only dish that I have ever put my name on, of the tens of thousands I have cooked in my career. When it goes on the menu at the restaurant, it just flies and with good reason. It is simply fantastic. And I cannot believe that this is the first time (this is our third Christmas together) that Ann has had Rockfish Ed's Style. Now that she has had my best, what will I cook for her?

Ed's Style is about a sauce—in fact, it evolved from a pasta sauce fifteen to twenty years ago, basically a dumbed down putanesca sauce. It still appears on the lunch menu daily in the guise of Ed's Pasta. The sauce's marriage with fish came early on in the history of the restaurant and it appears on the menu with some regularity, most usually corresponding to the various rockfish seasons. This dish tells you all you need to know about what I like to eat: simple, direct, bold food.

A basic sketch. In a roasting pan, caramelize some garlic to light brown in extra virgin olive oil with a generous pinch of pepperoncini (crushed red pepper flakes). Add white wine, diced (skinnned and seeded) tomatoes, artichoke hearts, capers with a little brine, a generous bit of basil chiffonade, and a touch of salt and pepper.

Place in a blazing oven and roast, stirring every so often, until the liquids are almost evaporated and the tomatoes are starting to caramelize. Top with the fish filets rubbed with extra virgin olive oil, red pepper flakes, and salt. Back into the oven until the fish is just done.

In this version, I also threw some mussels onto the roasting pan and served the whole with a bit of sautéed spinach. Don't be afraid of garlic: I used a half a cup of minced garlic in this dish!