Fresh Every Day: More Great Recipes from Hardcover - 2005

Pan-Seared Red Snapper with Fresh Butter Beans, Tomatoes, and Corn
This is probably my favorite fish dish to make in the summer, when fresh shell beans, corn, and tomatoes are at all the farmers markets.

Serves 4
4 red snapper fillets, cut 1⁄2 inch thick (about 6 ounces each), skin on
3 tablespoons olive oil
1/2 teaspoon salt, plus more to taste
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper, plus more to taste
10 basil leaves, cut into thin strips
1 tablespoon unsalted butter
1 cup dry white wine
1 cup fresh shelled or frozen butter beans
1 tomato, cored and chopped
Kernels from 2 ears fresh corn (about 1 cup)
1 lime, quartered

1. Rinse the snapper fillets under cool water and pat dry with paper towels. Place the fillets, skin side down, on your work surface and rub with 1 tablespoon of the olive oil. Season with salt and pepper and press the basil strips into the flesh side of the fillets.

2. Heat the remaining 2 tablespoons olive oil and the butter in a large nonstick skillet over medium-high until the oil starts to sizzle. Place the fillets in the skillet, skin side down, and saute for about 3 minutes, until the skin side is crisp. Turn and saute the fish about 1 minute longer, until the undersides are light brown. Pour the wine into the skillet, reduce the heat, cover, and simmer for about 1 minute longer, or until it is opaque and tender and flaky when pierced with the tip of a sharp knife.

3. Remove the skin from the fillets and transfer the fillets, skinned side down, to a serving platter; cover loosely with foil to keep warm.

4. Add the beans, tomato, and corn to the pan you cooked the fish in and simmer for 3 to 5 minutes, until the beans are crisp-tender. Add the remaining basil and additional salt and pepper to taste and spoon the succotash over and around the red snapper fillets. Serve immediately with the lime wedges.

“Sara Foster is the rarest cook I know. She has a sensible, down-to-earth approach that eludes others. She understands good food. More important, she knows intuitively how to create dishes to please the widest audience imaginable. I love her style, which is graceful and homespun at the same time. She has taught me that great food really is in the details.” —Jonathan Waxman

Sara Foster is the founder and owner of Foster's Market, the cheerful, country-style market/cafs in Durham and Chapel Hill, North Carolina. Author of The Foster's Market Cookbook and a contributing food editor for Cottage Living magazine, Sara previously worked as a chef for Martha Stewart's catering company. Sara and her husband, Peter Sellers, live on a farm outside of Durham.

Carolynn Carreo writes for Saveur and the Los Angeles Times and has coauthored several cookbooks, including Once Upon a Tart and 100 Ways to Be Pasta.