ROSADA—THE PINK FISH FROM FAR AWAY

 “I took my guests out to eat local fish,” a friend told me. “Right on the beach. We had rosada. So fresh, so good.” 

I had to tell her that rosada isn’t local, isn’t fresh. Good, yes. And widely available, even at restaurants on the Mediterranean seafront, in view of the fishing port. (This was near Marbella on the Costa del Sol.)

In Spain, “rosada,” which means “pink,” is a very pretty name for the cusk-eel, fished in the South Atlantic, from Namibia to South Africa (Genypterus capensis), or, from even further afield, in the South Pacific, around Chile and Patagonia on one side and New Zealand and Australia on the other (G. blacodes). Rosada arrives on Spanish shores headless, boneless and usually skinless. Frozen solid. 

Fillets of rosada, a fine (imported) fish.

When rosada first started showing up in local markets, vendors thawed it and displayed it alongside fresh fish. If questioned, they insisted it was “fresh.” Restaurants used to list it on menus as “mero” (grouper), a much-esteemed fish. 

According to Esperanza Peláez, who wrote in Diario Sur (La curiosa historia de la rosada), the Málaga daily newspaper,  with improved refrigeration and transport, rosada now arrives fresh as well as frozen to Spanish markets. 

Felix sells fresh and frozen rosada.

I was able to confirm this at my local village market, where I bought skinned and filleted rosada. Felix, the vendor, showed me the bill of lading—the fish was labeled “refrigerado,” not “congelado” (€14.90/kilo).  He also had frozen rosada with skin and bones (€12.90/kilo); frozen fillet with a lot of extra weight in ice pack (€10.90/kilo) and, what he said was the best quality, frozen fillets, with skin (€17.90/kilo), from New Zealand.  

Rosada is a large fish, with pinkish-orange skin mottled with brown. It’s not a true eel, but has a thick, elongated body and a blunt snout. The fillets really are bone-free. It is not a threatened species, so is a good choice for food fish. Rosada could be used in any recipe calling for cod, conger, grouper, haddock or halibut. It’s good grilled on the plancha, sauced or in fish soups. 

 

Though it comes from far away, rosada has become naturalized in Málaga, where it’s ubiquitous in restaurants and tapa bars. Buchones de rosada—fried fish sticks—are one of the popular preparations.  

These fish sticks are cross-cut slices of filleted rosada, breaded and fried in olive oil. Here, served with fries (chips) and a non-traditional coleslaw. Garlic mayonnaise for dipping.

Instead of mayo, the slaw is dressed with yogurt and olive oil. Besides cabbage and grated carrots, it has diced figs. A nice condiment with fried fish. The fries are fried in extra virgin olive oil.

Rosada is a white fish, flaky but firm, very tasty.

Fried Fish Sticks

Buchones de Rosada

These fish sticks or fish fingers are not made with processed fish, like the frozen ones. The whole fillet of rosada is cut crosswise into strips, so their length and thickness depends on the size of the fillet. Or, cut the fish into smaller pieces and call them “nuggets”. 

Allow time for the fish to marinate in a simplified adobo of lemon juice, garlic and parsley. You can vary the flavorings as desired--oregano, tarragon or cilantro, for example, instead of parsley.

Bread the fish sticks with flour, egg and breadcrumbs. (I've added black sesame seeds to the flour for a little extra crunch.)

Serve the fish sticks with any favorite sauce. In Málaga, that is usually alioli, garlic mayonnaise. But tartar sauce or romesco, chermoula or chimichurri, remoulade or salsa verde, they’re all good. 

Cut fillets crosswise into strips.

Makes approx. 18 (4-inch) fish sticks.

1 ¼ pounds rosada or other firm white fish fillets

Salt

Freshly ground black pepper

1 tablespoon finely chopped parsley

1 clove garlic, minced

3 tablespoons fresh lemon juice

1/3 cup flour

1 tablespoon cornstarch

1 teaspoon sesame seed (optional)

2 eggs, lightly beaten

1 cup fine dry breadcrumbs

Olive oil for frying

Fish marinates in adobo of lemon and garlic.

Cut the fish fillets crosswise into strips about 1 inch wide. Place them in a non-reactive container. Sprinkle with ½ teaspoon salt and pepper, the parsley, garlic and lemon juice. Gently mix the pieces of fish with the adobo ingredients. Cover and refrigerate at least 1 hour and up to 24 hours.

Remove the fish from the adobo, leaving any parsley or garlic that clings to it. Drain the fish and pat the pieces dry with paper toweling. 

Dark specks in flour are black sesame seed.

Combine the flour, cornstarch, sesame, if using, and ½ teaspoon of salt in a shallow bowl or tray. Place the eggs in another bowl and the breadcrumbs in a third bowl. 

Dredge the strips of fish first in flour, patting off the excess. Dip them in egg, coating on all sides. Lift them out of the egg with a fork, allowing excess to drip off. 

Let breaded fish dry before frying.

Place them in the crumbs. Turn the pieces in the crumbs to coat well. Lift them onto a sheet pan covered in parchment. Allow the strips to dry at room temperature up to 30 minutes or, refrigerated, uncovered, up to 4 hours.

In a heavy skillet place the oil to a depth of ¾ inch and heat on medium-high. Fry the pieces of fish until golden-brown on all sides, 2 to 3 minutes. Remove and drain on paper towels. 

Serve the fish sticks hot, room temperature or cold.

More versions of fried fish:

Mixed Fish Fry, Málaga Style.

Beer-Battered Fried Fish with Sour Orange Sauce.

Batter-Fried Cod (Soldaditos Pavia) with Piquillo Alioli.

Pan-Fried Hake with Pisto.

Marinated Fried Fish (Adobo).

CROSS-CULTURAL FISH BALLS

At a roadside restaurant on the banks of the Guadalquivir, not far from Sevilla, my friends and I ordered the menu del día, a fixed-price meal consisting of primer plato (starter), segundo plato (main dish) and postre (dessert) for €8.50 (about $9.20). There were a couple choices for each course. 

For the primer plato, we chose albondiguitas de pescado, fish balls. Served in shallow bowls with sauce and bread to go with, they were four or five small balls, nicely seasoned, very tasty. I asked the cook for the recipe.

Fish balls in sauce--a Spanish dish that dates from medieval times.

I later discovered almost the identical recipe for albóndigas de pescado in Sephardic (Jewish) cookbooks. Sephardic cooking originated in medieval Spain, when Jews lived in many parts of the Iberian peninsula along with the Moorish (Arab) overlords. The word “albóndiga” comes from the Arabic al-bundaq, meaning “round.” Albóndigas is the word for either fish or meat balls.

You can use any white fish, such as hake, cod, sole, grouper or halibut for these fish balls. Fresh fish is best, but frozen will work just fine. (If you’re in Spain, you might want to try this recipe with the widely available rosada, a fish caught wild in the South Atlantic (Genypterus capensis, pink cusk eel) and marketed frozen or thawed.)

The fish balls are also a good way to use leftover cooked fish. Use about 2 cups flaked, cooked fish and leave off the poaching step.

My current favorite fish is corvina. (More about corvina  here.) Because it is farmed in Spain, the fish is reasonable in cost. I cut two fillets from the lomo, thick center section, for grilling and save the skinny tail ends and thick “belly” section with rib bones for making these fish balls. Once the bony pieces are gently poached, it’s easy to remove any remaining skin and bones.

After frying, the fish balls can be served as a tapa.

Add fish balls to soup with cooked rice and peas.

Serving ideas. Make small fish balls (marble-sized) and serve them, without the sauce, as a tapa. Accompany the fried balls with a garlicky alioli. As a starter, they’re good with bread for mopping up the sauce. If you’re serving them for dinner, make walnut-sized balls and accompany them with steamed white rice, pasta or potatoes. At my house, kids like fries with the albóndigas. Remaining broth from poaching the fish can be saved for fish soup. Add any leftover fish balls to the soup.

Fish balls in sauce on the dinner plate, with new potatoes and snap peas from the garden.

Fish Balls in Sauce

Albondigitas de Pescado

If you’re starting with fish that has some skin and bone, use about 20 ounces fish, as some will be discarded.

Makes 16 fish balls or 32 small ones.

For the fish balls:
1 pound boneless, skinless white fish
4 ½ cups water
Slice of lemon
Sprigs of parsley
Slice of onion
1 bay leaf
Salt
2 ounces crustless bread (about 8 baguette slices)
½ cup milk
2 cloves garlic
½ cup chopped parsley
Pinch of crushed saffron (optional)
½ teaspoon salt
Grated lemon zest
1 egg
Plain flour for dredging the fish balls (about ¼ cup)
Olive oil for frying 

 
For the sauce:
3 tablespoons olive oil
1 cup chopped onion
½ cup chopped green pepper
½ cup grated tomato
½ cup fino Sherry or dry white wine
¾ cup reserved fish broth or water
Salt and pepper
Chopped parsley to serve

For the fish balls: Wash the pieces of fish. Place the water in a pan with lemon slice, parsley, onion slice, bay and 1 teaspoon salt. Bring to a boil and simmer 5 minutes. Add the fish to the pan and simmer just until it flakes easily, about 5 minutes. Lift the fish out with a slotted spoon and allow to cool. Strain and reserve ¾ cup of the broth in which the fish was poached. (Remaining broth can be saved for soup.)

After poaching, it's easy to remove bones.

When fish is cool enough to handle, flake or chop it, discarding any skin or bones.

Pour the milk over the bread slices in a small bowl and allow to soak for 10 minutes.

In a food processor finely chop together the garlic and parsley. Squeeze out excess liquid from the bread. Add it and process until bread is fairly smooth. Add the saffron, if using,  ½ teaspoon salt, lemon zest and egg and process to blend. Place in a bowl.

Add the flaked fish to the processor and pulse several times just to chop it. Combine the fish with the bread mixture. Refrigerate the fish mixture, tightly covered, at least 30 minutes and up to 8 hours.

Mix chopped fish with bread.

Place the flour in a shallow pan. Shape the fish mixture into 1 ¾ -inch balls (or small ones, half that size) and place them in the flour. Roll the balls to coat evenly with flour.

Roll fish balls in flour.

Add enough oil to cover the bottom of a large frying pan. Heat the oil and fry the fish balls, in two or three batches, turning them to brown on all sides, about 5 minutes total. Remove them as they are browned.

After frying, fish balls are ready to serve. Or, reheat them in the sauce.

For the sauce: Heat the 3 tablespoons oil in a clean frying pan. Sauté the chopped onion and green pepper on medium heat for 5 minutes. Add the tomato and fry on a high heat until tomato sweats out its liquid, about 5 minutes. Add the wine and reserved strained fish broth. Season with salt and pepper. Bring to a boil, cover and simmer 20 minutes.

Add the fish balls to the sauce and reheat gently, about 8 minutes.

Sprinkle with chopped fresh herbs to serve.

Fish balls are light, juicy.

More recipes for meatballs and fish balls.

Chickpeas and spinach with cod dumplings.

Meatballs with leeks.

Meatballs in almond sauce.

Recipes for alioli to accompany fried fish balls: http://mykitcheninspain.blogspot.com.es/2015/03/rice-on-side.html and http://mykitcheninspain.blogspot.com.es/2010/02/jug-of-olive-juice.html.