Swordfish and citrus

What a wonderful weekend with my mom.  I'd love to show you how my wedding dress and wedding hair turned out, but those details are embargoed until January 3.  As is always the case when us girls get together, we ate some delicious meals, including a yummy dinner at Yanni's Greek Taverna.  I had the grilled swordfish, prepared with just oil, parsley, salt, and pepper.  At first bite it was good, but the fresh-squeezed juice from a fourth of a lemon made it great.

I know seafood and citrus are like peanut butter and jelly, but why?  Here's a nice description from the Seafood Solutions Newsletter:

On rich fish, the acid punch of citrus flavor acts as a balance to the oily character of the fish. For milder fish, the clean freshness of lemon somehow enlivens the fish's own flavor. Citrus flavors seldom overpower the foods they are served with. Instead, they accentuate other foods with a very distinctive character all their own.

And some helpful citrus suggestions:

The Acid Test

• Oranges: juice generally sweet, zest tart and good for many uses
• Grapefruit: vary in sweetness, ruby variety generally sweeter than white grapefruit; juice very good, zest quite bitter, use sparingly
• Lemon: very acidic juice, zest very flavorful and tart
• Lime: very acidic juice, zest more bitter than the lemon

Grate Results
The "peel" and the "zest" of citrus fruits are often thought to be the same thing, but they are not. The "zest" is the part of the peel that is brightly colored, the thin outer layer of the peel. The remainder of the peel, the white portion, is called the albedo, it doesn't have the aromatic flavor of the zest and is quite bitter. When a recipe calls for citrus zest, use only the outer colored portion of the peel.

The easiest way to grate citrus zest is to use the nubby pointed side of a box grater. Cover that side of the grater generously with a piece of plastic wrap or waxed paper. Rub the lemon over the grater, in a circular motion rather than just up and down. When finished, peel away the plastic wrap and most of the zest will come with it.

How They Measure

• 1 Large lemon (7 oz.) = 1 Tbsp. grated zest, 1/4 cup juice
• 1 Large lime (5 oz.) = 2 tsp. grated zest, 3 Tbsp. juice
• 1 Medium orange (10 oz.) = 4 tsp. grated zest, 2/3 cup juice
• 1 Medium grapefruit (1 lb.) = 2 Tbsp. grated zest, 3/4 cup juice