Seafood and Cheese: Not Always a No-No

For years I’ve heard from Italian cookbooks, chefs and servers that one should never eat cheese with seafood. Ask for a sprinkle of Parmesan on your spaghetti alle vongole in any serious Italian restaurant and you’re likely to get a look that’ll wilt your escarole.

But, clearly, this is not a black-and-white issue.

 

Earlier this week, I dined at Kapi Kapi, a magical restaurant on the road between Quepos and Manuel Antonio on Costa Rica’s western shore. Set into a leafy hollow, the restaurant fairly floats on multiple levels, fully exposed to the air, and wrapped in tropical plants and flowers. Flickering candles provide the lighting. The cuisine consists of local ingredients, deftly seasoned with Thai, creole and Mediterranean spices, and presented as dishes that mesh perfectly with the warm, balmy environment.

The special of the night was wahoo, also known as ono in Hawaii. Though I was inclined to order the macadamia nut-crusted mahi mahi – which I had eaten on my last visit and loved, I couldn’t ignore our server’s impassioned plea to try the wahoo special. “It’s served with oven-roasted cherry tomatoes and fried farmer’s cheese,” he exclaimed. Farmer’s cheese?, you ask incredulously. My sentiments exactly.

Much to my amazement the fish and cheese were an admirable pair. “It’s the fastest swimmer in the ocean,” said Kapi Kapi chef Darren Remy, by way of explaining the fish’s firm, meaty and flavorful flesh. Indeed, good wahoo is almost like a hunk o’ steak, except this hunk is packed with prized Omega-3 fatty acids.  And it’s this meatiness that makes wahoo a fitting partner for the cheese.

Remy first sauteed three medallions of wahoo in clarified butter with salt and pepper, then perched them atop a slab of local queso fresco (fresh white, semi-soft cheese) that he had dipped in flour, egg and panko crumbs, then pan-fried. For color and sass on the side, there were cherry tomatoes, oven-roasted slowly with extra virgin olive oil, garlic and thyme.

“This Costa Rican cheese is very pure, mild, almost like tofu,” Remy went on.  “It’s a perfect canvas for the fish and the garnish.”

Remy’s menu also includes crispy phyllo seafood “cigars” served with wasabi aioli; peppercorn seared ahi with Thai green papaya salad;  lobster ravioli with saffron beurre blanc; and slow-braised chicken with chipotle citrus glaze.

There are triumphs on the dessert menu, too, including a pineapple upside-down cake with rum raisin ice cream and the Mandarin Lime Pie, pictured here, that's a creamy, cloud-like wonder in a macadamia nut crust.

 

Comments

[maura glowik]

I think you should inform the "experts" on the hit show "Chopped". They sent a contestant home last week for this exact "error".

[Amy]

I often find that seafood and dairy are wonderful together. Consider seafood bisque, for example. I was hugely disappointed when the judge on "Chopped" said it was "irresponsible to serve cheese with fish". How do such uneducated people make it as judge on a cooking show? We are not all jewish and italian.

[Amy]

I love cheese sauce on grilled salmon.

[lots in Costa rica]

I love when I have the opportunity to read blogs as interesting as this. really thanks and congratulations.