Red Snapper, Beguiling Eye (Dinner Last Night)

Meet dinner last night, a super-fox of a red snapper I picked up at the market (Anthony Bourdain writes that he does his shopping there, but we've never bumped into each other). They had some crazy fish there yesterday, even though it's hard to find good fish and shellfish (there or anywhere in New York City). It seems that razor clams in Manhattan are sold dead as a rule of thumb, and the ones at this market too, look peaceful and languid in their afterlives.  I saw some in bowls once at a bar in Sevilla popping out of their shells, snapping their fingers and rolling their hips: really a feat for a mollusk. It was right off the Plaza de Hercules, if you ever go. 

One time I bought a live lobster at this market whose flavor was pretty intensely infused with tank water. Another time I bought oysters, and ended up stabbing myself while shucking a Kumamoto. The market isn't to blame for that, though. 

But the fish yesterday was really impressive, and the black sheen of this red snapper's eye netted me. So I picked it up and cradled it all the way home, with its big, flappy pink tail, and took a picture of it (above), (artfully) next to some lemon.

Most of an episode of "Storage Wars" later...

And this is what it looked like after spending 40 minutes in an oven at 450 degrees. My boyfriend said it could have used about 5 minutes less. But it was 2 and a half pounds! He was right, though. But it was still flaky and delicious. We scooped out the cheeks and ate them over the stove. I was tempted to eat the eye, knowing that Anthony Bourdain probably would have or has (in Japan, if memory serves). But my boyfriend wouldn't dare me to.