Product Reviews / Main Nibbles / Fish, Seafood & Caviar

Summer Pernod Recipes

For your next summer party, forget about the usual burgers and hot dogs. Instead, serve your guests a delicate seafood dish cooked with Pernod liqueur. A successor of absinthe called pastis, Pernod’s flavor is derived from star anise, a star-shaped spice with a licorice flavor, and is combined with other aromatic plants, including mint, fennel and coriander.

Pernod can enhance the flavor of vegetables and is commonly used in seafood dishes. It is best added toward the end of the cooking process to avoid cooking out all theanethole—the chemical compound that provides the licorice flavor. Impress your friends by serving one of these deliciously easy dishes at your next summer get-together:

• Mediterranean Sea Bass With Fennel And Pernod
• Sea Scallops Brochette With Pernod Sauce
• Steamed Mussels In Pernod Broth

To round out the meal, start with Warm Pumpkin Soup With Pernod Flavored Herb Sorbet, then finish with Far East Fruit Salad.

Mediterranean Sea Bass With Fennel And Pernod

Serves 2 Ingredients 2 pounds sea bass, filleted 2 bobs of fennel 1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil 3/4 cup Pernod 1 garlic clove 2 pieces star anise 1/2 cup pitted black olives 2 tablespoons dill dash of salt dash of pepper

Partner the meal with a glass of Pernod prepared the French way: diluted in five parts water for a refreshing thirst-quencher.

Preparation

• Preheat oven to 450°F.
• Season the sea bass filet with salt and pepper and rub it with extra virgin olive oil.
• Remove the stalks from the bulb of fennel. Rinse and split in half. Slice the fennel bulb thinly and place it in a stovetop burner-safe baking dish. Add the star anise, sea bass filet, the garlic clove with the skin on and the Pernod.
• Cover the top of the baking dish with aluminum foil, sealing the edge. Place the baking dish on the stove until the aluminum foil begins to pop from the internal steam, then bake for 7 minutes.
• Remove the aluminum foil, add the olives and sprinkle with the freshly chopped dill. Serve the sea bass filet with the fennel garnish and the cooking liquid.

Sea Scallops Brochette With Pernod Sauce

Serves 4 Ingredients 16 sea scallops 2 tablespoons Pernod 4 rosemary stems 1 tablespoon olive oil 8 tablespoons light sour cream Salt and pepper to taste Preparation Rinse the scallops thoroughly to rid them of sand. Strain the scallops and dry them with an absorbent paper towel.

Pernod matches the delicate flavor of scallops just right.

• Rinse the rosemary stems and carefully thread approximately 4 scallops on each stem.
• Pour the olive oil into a non-stick frying pan and cook the brochettes for 2 minutes on each side. Add salt and pepper and set them aside in a dish. (Keep the dish hot.)
• To make the sauce, deglaze the pan with Pernod and flame it. Incorporate the light sour cream and adjust the seasoning.
• Serve Pernod sauce with the sea scallops.

Steamed Mussels In Pernod Broth

Serves 2 Ingredients 1 tablespoon olive oil 1 cup chopped fennel bulb 2 cup julienne onions 3 tablespoons minced shallots 2 tablespoon minced garlic 1/2 cup Pernod 1/2 cup peeled and chopped Italian plum tomatoes 2 cups white wine 40 mussels, cleaned and debearded 1/2 cup finely chopped parsley 1 loaf crusty French bread

Mussels in Pernod and tomato-based broth is not only healthy and flavorful, but colorful too.

Preparation

• Heat the olive oil in a large pan. When the oil is hot, sauté the fennel, onions and shallots for 2 minutes. Add the garlic. Remove the sauté pan from the heat and add the Pernod.
• Place the sauté pan back on the heat and flame the vegetables for 1 minute. Season with salt and pepper. Stir in the tomatoes and wine and bring the liquid to a simmer. Add the mussels and parsley, cover and steam the mussels until all of the shells have opened, about 4 minutes.
• Discard any mussels that do not open their shell. Remove the mussels and let the broth cook for 2 minutes. Season the broth with salt and pepper, if needed.
• Remove the broth from the heat. Divide the mussels between two large shallow bowls. Spoon the broth over the mussels. Serve the mussels with the crusty bread.

Recipes and photos © 2008 Pernod-Ricard USA. Other material Lifestyle Direct, Inc.  All rights reserved.