Newsday Article - Who's Cooking

Dana Greer work as a hairdresser in her dad's salon in East Meadow, Salon D. Arel. She lives in East meadow with her husband and son.

When and how did you get interested in cooking?

I guess I became interested when I was in college. I went to Nassau for dietary management and they they had us do a cooking class, once a week, six hours, in a professional kitchen. It just opened my eyes to ho much I enjoyed it. Actually, it it made me move away from dietary management as a profession and just cook for pleasure.

Is fish a specialty?

I do make make a lot of fish. I like to shop at Whole Foods because of their global animal partnership. I want to know where my food is coming from and the fish was caught humanely. I have a free seafood watch app on my phone from the Monterey Bay Aquarium. It allows me to search for ocean friendly seafood on my phone while I'm shopping, to find out what regions are good for certain kinds of fish and how the the fish are caught.

Any tips for cooking the fish?

Any time you cook on the grill you shouldn't have to pry the food off the grates. Fish tend to stick, so I use a nonstick cooking spray or light oil on the grill grates. I turn it when there are good grill marks. You can eat swordfish when it's raw in the middle, which is the way I like to cook it. You don't want to dry it out. I finish the dish with a drizzle of truffle oil, which I love. It has a pretty strong flavor. If you don't like it, use extra-virgin olive oil.

Lauren Chattman

------------------------ Recipe --------------------------

Grilled Swordfish w/ Spicy Heirloom Tomato Salad

Dana Recommends grilling the other lime half for a colorful garnish.

For tomato Salad:

5 to 6 variously colored heirloom

tomatoes, sliced

1 small jalapeno pepper, seeded and

thinly sliced

5 to 7 fresh basil leaves, julienned

Juice of half a lime

1/2 teaspoon salt

Freshly ground black pepper

1 tablespoon truffle-infused olive oil or

plain extra-virgin olive oil

For Fish:

1 pound Swordfish steak

Extra-virgin olive oil

Salt

Pepper

1. Preheat grill or grill pan to medium-high.

2. While grill is heating, make tomato salad:

Combine tomatoes, jalapeno, basil, lime juice, salt, pepper, and truffle oil in

a medium bowl. Toss and let sit at room temperature for 15 to 30 minutes.

3. Cook fish: Brush fish with olive oil and sprinkle generously with salt and pepper.

Grill without moving for 3 to 5 minutes. Turn and grill an additional 3 to 5 minutes

without moving, depending on desired finish. Serve fish along side

side tomato salad. Make 2 servings.