Broiled Butterfish with Braised Shiitakes & Bok Choy

Broiled Butterfish with Braised Shiitakes & Bok Choy

If I were to be a Spice Girl, I'd definitely be Asian Spice. Number one, I'm asian (duh) and two, I just love asian flavors. It's always a go-to style of cooking for me. Salty balanced by sweet - you can't go wrong. On a recent trip to Ranch 99 (same trip as Win Hop Fung), I picked up two whole butterfish. People often forget that there are many parts of the fish that are yummy to eat besides the fillet. As a child I was known to fight for the eyeball, but that was just a stage that I've grown out of. Aren't you glad? Now if any of you come over for dinner, you can have all the eyeballs you want. :)

I marinated the butterfish in a ponzu dressing, that I got suckered into buying. I am a bonafide sucker. Not a fan of pre-made anything really (usually too many preservatives and other weird stuff), but on one of my trips to SM Seafood, they were giving away generous, card deck-sized samples of chilean seabass cooked in the said marinade. That's how they get you. While you have your mouth full, they give you their whole pitch about how great it is. Feeling obligated/guilty for eating such an expensive sample (Chilean Seabass, really?) and for taking up time he could have been suckering someone else, I grabbed one on my way out. A salesmen's dream consumer. Sigh!

Back to dinner... since these fish are so thin, they only take a few minutes under the broiler on each side. It was accompanied by garlic stir-fried bok choy and shiitakes that I had braised in oyster sauce. The butterfish had a million tiny bones in it, so eater beware! Other than the bones, I loved this simple, school night meal. I'm going to go look at the nutrition facts on the marinade bottle now just to give myself nightmares. :)

 Happy Hump Day! Sorry for the lack of blogging. I've got a lot to catch up on, but I'll be back in town tonight. I've been in Napa for the Tour de Cure bike ride. Don't worry about me though. As much work as it was, I was able to fit in a few incredible meals. Most notably, one at the infamous French Laundry. Now I can die happy. :)