6 posts tagged “fish”

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. :)

Trout Fillets with Asparagus, Celery & Chive Salad

I played the role of Super Shuttle this week at work, carting co-workers to LAX. It's a straight shot from work and conveniently enough it passes right by Bristol Farms. I don't shop there much, but every once in a while it's nice to pick up a few "special" items that you can't find in your typical grocery store. I got a container of morel mushrooms (score) and while perusing the seafood counter noticed that all of their seafood is "Safe Harbor Certified".  What the heck does that mean, right? Were dolphins kept safe through safe fishing methods? Maybe these fish were environmentally sustainable. I didn't have to stand there looking confused for too long (another perk of shopping at a "fancy" store) before somebody asked me if I needed help. He explained to me that the levels of mercury had been tested and are considered to be at a "safe" level. With all the recent news about the frightening levels of mercury in fish, there certainly has been a cause for concern. Especially for me, since my diet is heavily pescatarian. This put me at ease a bit and inspired me to pick up some trout fillets for dinner.

Trout Fillets with Asparagus, Celery & Chive Salad

Braised Pork Belly with Banana Wrapped Rock Cod

I'm on day three of my six day "vacation". I call it a "vacation" since I'm just visiting the family for the holidays (no sunny island getaways). It's nice to get out of LA once in a while, though my blood has thinned and I've been freezing my tushie off. :)

Tonight I cooked for the family. I wanted to make something fun without venturing too far from their normal diet. I made a visit to the local asian market and settled upon a beautifully marbled piece of pork belly (rib in for the extra flavor and meat). To contrast the rich pork, I picked up some fillets of rock cod. I had been dying to try out the whole wrapping in banana leaf thing, so this was exciting for me. Baking the fish in banana leaves is like the "en papillote" method, where the fish steams as it bakes.

I bypassed a shopping trip to get the pork belly into the slow cooker, since it would take a few hours to cook. I sauteed onions, ginger and carrots... deglazed with red wine...added vegetable broth... and left it to work for five hours. Pork belly is the true gluttons dream.

I was able to prep the fish packets in advance also. I went with asian flavors such as ginger, cilantro, soy sauce and sesame sauce. I wrapped up individual-sized packets and they were ready to pop into the oven once dinner time rolled around.

Once the clock struck 9 pm I began. I preheated the oven to 450 degrees. Placed my fish packets to bake for 15 minutes. Next I moved onto the pork. I was planning on crisping up the outside. I began by sliding the rib bones out of the pork belly. They came out with such ease... like a hot knife on butter. I cut the belly into individual-sized pieces and pan fried them with minced garlic and diced jalapeno until it had a crispy browned crust. Yum. Stir fried gai lan (Chinese broccoli) and simple steamed, white rice accompanied the meal. We finished with some winter melon soup (compliments of Dad). By the way, I just thought of something... by cooking the fish in banana leaves you avoid the whole fishy stench that sometimes lingers in the air. That's a very good advantage that I highly recommend. I'll definitely be cooking my fish that way again.

I literally got to SM Seafood last night three minutes before closing. Rushing around as usual. Tick-tock... The pressure was on... I put on my dinner thinking cap. I didn't want to be "that person". You know what I'm talking about, don't you? I use to work in retail and there was nothing worse than having a customer come in near closing, mess up your store, make you stay late and then not buy anything in the end. Arg! I definitely didn't want to be that person, so I ran in and quickly surveyed the wide range of seafood on display. They always have great cuts of fish there, so I knew my decision would be easy. "Hmm," I thought, "Scallops?" As I made my way down to the shell fish, something caught my eye.  As soon as I laid my eyes on the beautiful filets of sashimi grade Kona Kampachi, the light bulb switched on. I had one of those "ah hah" moments where it all comes together. I scooped up a pound of the kampachi and was out the door before 7. Close call. Yeah for not being an a**hole! :)

Nothing would compliment the fresh fish as well as fresh herbs and produce. I decided to prepare it two different ways. I would do a sashimi and a seared version to contrast and compliment the flavors of the fish. For the seared version of the kampachi, I prepared an Italian-style salsa verde (no tomatillos here) with parsley, capers, anchovies, garlic, lemon juice and EVOO. After a quick salt and peppering, I seared up the filet pieces for just about a minute on each side. Still nice and rare in the middle, just the way I like it. Sliced the seared pieces of kampachi to about 1/4" thickness and topped it with the salsa and diced red and green zebra heirloom tomatoes.

Seared Kona Kampachi with Salsa Verde & Heirloom Tomato Salad

For the second version, I served it up shashimi-style with a citrus soy dressing and thinly sliced kumquats. For the dressing, I whisked together soy sauce, minced ginger, kumquat juice (yes, I had to use the mortar and pestle for this one), lime juice, rice wine vinegar and sesame oil. The kumquats really make the dressing special by giving it a tanginess that leaves your mouth feeling very refreshed. I sliced up the kampachi as thinly as I could, spooned on the vinaigarette and topped it with thinly sliced kumquats and scallions.

Kona Kampachi Sashimi with Citrus Soy Vinaigarette & Kumquats

Both pretty and tasty. The warm seared kampachi had a slight crust and buttery rare middle. The lemon juice and capers from the salsa verde lent the perfect amount of acid to cut though the richness of the fish, while the parsley and tomatoes heighten the sweet flavor of the fish without being overpowering. I actually preferred the kumquat version, though I am admittedly biased. I adore kumquats. Growing up, we had two kumquat trees in our back yard and eating kumquats for me is very nostalgic... like the evil food critic in Ratatouille when he gets the ratatouille. Warm fuzzy memories. The sweet peel contrasting with the tart pulp balanced the richness of the sashimi perfectly. This made for a no-fuss Wednesday dinner. The only thing we were missing was Kona Kampachi a third way!?!  :)