Adrienne was very specific about no meat/no dairy, so I pulled out this fish recipe. (I also made that Indian Spiced Split Pea Soup, which is becoming a staple. I LOVE it.)
Steamed Whole Fish (p. 220)
After my last foray into the realm of preparing a whole fish, I recognize how important the quality of said fish is. Therefore, I bought a red snapper at Fairway today, and I watched the fishmongress scale and clean it myself. (Yuk!) So I knew that I was dealing with a beautiful, fresh fish. And let me tell you, you can really taste the difference.
This dish comes together pretty quickly. A bit of chopping, but otherwise, very straightforward. I'd never worked with lemongrass before, but I think I did OK. It's a little confusing, texturally, but the flavor was there in the dish so I guess it all worked out.
The fish gets steamed lying in a dish sitting on a rack inside a roasting pan resting on two burners on the stovetop covered in parchment-lined foil. (Did you follow that?) The fish gets stuffed and sprinkled with garlic, lime zest and juice, scallions, cilantro, lemongrass, ginger, and fish sauce. (I also threw in some baby bok choy to steam at the same time.)
I greatly underestimated the time it would take to cook the fish. (Martha gives you a guide based on the thickness of the fish, but I forgot to measure it before it was stuffed, so I was guessing from memory. In any case, I underestimated. And I took the fish out a little too early. There were some not-completely-cooked parts, but I'm OK with that when it's fish.
The flavors are amazing, and what's interesting is how flavorful the fish meat itself is, considering that it's merely been steamed together with the ingredients, not marinated or anything like that. It was truly delicious and other-worldly. (i.e. Asian) I'm going to have to make this for Marcy!!
Jeff: A
Martha: A
PS Adrienne loved the Blueberry Sorbet. It's a hit!
Until we eat again....
Mom-trepreneur, Adrienne, with the steamed whole snapper
No comments:
Post a Comment