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[coraa]

Yesterday, I made a meal for jmpava's mother and her partner. His mom eats basically no meat except fish, and since her partner likes fish too (and isn't a big vegetarian-only fan), and we like fish, I figured: I'll cook fish.

I cooked up three kinds of fish, in increasing order of exoticness: salmon, which I know they both like; mackerel, which I don't think they'd tasted but which is still basically a 'normal' fish, and freshwater eel (aka unagi), which jmpava and I love but about which they were a bit dubious. I served them with a lemon-garlic-ginger sauce (intended for the salmon, also good on the mackerel) and unagi sauce (from a bottle, because I haven't sussed out the exact components). I also made ginger-wasabi mashed sweet potatoes (which where honestly the biggest hit of the evening), and, because I feel obliged to offer some kind of actual vegetable at every meal (starches don't really count), green beans stewed with tomatoes.

(I'm trying to develop a taste for fish lower on the oceanic food chain than salmon and tuna, as much as I love salmon and tuna. It's better for the environment, it's a hell of a lot cheaper, and it has a lower amount of mercury on average. Mackerel is just one step down, but hey, I'm working on it....)

It's hard to tell whether I converted them to the Unagi Side of the Force, because they're too polite to say 'eew' even if they dislike it, but they did eat all of their share, which is a good sign. (The sweet potatoes vanished. That's definitely a keeper recipe.)

Amounts in these recipes are for two people.

Sesame-Crusted Seared Salmon

This is my default go-to salmon-for-dinner recipe. There are a lot of ways I like salmon (including straight up 'broiled with lemon butter' and 'whole, baked, with pickles tucked in the body cavity'), but if I want salmon and I want to spend no more than maybe ten minutes on dinner... this is it.

• 1/2 lb skin-on salmon fillet
  
• 1-2 tbsp vegetable oil
  
• pinch salt
  
• 1-2 tbsp brown sugar
  
• 2-4 tbsp sesame seeds

Heat a large pan over medium-high heat, and add the vegetable oil. Swirl to coat the pan.

A lot of recipes will tell you to cut three or four slits in the salmon skin with a sharp knife, to help the fat render and the skin crisp. I have no idea whether this actually helps. Sometimes I do it, sometimes I don't. It's up to you how OCD you feel about your salmon skin.

Lay the salmon in the pan, skin-down. Cook for two minutes without moving. While the skin side is cooking, sprinkle the flesh side with a pinch of salt, and then scatter brown sugar on it. Then sprinkle on the sesame seeds into a thick coat. (Depending on the surface-area-to-mass ratio of your particular fillet, you might need fewer or more seeds. Just pat them on until the flesh side is pretty thoroughly covered.

When the skin side has cooked for about two minutes, slide a turner over it and flip carefully. This is the only even remotely hard part of this recipe, since if you bang the fillet around the sesame seeds will fall off. The best way to do it is to slide under the fish, lift, and flip -- as Julia Child would say, with the courage of your convictions. Some seeds will fall off. This is fine.

Cook on the sesame seed side until the salmon is done to your liking, and/or until the seeds begin to brown (but haven't blackened). Invert and serve.

I usually cook my salmon so that it's still quite moist, even rare, in the center. But when cooking for jmpava's mother, I cook them until done (but not dry) all through, because she doesn't care for rare fish. The point is, this dish can be cooked to anywhere from 'barely seared' to 'all through' without trouble -- just flip before you burn either the skin or the seeds.



Cured, Broiled Mackerel

This was borrowed -- and then changed very much -- from Masaharu Morimoto's The New Art of Japanese Cooking. In it, he describes how mackerel is usually cured before making it into sushi. I find that the brief cure does a lot for the flavor of the fish even if you cook it.

• 1/2 lb mackerel fillets, skin on
  
• 1 tbsp salt
  
• juice of 1 lemon
  
• 2 tbsp mirin (or 1 tbsp cooking sake plus 1 tbsp sugar)
  
• 1 tbsp soy sauce

Put a strainer or steamer basket over a small bowl. Salt the flesh sides of the mackerel fillets and lay, flesh-side down, in the strainer or steamer basket. Let sit about an hour.

Remove the fish from the basket and rinse off the salt. Drain any liquid out of the bowl and rinse clean. Then, in the bowl, combine the lemon, mirin, and soy sauce.

Lay the fillets flesh-side down in the bowl. Put in the refrigerator and let cure anywhere from one to six hours.

Remove from the bowl. Place, skin-side-up, on an oiled baking sheet, and slide under the broiler (about 6 inches from the heating element). Let broil until the skin is well-browned. Flip, and broil until the flesh is opaque and warm, before the skin starts to char.



Lemon Garlic Ginger Sauce

You'll notice that the lemon, mirin and soy sauce in this one are in the same proportions as in the mackerel cure. Which is to say: yes, I just re-use the mackerel cure. This is excellent with the salmon, and is good with the mackerel, too, although unagi sauce is better with mackerel in my opinion.

• 1 inch ginger, grated
  
• 1 inch galangal, grated, or substitute 1/2 inch additional ginger plus 1/2 tbsp horseradish
  
• 1 clove garlic, minced
  
• 2 tbsp water
  
• juice of 1 lemon
  
• 2 tbsp mirin (or 1 tbsp cooking sake plus 1 tbsp sugar)
  
• 1 tbsp soy sauce
  
• 1 tsp cornstarch

Combine everything but the cornstarch in a small pan. Simmer very gently, until the garlic and ginger have infused the liquid, 5-10 minutes.

In a small bowl, mix cornstarch with water to form a smooth paste. Add to the other ingredients. Simmer, stirring, until the cornstarch clears and the sauce thickens.



Unagi

I buy unagi at Uwajimaya, and it's all pre-cooked and frozen solid. I presume this is because eel is one of those foods that decays quickly, so it's best to cook and freeze it very shortly after it's caught. What it means is that eel is a leadpipe cinch to prepare, especially since they sell unagi sauce right there next to it. (Yes, this is cheating. No, I don't care, at least not until I figure out how to make excellent unagi sauce myself.)

• 1 9-oz frozen unagi fillet
  
• vegetable oil
  
• unagi sauce

Defrost the unagi thoroughly in the refrigerator.

Oil a baking sheet. Place the unagi, skin-side down, on the sheet, and slide under a hot broiler. Broil for 2-3 minutes, or until the unagi is warm through and just starting to sizzle and crisp on top.

Serve with unagi sauce.



Sweet Potatoes Mashed with Wasabi and Ginger

Far and away the most successful dish of the evening. Also: not a diet dish. (It uses wasabi powder, which is, yes, Not Real Wasabi. Since Real Wasabi goes for $50/lb at Uwajimaya, I am at peace with this fact.)

• 2 medium sweet potatoes
  
• 2 tbsp butter
  
• 1/4 cup heavy cream
  
• 1 tbsp brown sugar
  
• pinch salt
  
• 1 inch ginger, grated
  
• 1 inch galangal, grated, or substitute 1/2 inch additional ginger plus 1/2 tbsp horseradish
  
• 1 tbsp wasabi powder, to taste

Peel the sweet potatoes and cut into chunks of about equal size.

In a small pan, melt the butter over medium heat. Add the sweet potatoes and toss until coated. Add the heavy cream and brown sugar, bring to a simmer, then cover the pan and turn the heat down to low. Cook for half an hour, stirring once or twice.

At the half-hour m ark, add the ginger and galangal and stir well. Cook another fifteen minutes.

Remove from the heat and add the wasabi. Mash thoroughly. Serve.



Stewed Green Beans and Tomatoes

• 1 cup green beans, with ends snapped off, broken into 1 to 2 inch pieces
  
• 1 tbsp oil
  
• pinch salt
  
• pinch pepper
  
• 1 tbsp tomato paste
  
• 1 clove garlic, minced
  
• 1 can (14 oz) diced tomatoes

Heat the oil in a small pan (but one big enough to hold a can of tomatoes) over medium heat. Add the green beans and cook 1-2 minutes. Add salt and pepper and tomato paste, and then garlic. Stir well to coat, and cook another 3-5 minutes.

Add tomatoes. Let simmer for 15-30 minutes. (Basically, at least fifteen minutes, but the upper limit is 'when the juice cooks out of the tomatoes and it starts to scorch,' and/or 'when the green beans are too mushy for your personal taste.')



Goes well with a nice, dry white wine.

Comments

[sithjawa.livejournal.com]

That sounds delicious! Do you like albacore? I love sushi albacore but I've never had it cooked (beyond flash fried)!