Chinese-style steamed fish with sweet soy sauce

Steamed fish covered in yummy sauce.

As promised, here is the recipe for the steamed fish that I mentioned in my last post. A note about the fish: any flaky fish will do. I used tilapia (above), but flounder, grouper, sea bass (if you can find an environmentally friendly source), or snapper are also good choices. Also, this dish is usually made with a whole fish (as the recipe calls for) but filets work too — though you won’t need to cut slits in filets, FYI. It’s a very easy recipe, and even easier if you have a gigantic steamer like I do. If you don’t, simply invert a heavy (preferably flat-bottomed bowl) in a large stock pot, fill the pot with 2 inches of water, and place a large colander on top of the inverted bowl. Voila! You have yourself a fish steamer.

Liz’s Yummy Steamed Fish Recipe

Ingredients:
1 fish or fish filets (at least 1 lb)
1/4 – 1/2 cup Chinese cooking wine (michiu)
1-2 Tbsp peanut or vegetable oil
2-3 Tbsp thinly sliced ginger
1/2 cup chopped green onions
6 Tbsp soy sauce
2 tsp sugar
1/2 Tbsp chili garlic sauce (more or less, to taste)
3 Tbsp water

Directions:

1. Cut slits along the body of the fish on both sides. Marinate fish in cooking wine for 5-10 minutes. Flip fish over to marinate the other side for another 5-10 minutes.
2. Steam the fish. For a 2 pound fish, steam for 7 minutes or until the meat starts to separate from the bone. Remove the fish from heat and transfer to a large plate.
3. Mix the sugar, soy sauce, water, and chili garlic sauce together and set aside.
4. Heat oil in a small sauce pan over medium high heat. Fry ginger and green onion until brown and fragrant.
5. Add soy and sugar mix to the ginger and green onion. As soon as sauce boils, pour over steamed fish.
6. Garnish with long pieces of cilantro, if desired. Serve over rice.

CSA update: 4/9/12

Much to our delight, we received actual vegetables (i.e. more than just greens and citrus) in our CSA box last week. Here were the contents:

Chives
Navel Oranges
Lemons
Mixed lettuce (tender curly, red leaf, and Romaine)
French breakfast radishes
Spinach
Stir-fry mix (kale, collards, chard, and arugula)
Carrots
Green garlic
Beets
Turnips

The other thing that we were super psyched about is that we finally had success with one of the CSA-provided recipes. It’s for Spicy Beets and Carrot Curry in Coconut Milk from Sara Hafiz over at One Tribe Gourmet. Sara was nice enough to grant me permission to re-post her recipe below. Thanks Sara! I encourage y’all to head over to her blog, where you’ll find FAR more appetizing photos of the curry, as well as to check out some of her other recipes.

It doesn't look very good, but it sure was tasty!!

Beets and Carrot Curry with Coconut Milk (from OneTribeGourmet.com)
Serves: 2-3

Ingredients:
4 red beets, boiled & cut into bite size pieces
3-4 carrots, sliced
1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
1 small onion, chopped
1 clove garlic, crushed
1 green chili, sliced
1 tsp whole cumin seeds
1/4 tsp turmeric
1/4 tsp cayenne chili powder
1/2 tsp salt
1 small 4 oz can of coconut milk
cilantro, chopped for garnish

Method:

1. heat olive oil and add chopped onions, saute until translucent.
2. add the crushed garlic and saute some more.
3. add cumin seeds and saute for a minute so the flavor comes out.
4. add cayenne, turmeric & salt, mix well.
5. add sliced green chili and saute.
6. now add the boiled and cut up pieces of beets and saute for 2 minutes.
7. add the carrots and saute for 5 minutes.
8. let the curry cook for another 5 minutes until carrots are tender.
9. add the coconut milk and let the curry simmer for few minutes.
10. garnish with chopped cilantro.
11. you can serve with rice or any flat bread.

The Eatwell-provided recipe we used was slightly different; it asked for crushed red pepper instead of a green chili, substituted green garlic for regular garlic (since it was in our CSA box), and curiously omitted cilantro, though TC and I both agreed that cilantro have been a great addition visually and gastronomically. As we were cooking, one thing we realized was that our CSA beets and carrots were so much smaller than conventional vegetables that we probably didn’t include them in the prescribed amounts. Oops! Oh well — it was still super tasty, and vegan too! We’ll definitely make this again.

I regretted giving away the French breakfast radishes last time, so I didn’t make the same mistake again with this box. We sliced them up and put them in with sautéed stir-fry mix. Delicious and nutritious!

Cute little buggers. French breakfast radishes are milder than regular radishes.

sautéed greens with radishes and garlic.

 

CSA cooking, round 2: We decided to make mashed potatoes again to use up the turnips and chives. As for the lettuce, since we had a lackluster experience last time, we decided to try something new. I found a recipe for homemade Caesar salad dressing in The New Best Recipes and went to work. I should note that we wimped out and opted to buy the garlic croutons instead of making them ourselves. Anyway! Caesar salad dressing is pretty interesting since it calls for egg yolks, anchovies, garlic, and Worcestershire sauce. I was a bit nervous about the whole thing, but it turned out great.

Caesar salad, mashed potatoes with turnips, and roast chicken. Yummers!

Last but not least, we used up the spinach on Easter to make what’s now my signature salad — dried cranberries, apples, and walnuts with homemade balsamic vinaigrette. It didn’t turn out as well as usual because the spinach was super sturdy (perhaps I should’ve dressed the salad earlier??), but everyone seemed to enjoy it, which is all that matters.

I’m so excited that we’re finally getting some variety in our CSA box. I was even more excited to read about the upcoming Strawberry Days at Eatwell Farm. For 4 days in May, Eatwell customers get to pick strawberries and take some home for a nominal fee. There’s also a jamming workshop, which I’m eager to attend. It sounds like a lot of fun, and I’ll definitely report back afterward. Stay tuned!

Curry tuna salad with cranberries & walnuts

Open face tuna salad sandwiches

Despite its downsides, I’ve found Facebook to be pretty useful on occasion. For instance: when my friend PC from grad school raved about her tuna salad, I (and 2 of her other friends) begged for the recipe. She graciously sent it to us, and granted me permission to blog about it. Thanks PC!

So, I followed her recipe and realized a few things:

1. It makes A LOT of tuna salad. Her recipe calls for 3 cans, which would probably last you a whole week’s worth of tuna salad sandwiches. I modified it to 2 cans.
2. I couldn’t find sweet onions at my local market. Initially, I subbed with shallots and thought that they were too strong. I’ve since found that sweet relish is a really good addition.
3. I didn’t have canola oil mayonnaise on hand, so I went with regular mayonnaise. Then, upon realizing that both TC and I prefer Miracle Whip over mayo, I went for the M.W.

Below, you’ll find PC’s original recipe, followed by my modified one. It really is so delicious, and once you have all of the stuff, it’s super easy and quick to make.  Enjoy!

PC’s curry tuna salad with cranberries & walnuts (ORIGINAL)
(all approximations)
3 medium cans of tuna
curry powder (until mix turns yellowish)
half a sweet white onion small diced
1/4 – 1/2 cup dried sweet cranberries
1/4 cup walnut pieces
3 Tbsp canola mayo
salt (to taste)

PC’s curry tuna salad with cranberries & walnuts (MODIFIED)
2 cans of tuna in olive oil, drained
1/2 tsp curry powder
2 Tbsp sweet relish
1/4 cup dried sweet cranberries
1/4 cup walnut pieces (chopped)
1/4 cup mayo or Miracle Whip
salt & pepper (to taste)