Light & Bright Spring Fish

Week 4 of Corona.

My week to have Ben and Alexa which makes the house brighter, lighter and happier. Ben and I talk food immediately. He has a boundless enthusiasm for trying new combinations. I had actually planned a few meals but those got tossed out pretty quickly. As Ben said, “Fun to try all new dishes!” Five out of six nights were new, in fact. I had a hard time keeping up with all the recipes so tabled writing about them until I was home alone. Not sure how many of you reading this are sheltering alone but it gets old very quickly. The silence can be deafening when you are really alone. I am lucky in that I live on a street where the neighbors are friendly and I see them most days. I love watching their kids play on our street. We live on a back street and they get free run of it so at least I see some human life. But I digress.

The first new meal was Soy & Ginger Steamed Halibut. We stole the outline for it from Bon Appetit but, as usual, we tweaked it based on what was available in the stores so this recipe reflects our changes.

It was light and it made us all feel healthier just by eating it. Nice way to start the week!

Ingredients (serves 4)

1 1/2 - 2 lbs. of halibut or a white fish. The original recipe called for black bass but that was not available.

2 Tablespoons sake or dry white wine

2 (we used more to taste) Tablespoons soy sauce

Splash of white wine (original recipe calls for mirin which we didn’t have either)

Head of red cabbage - cut into eatable chunks

6-8 ounces of shitake and white button mushrooms

2-inch piece of ginger - cut into thin matchsticks

1 Tablespoon sesame oil

2 scallions, thinly sliced

Cooked rice to serve with

Directions

Cut fillet into 3 - 4 pieces. Season all over with kosher salt & freshly ground black pepper

Combine sake, soy sauce, white wine and 3/4 cup of water in a medium Dutch Oven. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat to low. Layer cabbage in pot and let simmer for 10 - 15 minutes. This type of cabbage will take longer to cook then Napa cabbage. Scatter mushrooms and ginger over and place the fish fillets on top of that. Cover pot and cook until fish is cooked through - this will depend on how thick the fish is. Our fish was a good inch and 1/2 and took almost 1/2 hour.

Spoon some rice into bowls and top with vegetables and fish. Ladle broth over it and drizzle with sesame oil and top with scallions.

Enjoy!