Pan Roasted Halibut with Parsley Lime Salsa Verde

Halibut with parsley lime pesto plated on bed of roasted white corn and red salsa. 

Pan seared with red onion and garlic.

Oven roasted white corn.

Tuesday dinner

It was kind of a busy day when I really expected a mellow day so I threw something together quickly for dinner. It was appropriate on a warm day such as today was also with the cucumber cooling off the slight heat of the Indian spices in the wings.

Appetizer: Sesame & fennel seed cucumber salad with rice wine vinegar & sesame oil dressing.

Main course: Yogurt, lime & Indian spices marinated roasted wings garnished with fresh mint.

Monkfish en Papillote with Shiitake and Indian Spices Herb Butter

Served with julienned green onion, lime with side of wasabi cucumber salad.

Before wrapping up in papillote on a bed of shiitake slices and medallions of herb-spice butter.

Ingredients:

For papillote:

Monkfish chunks, patted dry and salted

Dried shiitake mushroom, rehydrated and sliced

Green onion, julienned

Lime

Herb- Spice Butter:

Butter, room temperature

Ground cumin

Ground coriander seeds

Turmeric

Indian chili powder

Garlic powder

Salt

Black pepper

Cilantro, finely chopped 

Mix well, wrap in plastic film into a sausage shape, twist tight and refrigerate until needed.

Cucumber salad:

Persian or Korean cucumbers, sliced thin and salted. Squeeze excess liquid out.

1 Tbsp Mayonnaise

Sriracha to taste

1 Tsp of wasabi powder

Lime juice

Sea salt
Green onion, finely chopped
Black sesame seeds
Furikake of your choice

Crispy Fried Monkfish Fin

Lightly dusted with potato starch. Served on mint leaf, garnished with lime and sliced green onion.

Vietnamese Red Cabbage Chicken Salad with Prawn Crackers

Vietnamese red cabbage and chicken salad.

Salad served with fried prawn crackers. 

Dressed salad in mixing bowl.

*Note: for vegetarian version, replace chicken with poached shiitake, oyster or king oyster mushroom. For vegetarian version, you could use soy sauce or try this recipe from The Chubby Vegetarian blog. (I have not tried it myself but it sounds very tasty).

Ingredients:

(This recipe portion will serve four people)

3 Chicken thighs, gently poached with half an onion, 2 crushed garlic cloves, 4 cloves, bay leaves, 2 star anise pods. Poach for about 20 minutes, remove and let cool then shred into small bite sized pieces. The cooking liquid could be reduced and other ingredients added to make a stock. I don't waste any of it. Try adding things like mushrooms, carrots, celery and you will have a pretty classic chicken stock.

Half a small red cabbage, finely shredded with mandoline or sliced with knife. Do not grate as the texture will change.

Small piece of ginger, finely minced.

Two jalapenos or chile of your choice, thinly slice with seeds intact.

One small red onion, thinly sliced then quick pickled in vinegar for about 15 minutes.

Two small carrots (or one large), shredded or julienned.

Bunch of Vietnamese coriander, roughly chopped.

Bunch of cilantro, roughly chopped.

Lime or lemon juice, to taste.

Prawn crackers, fried. (They can be bought at most Asian markets and come in a small box. They can also be microwaved as a hack but won't be as light and crisp as frying in oil).

Fish sauce dressing:

Fish sauce, 1 part

Water, 3 parts

Rice wine vinegar, 1 part

Sugar to taste

Lime or lemon juice to taste

Crushed garlic

Crushed ginger

Crushed chile

Assemble ingredients in large bowl, dress, mix well and keep in fridge until ready to serve.

Chicken Pad Thai with Purple Cabbage

Served!

Ingredients:

Tapioca or glass noodles, soaked in very hot water or microwaved for about 1 - 2 minutes then dress liberally with cooking oil or sesame oil. (You could find them in Asian markets as Pad Thai noodles or Vietnamese hu tieu noodles. It has tapioca flour in it which gives it a chewy bite and slightly translucent look.)

Chicken thighs, deboned and cut into equal sized strips about 1 cm wide. Don't you dare use chicken breast! Soak in mixture of 1 cup of water and 1 Tbsp of baking soda for 15 minutes then drain and rinse before cooking to preserve tenderness of meat. (Technique can be used with pork and beef too. I've never tried with it with shrimp).

Purple cabbage, thinly sliced
Bean sprouts

Shiitake mushroom, sliced

Shallots, sliced

Garlic, crushed and sliced
Fresh jalapeno, serrano or Thai chile, sliced
Egg
Crushed peanuts (optional. My wife doesn't like nuts in cooked foods so I don't add them)
Green onion for garnish
Cilantro for garnish

For sauce:

Corn starch
Tamarind paste
Fish sauce
Soy sauce
Rice wine vinegar
Palm sugar or brown sugar (in this case, I used piloncillo which is Mexican sugar and it gave a nice twist)
Lime juice

Tips:

Cook ingredients in batches using nonstick skillet or wok then move to large bowl: I did cabbage and mushrooms first, shallot, bean sprouts, chiles and garlic second, noodles third (get good char on noodles and don't be shy with oil), chicken (get char again) after that and egg scrambled into pan with chicken last. Assemble with noodles on bottom, veggies next, chicken and egg on top then pour remaining sauce over all and garnish.

Base of sauce is water and tamarind paste. Add other ingredients in small amounts until you get a flavor you like. Sprinkle a bit of the sauce as you saute or stir fry each ingredients and reserve a good amount for the last batch and pour over dish.