le blog de tranny

Do try this at home, but be advised that I was cooking for (a leisurely) 4 hours. I don’t know why it took so long — perhaps because I had to use much of the same cookware twice and was experimenting as I went along. This is what I choose to do while on vacation — I save partying for the work week.

[sophie in her burrow]

A TRANNY’S ATTEMPT AT FUSION
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PAN-ROASTED HALIBUT – lobster tail, taro puree, spinach, oyster mushrooms, miso broth, snow pea shoots, bacon
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FRESH LONGANS – mango sorbet, raspberry coulis
~

Yes; I, girl who loves to hate on asian fusion, attempted (kinda asian) fusion. Allow me to explain. It was Christmas eve and I was walking through Bristol Farms with my mom (my parents have moved to a new house (with a sick ass kitchen) in a new town, where the grocery offerings are much more favorable to an uppity young adult who’s been spoiled on Berkeley Bowl such as myself). There was one final thing on our shopping list — fish. We were standing in front of the fishmonger and I asked my mom what kind of fish she was getting, what it was for, would I be eating it, etc. Per her suggestion, I phoned my dad, who didn’t know that I would I would be home for dinner on the night of the 25th. We established that I would indeed be present (such ridiculous confusion can only arise when a person has two sets of parents to see over the holidays), and the next thing I said was “Why don’t we do pan-roasted halibut steaks.. with lobster?” I’d officially hijacked the meal. I could’ve sworn I’d eaten a pan-roasted white fish with lobster meat in an asiany broth while out somewhere recently, but after asking Paul I guess not. Maybe I was thinking of the faux shark’s fin soup at Benu? But anyway, I got some fresh miso thinking I’d make a broth. I won’t even mention the hassle I was subjected to by the idiots at Bristol Farms in obtaining the miso. Or I guess I just did. SMD Bristol Farms.

[79 cent black fungi, among other things]

After an amazing Christmas day lunch at my dad’s consisting of several dishes cooked by my step-mom, I stopped by the supermarket in Little Saigon to grab some oyster mushrooms and scallions and ended up getting a few other things too. One of those things was taro, which I’d never cooked with. I’ve really been on a puree (and broth, for that matter) kick lately, and this evening was no exception. Since I was trying to incorporate asian flavors into the dish, I decided I wanted to plate the fish on top of an asiany puree of some sort. Potential puree candidates that I came across were naga, this potato-like veg I’d never even heard of, and daikon, but I finally gave in to my mom’s strong urging that I use taro. The sticky texture of the taro ended up being perfect for making a puree. It didn’t take much fiddling to get it nice and creamy.

[taro!]

The Puree
Luckily the taro was already peeled. Apparently raw taro irritates the skin so I made sure not to touch it while I was chopping it up. I boiled about 1 ¼ cups worth of cubed taro with half a peeled russet potato, also cubed, in some water and chicken stock. I seasoned the boiling liquid with salt and dropped whole sprigs of thyme, rosemary and parsley in there, along with some lightly smashed cloves of garlic and chunks of shallot. I simmered the taro, covered, until it was tender and then removed the lid to allow the liquid to reduce slightly. I blended up the taro and potatoes in a blender with some of the boiling liquid (herbs/garlic/shallot removed, of course), adjusting the texture by adding more of the liquid and a drizzle of olive oil. (If you run out of boiling liquid you can always quickly heat up some chicken stock.) I would have stirred in a drop of white wine vinegar at the end but my parents didn’t have any.

[taro puree infused with thyme, rosemary and parsley]

The Lobster Tail
I had to defrost the lobster tail. The best way to do this is to submerge it in cold water and change the water periodically. Once it was sufficiently defrosted I used kitchen scissors to cut the shell in a straight line along the back of the tail, from the top all the way down to the tip of the tail. I pulled the shell back a little bit to expose some of the skin on either side of the opening, then poured a mixture of melted butter and lemon juice into the opening. Then I steamed the lobster tail (about 8 minutes for ¾ to 1 lb) til it was bright red and ran it quickly under some cold water to stop it cooking. Then I asked my dad to remove the lobster meat from the shell.

[steamed lobster tail with butter and lemon]

The Miso Broth
I’d bought dehydrated “black fungus” at the asian supermarket expecting to use the mushroom soaking liquid in the broth, but the black fungus ended up smelling like pee and the soaking liquid tasted like nothing, so I’m not sure how much flavor it added to the broth. That’s probably why it was only 79 cents for the entire package. Next time I’ll go to a regular supermarket and get dried porcinis. To make up for the blandness of the mushroom soaking liquid, I fried two strips of bacon, diced, in a heavy-bottomed pan with a drizzle of sesame oil, removed the bacon once crisp, added chopped green onion and stir-fried it for a bit, then deglazed the pan with some mushroom soaking liquid and water, to which I added the miso paste after bringing the water to a boil. I stirred the miso in til it dissolved and let the broth reduce a bit, adjusting the miso and mushroom soaking liquid for taste. Once it was to my liking, I strained out the green onion.

[miso broth]

The Halibut
I’m not gonna lie; the reason I was so eager to try pan-searing halibut then finishing it off in the oven is because I saw them do this (or try to and fuck it up) so many times on Hell’s Kitchen Season 8. While I was scouring the internet for cooking times, I found a recipe purporting to be Thomas Keller’s pan-roasted halibut recipe from Ad Hoc At Home. I couldn’t follow it exactly because my halibut fillets were like the thickest effing fillets I’ve ever seen. Luckily my dad has a digital meat thermometer (just bought myself one of those babies at Williams Sonoma yesterday!) so I just tried to shoot for an internal temperature of 140 degrees F when I was finishing the fish off in the oven. The fish ended up being a little dry because I took it out too early and had to re-fire it. Grrrr! Luckily the fish sat in a miso broth so it didn’t really matter much. Here’s how you’re supposed to do it: Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Heat a heavy bottomed skillet (like a cast iron) with some canola oil and a little butter in it until it gets really hot, almost smoking. Brown the halibut on the presentation (nicer looking) side on medium-high heat for 4-5 minutes, then lower the heat to medium-low and cook for a few more minutes. Transfer the pan to the preheated oven and keep it there until just cooked through (or til the temperature reaches 140 degrees F if you want to avoid the risk of worms). Remove the pan from the oven and “kiss” the other side of fish on the hot pan for about 30 seconds. Serve immediately (that shit don’t need to rest)!

The Rest
So when I was plating this monstrosity, I first put down a bed of the taro puree on each plate. Using my tongs, I submerged the spinach in the hot miso broth so that it would wilt ever so slightly, then piled that on top of the puree. The oyster mushrooms, which I sauteed with some butter and garlic until lightly browned, lined the plate along with the lobster meat. The fish went on top of the spinach/puree and on top of it I sprinkled the cooked bacon bits (this was impulse decision). I finished it off by pouring in some miso broth to form a little moat around the halibut and haphazardly sprinkling chopped scallions and fresh snow pea shoots all over the plate. This is the first time I’ve ever cooked something where I’ve actually given the plating any thought. Looks pretty ridic yet endearing, non?

[oyster mushrooms with garlic and butter]

[plating pt. 1]

All in all I’d say this dish delivered a really nice balance of textures and flavors. After the initial presentation was disturbed the taro puree kind of just.. became one.. with the miso broth, turning whatever components were left on the plate into a stick-to-your ribs porridge-y seafood stew thing. In a good way.

The Dessert
My step-mom had sent me home with some longans earlier that day, so I decided to make use of them in that evening’s dessert. Unfortunately the only mango sorbet I could find at the asian store was this disgusting radioactive orange variety manufactured by some sketchy Chinese company. (What could we do? All the white people stores were closed for Christmas day.) I did mango sorbet with fresh longans, peeled and seeded by my mom, and a raspberry coulis. Martha’s favorite raspberry coulis. (You simmer some raspberries and sugar and water together until it reaches the appropriate consistency then blend it up then strain out the seeds. Who knew coulis was so easy?!)

[straining the coulis]

[longans!]

[peeled and seeded]
The radioactive sorbet was awful.

[mango sorbet with fresh longans and raspberry coulis]
The raspberry coulis was great though! By the end of the night we were dipping guava in it.

The dessert, redone with Haagen Dazs mango sorbet the next day.

[win]