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Mahi with Orange-Soy-Ginger Glaze, Sugar Snap Peas and Sauteed Sweet Potato Batons

Posted on | March 27, 2009 | 4 Comments

A few weeks back, a friend of mine told me flat out that she didn’t like blogs because people who write them so often attempt to be overly clever. She worried that this might be particularly prevalent in food blogging. That’s a larger question than I’m ready to tackle, but it spurred me to think about why I blog, and, furthermore, why I blog about food. The answer is rooted firmly in the reason d’etre of Recipe Play: a desire to learn more about what I eat and why by experimenting in the kitchen.

Experimentation for me, though, doesn’t begin and end in the kitchen; those long moments when I stare into the refrigerator, the pantry, or pick through the fresh produce on the cutting board. Quite a lot of it happens out here in the food-0-sphere of cyberspace. I’ve met incredible people who are also incredible cooks, and through that experience have also learned quite a lot about cooking – how to experiment with what I have while basing that experimentation on some sound culinary principles.

Recently, faced with an over-abundance of citrus fruits emanating from the weekly Washington’s Green Grocer delivery, I turned to this cyber-food community with typical great results. I posted a notice on the Leftover Queen’s Food Forum about my orange situation – it’s a great place to go in order to interact with other cooks and discover new ideas; or, like me, to plead for help.

Jenni, from Online Pastry Chef, who is fabulous blogger, hilarious story teller, great writer and – oh yes – a trained culinary professional,  answered my call.

She suggested I try to use the juice from the oranges, along with soy sauce as a de-glazer after cooking some sort of Asian beef dish. Brilliant, as usual. But I didn’t have beef. I had fish.

So, to riff on the Asian theme, I threw in a bit of moreover shaved ginger I had on hand and there it was – Soy-Orange-Ginger glazed Mahi. I used Whole Foods Whole Catch frozen Mahi. I like the Whole Catch brand. The fish tastes great and you’re able to rely on Whole Foods’ sustainable sourcing – an added bonus.

The fresh vs. frozen debate is a hot one. Many proponents of frozen fish claim that what you see on the ice bed at your local store as FRESH is actually about a week to 9 days old. Frozen fish on the other hand, is often flash frozen on the boat or immediately once it reaches shore – and industry leaders claim that the freezing methods are improving all the time. I’d say, unless you live on the coast, and can see the ocean behind your fish monger (and of course the fish your buying lives in that ocean) frozen fish is a solid option for maximizing flavor and, well, freshness.

Back to the food. The recipe I developed came out as follows:

• 2 Whole Foods Frozen Mahi fillets
• 1 cup fresh-squeezed orange citrus fruit juice
• 2 tablespoons white wine
• 3 tablespoons soy sauce
• 2 tablespoons white wine vinegar
• 1 heaping tablespoon of fresh shaved ginger
• 4 sweet potatoes (par boiled, skins removed)
• 2 cups sugar snap peas
• 2 cups sticky white rice, cooked

Thaw fish and wash in two cups of water and half a cup of lemon juice. Pat dry.

Cook 2 cups of your preferred sticky white rice.

Combine the juice, wine soy sauce and ginger in a sauce pan and reduce the liquid by half. It should take on a syrupy consistency. Allow it to come to room temperature, then cover the thawed fish with half. Add the fish to the fridge for a couple of hours.

I added the remaining glaze to a squeeze bottle and set aside while I focused on the potatoes.

After the potatoes are par cooked (in salted boiling water for 5-7 minutes), remove, let cool and peel away the skin. Cut the potatoes into batons (french fries, if you need a visual) and set aside. Remove the ends from the sugar snap peas (the part near the stem) and set aside.

Remove the fish from the fridge and let come to room temperature.

Heat vegetable oil in a dutch oven or oven-proof roasting pan. Heat the oven to 400 degrees.

Add the fish to the pan when it’s smoking hot. You only want to cook the fish about two minutes per side.

Squirt an ample amount of the remaining glaze over the fish and add into the oven for about 3-4 minutes. The heat of the oven will help the glaze set on the fish.

While the fish is in the oven, add oil, salt and pepper and a little rice wine vinegar to a super hot pan. Add the sweet potatoes and sugar snap peas and cook, tossing regularly, until the fish comes out of the oven. The sweet potatoes should take on a slight caramelization.

Remove the fish from the oven, and plate over sticky rice, arranging the peas and sweet potatoes around the edge. Squirt the remaining glaze atop each piece of fish and serve.

To my dear friend, the one who doesn’t really like blogs: my food blogging is, at it’s root, about discovery. The fact that I’ve been able to share in that discovery with a community of supportive people out on the web only adds an additional rewarding facet to the adventure.

The above dish is not just about me and what I cooked one night, it’s an example of community, of a group effort, and of creating something that combines shared knowledge and experience.

It might look like dinner, but I promise, it’s so much more.

W

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