by Sheila Connolly
It was a year
ago that my sister and I made a pilgrimage to New York City, which included a
sumptuous luncheon at Eric Ripert’s restaurant, Le Bernardin (which I reported
on here). Sigh.
This week I
found myself contemplating a pound of fish and trying to figure out what to do
with it. I turned to Epicurious online,
and lo and behold, up popped a 2005 recipe by mon ami Eric, titled “Cod with Coconut, Lime, and Lemongrass Curry
Sauce.” It had to be fate.
As luck would
have it, I had almost all the ingredients on hand (except the lime leaves—had
some but they expired from old age). Eric’s recipe was a wee bit high end (he
is much into elegant presentation), but easy to simplify. And the sauce or broth
or whatever you want to call it is delicious!
Note: It’s
just my husband and me at home these days, so I usually make two-serving
recipes (except for desserts!). Most cookbook recipes will feed at least four
people. I promise I won’t give you any recipes that don’t multiply easily.
Cod with Coconut Curry
Sauce
Sauce:
1 Tblsp
butter
2 shallots,
thinly sliced
3 garlic
cloves, thinly sliced
1 lemongrass
stalk, thinly sliced (I didn’t have
fresh, but I did have some in a jar)
1 1-inch
piece of fresh ginger, thinly sliced
3 kaffir lime
leaves (if you can find them)
1 Tblsp
Madras curry
2 cups
chicken stock
1/2 cup
coconut milk
2 cilantro
sprigs
Sea salt to
taste
White pepper
to taste
1 Tblsp fresh
lime juice
During the first simmer |
Melt the
butter in a small pan over medium heat. Add the shallots, garlic, lemongrass,
ginger, lime leaves and curry and cook slowly without browning, for about 5
minutes. Add the chicken stock and bring
to a boil, then lower the heat and simmer for 15 minutes. Add the coconut milk and cilantro and simmer
for another 5 minutes. Taste, then season with salt and pepper if needed. Strain the liquid through fine sieve and set
aside.
All in, before straining |
Fish:
A pound of hake (okay, raw fish isn't much to look at--but this is how much you need) |
2 filets of white
fish, 1-1/2” thick (the original recipe used cod, but hake was what I had—it
worked just fine. Flounder might be too delicate.)
2 Tblsp
canola or vegetable oil
Sea salt to
taste
White pepper
to taste
Pat the fish
filets dry and season on both sides with the salt and pepper. Heat the oil in a
non-stick pan and sauté until lightly browned, turning once. It shouldn’t take
more than 5-7 minutes total.
(Confession: After
this point Eric’s instructions were much more complicated, but this method works just
fine. I do want to share his final detail:
cook the fish “until a metal skewer can be easily inserted into the fish
and, when left in the fish for 5 seconds, feels hot when touched to your lip.”
Yes, dear friends, he’s kissing the skewer.)
When ready to
serve, reheat the sauce and add the lime juice to brighten the flavor.
In the
original recipe, this was served in a deep bowl flanked by quartered baby bok
choy poached in a whole lot of butter, topped with the sauce. Instead I made
rice, then laid the fish over the rice and poured the sauce over both. Much
easier. Serve with a spoon, because you’re going to want to finish all the
sauce!
You do know what a privy is, right? It's probably exactly what you think it is, and there's one that's been uncovered in the basement of the Pennsylvania Antiquarian Society (don't worry, it hasn't been used for more than a century). But what's found inside triggers a murder and leads to solving a much earlier double murder.
Privy to the Dead (Museum Mystery #6), coming June 2015, and available for pre-order at Amazon and Barnes and Noble now.
Privy to the Dead (Museum Mystery #6), coming June 2015, and available for pre-order at Amazon and Barnes and Noble now.
I don't have many fish dishes in my repertoire, but I'm definitely adding this. Sounds so yummy!
ReplyDeletePeg, we dutifully try to eat fish once a week, because we know it's good for us. And we try to buy non-frozen fish caught in U.S. waters. It's an uphill battle, and there are usually only two or three choices (and we live 20 miles from an ocean!). We're good buddies now with the woman who's on the fish counter most weekends--she's from Germany. It's hard to develop a repertoire when there's so little to work with. But my father always loved fish, and I can remember him bringing home fresh tuna steaks (what? they're that color?!). We soldier on. But I think this sauce would make almost anything taste good.
DeleteI love this! Just bought some more coconut milk. It sounds so good, and you have made it simple enough for the rest of us to try. I've never heard of lime leaves! Don't think I've even seen them for sale. What kind of flavor do they impart?
ReplyDeleteKrista, I bought a package of lime leaves (fresh!) at Whole Foods in Pennsylvania last summer, and then watched them dry out as I tried to figure out what to do with them. I sure don't see them often. I'm guessing they add a hint of bitterness. Not essential to this dish!
ReplyDeleteThanks, Sheila!
DeleteI don't care for curry but I bet the sauce would be good without it.
ReplyDeleteThis sounds delicious and offers a starting place for improvisation (working around missing ingredients and such).
ReplyDelete