Clementine Cake

I love oranges, particularly sweet navals, but so often they have more pith than flesh. What really irritates me is when the orange flesh is dried out. Those babies are expensive, and I hate feeling like I wasted my money. So when those small crates of sweet, easy-to-peel, clementines started appearing in supermarkets, I was happy that I could get my citrus fix consistently and at a somewhat more reasonable price. At least I could back in the 90s and early 00s. Nowadays, the little fruits, while still easy to peel, are often tart and have a few pips. The only routinely sweet ones I've found are the "Cuties" brand, which are more expensive than the rest. I'm guessing that when the demand for these little guys increased, producers started cutting corners or obtaining fruit from countries with less-than-optimal growing conditions or practices. The only consistency now seems to be in my disappointment.

But clementines aren't completely useless. They make a pretty great little cake, one that is super moist, keeps fairly well, and is absolutely gluten-free, though you would never know that from the flavor and texture.

I've made this cake many times over the years, using a recipe from Nigella Lawson's How to Eat. The recipe below has the same proportions as the one in her book, but the photos are from a cake half the size. Why? Because I only had 3 eggs available to me, and the recipe calls for 6. I also was pretty sure that while I seemed to have quite a lot of almond flour, it was surely not 2 1/3 cups. It was entirely reasonable to me to cut the recipe in half, or half-ish. And you know what? Four small clementines, 3 eggs, 1 cup almond flour, 1/2 cup sugar, and 1 heaping teaspoon of baking powder made a fine cake in a 7" round springform pan.

Nigella's Clementine Cake

4 to 5 clementines (about 1 lb total)
1 cup plus 2 tablespoons granulated sugar
6 eggs
2 1/3 cups ground almonds
1 heaping teaspoon baking powder

Put clementines in a pot with enough water to cover and bring to a boil. Turn temperature down so the water is at a hearty simmer and cook for 2 hours, adding more water if the pot looks like it's running dry. Drain and allow fruit to cool. Once the fruit is cool, tear them open, remove the stem bit from the end and any seeds.

Preheat oven to 375°F.

Place the clementines--skin, pith, and all--into the bowl of a food processor fitted with the blade. Add the sugar and puree. Add the eggs and pulse to combine. Add the almonds and baking powder and pulse until completely incorporated.

Line an 8-inch springform pan with a circle of parchment and coat bottom and sides of pan with butter or release spray. Pour the batter into the pan and smooth the top. Bake for 40-45 minutes then check doneness with a toothpick. If the pick comes out with moist crumbs, it's done. If it comes out with batter on it, add more time. At this point, the cake will start to get very brown, so cover the top with a piece of foil for any remaining time in the oven.

Remove the pan from the oven and cool completely on a rack. Sprinkle with powdered sugar or not. I used Trader Joe's dried and sugared lemon slices as a garnish.



Posted on Minxeats.com.

Flashback Friday - Tangerine Beef

This post originally appeared on Minxeats.com on February 13, 2013.

I wanted to whip up a little something festive and lucky to celebrate the Chinese Year of the Snake, but I didn't want to go to a whole lot of effort. Yes, I'm lazy, but also tired from planning and dealing with book signings and all that good stuff. Traditionally, Chinese New Year festivities involve labor-intensive dumplings or spring rolls, which symbolize luck and prosperity. That seemed like too much work for me, plus spring rolls need to be deep fried, and I have a long-standing fear of frying.

Then I found a recipe for tangerine beef that sounded entirely do-able, especially since we had everything on hand except the beef and the tangerine. Tangerines are considered a lucky fruit, as the word for tangerine sounds similar to the word for luck. Oranges, too, have a place at New Years feasts because "orange" and "gold" sound alike as well. And as luck would have it (heh) I stumbled upon this recipe for Tangerine Beef in a book already on my bookshelf, Feeding the Dragon, written by brother and sister team Nate and Mary Kate Tate.

The recipe calls for flank steak, which was hella expensive at the local Safeway, so we substituted a piece of London broil, instead. The dish was very different from what we normally think of as "orange beef," which usually has crisp meat and a sugar-laden sauce. Instead, the beef in this dish is tender, the sauce not sweet at all, and with the combination of chili bean sauce, dried chiles, and Sichuan peppercorns, full of ma-la, or the spicy and numbing sensation popular in Sichuan food.

Tangerine Beef (adapted from Feeding the Dragon)

1 tangerine

Meat:
1 teaspoon cornstarch
2 tablespoons soy sauce
1 tablespoon Shaoxing rice wine or dry sherry
1 tablespoon minced fresh ginger
1 lb London broil, sliced thinly against the grain into 2" long strips

Sauce:
1 tablespoons Shaoxing rice wine or dry sherry
2 teaspoons hoisin sauce
1 teaspoon chili bean sauce
1 teaspoon sugar

To Cook:
3 tablespoons vegetable oil
1/2 teaspoon Sichuan peppercorns
small handful dried Sichuan chiles
3 scallions, chopped, white and green parts separated

Peel the tangerine, taking care to leave the peel in large pieces. Using a spoon, scrape out as much of the pith as possible (this is easier to do if the peel is in large pieces). Boil the peel for six minutes to remove bitterness, then slice into slivers. Set aside. Eat the tangerine innards.

In a large bowl, dissolve the cornstarch with the soy sauce and rice wine. Stir in the ginger and add the beef strips. Toss well, cover the bowl, and set aside to marinate for at least 20 minutes.

Stir together the sauce ingredients in a small bowl and set aside.

Heat 2 tablespoons of the vegetable oil in a wok or large saute pan over high heat. Add the beef and stir fry for about 1 minute, until browned but still a bit pink. Remove beef and any liquid from the wok and set aside.

Heat the remaining tablespoon of oil and when it's hot, add the Sichuan peppercorns, chiles, the reserved tangerine peel, and the white parts of the scallions. Stir fry for about 45 seconds, then add the sauce. Toss in the beef and the green parts of the scallions and stir until the onions start to wilt and all is covered with sauce.

Serve hot with plenty of steamed rice to ease the heat.

Posted on Minxeats.com.

Flashback Friday - Avocado Soup and Crab Salad

This post originally appeared on Minxeats.com on June 21, 2013.

I do most of the cooking on the weekends, except when we go out to eat (of course). If I'm thinking ahead, I plan my meals by Tuesday, our usual grocery shopping day. Most of the time though, I don't give it a thought until Thursday or Friday and then I have to decide whether I should just use what we have in the house, or schlep down to the grocery store to pick up special ingredients.

One recent weekend, we had steamed crabs on Saturday and ended up with a nice container of leftover meat. Rather than default to making crab cakes, I decided to make a crab salad and serve it with a soup made from the two ripe avocados we had picked up earlier in the week. The soup was thick and lusciously creamy, and the citrussy salad added the perfect touch of acid.

I used black garlic to season the soup because I had it. You can use one clove of regular garlic, but chop it and add it to the scallion while it's cooking to cut some of the strong garlic taste. Of course, if you like the flavor of raw garlic, don't let me get in your way!

Avocado Soup

4 scallions, white and green parts, chopped
olive oil
2 ripe Haas avocados
3 tablespoons lime juice
1 cup chicken or vegetable stock
1/4 cup plain yogurt or sour cream
3 cloves black garlic
couple shakes of hot sauce (I used green Tabasco)
salt and pepper to taste

Cook scallions in a bit of olive oil and a pinch of salt until wilted. Add them, along with the rest of the ingredients, to the bowl of a food processor or blender and purée. If the mixture is too thick for your taste, add a bit more stock or yogurt. Season to taste, adding more lime juice, if desired. Serve chilled, topped with a handful of crab salad.

Makes 4 appetizer or 2 main dish servings.

Crab Salad

2 tablespoons orange or grapefruit juice or a combination of the two
2 tablespoons lime juice
1 tablespoon champagne vinegar
1/2 teaspoon Dijon mustard
2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
1 teaspoon honey or agave syrup
1 lb blue crab meat (body and claw), picked over for shell
1 tomato, seeded and finely chopped
fresh basil and mint leaves

Combine the first six ingredients in a small bowl, beating well with a fork until the dressing emulsifies. Season with salt and pepper.

Put the crab and tomato in a medium bowl. Pour over the dressing and toss lightly to coat. Taste for seasoning and add additional salt and pepper, if necessary. Cut basil and mint into a chiffonade and stir in before serving.

Makes more than you'll need for the soup, so grab a fork and dig in.



Posted on Minxeats.com.

Flashback Friday - Nectarine Soup with Crab Salad

This post originally appeared on Minxeats.com on August 29, 2014.

It has long been a tradition to have steamed crabs for Mr Minx's birthday. We usually get two dozen, which comfortably feeds four adults, but for some reason, we had a ton left over this year. We did our part, putting away a dozen between the two us (along with hush puppies and corn on the cob), but there were still several crabs left by the time we were done. These were meaty suckers, so once we picked the remaining critters, we had a whole pound of meat (.984 lb, to be exact) left over.

I can probably eat a pound of crabmeat served with nothing but a fork, but that's no fun, and maybe more than a bit piggy. I didn't want to only make crabcakes, especially since I feel I've done that recently. I thought back to a soup I made with avocados and garnished with crab salad and decided that would hit the spot. Only we didn't have any avocados. But we did have a big bag of nectarines and white peaches that I had purchased at the farmers' market earlier in the week. Rather than going to my old stand-by soup, gazpacho, I decided to let the nectarines speak for themselves. Blended with a bit of Greek yogurt and seasoned with savory spices, it went nicely with the rich, sweet, blue crab (the best crab!).

As for the salad, I went with a ceviche-style preparation, with citrus juices, jalapeno, and tomato. Mr Minx and I agreed that it was a restaurant-quality dish, and not really all that difficult to prepare. And made entirely from things we already had on hand in the pantry and fridge.

Nectarine Soup with Crab Salad

For soup:
5 nectarines
1/4 cup Greek yogurt
1/2 cup chicken stock (you can use veg stock, or water)
1/4 cup mint leaves, loosely packed
1/4 teaspoon ground ginger
1/8 teaspoon ground coriander
1/8 teaspoon harissa powder
Pinch cayenne
Large pinch salt
Agave syrup, to taste

For salad:
1 small shallot, minced
1 small tomato, seeded and diced, or 5-6 cherry tomatoes, chopped
1 jalapeno pepper, seeded and diced
2 tablespoons lime juice
2 tablespoons orange juice
2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
1 teaspoon agave syrup
1/2 lb fresh blue crab meat

To make soup: Peel nectarines and cut into chunks, discarding pits. Place nectarine flesh into a blender or food processor with remaining ingredients except cayenne, salt, and agave syrup, and pulse to a puree. Season to taste with the last three ingredients. Refrigerate until ready to serve.

To make salad: Place vegetables in a medium bowl. In a small bowl, whisk together citrus juices, olive oil, and agave syrup. Pour over vegetables. Add crab meat and gently fold to coat with dressing. Refrigerate for at least an hour for flavors to meld and to tame the oniony-ness of the shallot.

To serve: Pour soup into bowls or cups. Top with a generous portion of crab salad.

Serves 4-6, with extra crab salad.

Posted on Minxeats.com.

Meyer Lemon Poppyseed Ice Cream

After the success of my key lime pie ice cream, I wanted to experiment with other citrus-based flavors. Around the holidays, I made a cranberry orange ice cream that won rave reviews from everyone who tasted it. (It was especially yummy with a spoonful of raw cranberry-orange relish leftover from Thanksgiving.) I didn't make note of the proportions of ingredients that I used, and perhaps I should have so I could post the recipe here. Sorry for that.

It's currently Meyer lemon season, and I figured they would make a flavorful frozen treat. I tossed in some poppyseeds as well, to mimic the popular muffin and quickbread flavor, and also to add some texture. If you don't have Meyer lemons, don't fret - regular lemons will be just as delicious.

Meyer Lemon Poppyseed Ice Cream

4 Meyer lemons (or regular lemons, or a combination of the two)
1/4 cup plus 1/3 cup sugar (divided use)
2 cups whole milk
1 tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon cornstarch
2 tablespoons softened cream cheese
1/8 teaspoon salt
1 1/4 cups heavy cream
2 tablespoons light corn syrup
1 tablespoon poppy seeds

Grate the peel from the lemons with a microplane or other fine gauge grater and set aside. Juice the lemons and place the juice in a non-reactive saucepan with the 1/4 cup of sugar. Bring to a boil, stirring to make sure the sugar has dissolved. Pour the syrup into a lidded container and refrigerate until ready to use.

Mix 2 tablespoons of the whole milk with the cornstarch to make a slurry. In a separate bowl, whisk the cream cheese and salt together until smooth. Prepare a shallow ice bath: in a large bowl or baking pan, place an inch or two of cold water and several ice cubes. Set aside.

Cook the remaining milk, cream, 1/3 cup sugar, corn syrup, and reserved lemon zest in a large saucepan until it comes to a rolling boil, Boil for 4 minutes, watching carefully so it doesn't boil over (stir when it starts to expand), remove from heat, and slowly whisk in the cornstarch slurry. Bring back to a boil over medium-high heat and cook until slightly thickened, about 1 minute. Blend a few tablespoons of hot milk mixture into the cream cheese to loosen it, then pour the cream cheese mixture into the pan of milk. Whisk well until smooth. Pour into a container with a tight-fitting lid and place the container into the ice bath until cool, ensuring that the water level doesn't come up as far as the lid. When the mixture seems mostly cool, refrigerate until completely cold.

Freeze ice cream according to manufacturers instructions. While the ice cream is churning, drizzle in the cold lemon syrup. Add the poppy seeds. When ice cream is done, scoop into a lidded freezer-safe container and press a piece of wax paper onto the surface of the ice cream. Seal container and freeze until firm, at least 4 hours.



Posted on Minxeats.com.

Nectarine Soup with Crab Salad

It has long been a tradition to have steamed crabs for Mr Minx's birthday. We usually get two dozen, which comfortably feeds four adults, but for some reason, we had a ton left over this year. We did our part, putting away a dozen between the two us (along with hush puppies and corn on the cob), but there were still several crabs left by the time we were done. These were meaty suckers, so once we picked the remaining critters, we had a whole pound of meat (.984 lb, to be exact) left over.

I can probably eat a pound of crabmeat served with nothing but a fork, but that's no fun, and maybe more than a bit piggy. I didn't want to only make crabcakes, especially since I feel I've done that recently. I thought back to a soup I made with avocados and garnished with crab salad and decided that would hit the spot. Only we didn't have any avocados. But we did have a big bag of nectarines and white peaches that I had purchased at the farmers' market earlier in the week. Rather than going to my old stand-by soup, gazpacho, I decided to let the nectarines speak for themselves. Blended with a bit of Greek yogurt and seasoned with savory spices, it went nicely with the rich, sweet, blue crab (the best crab!).

As for the salad, I went with a ceviche-style preparation, with citrus juices, jalapeno, and tomato. Mr Minx and I agreed that it was a restaurant-quality dish, and not really all that difficult to prepare. And made entirely from things we already had on hand in the pantry and fridge.

Nectarine Soup with Crab Salad

For soup:
5 nectarines
1/4 cup Greek yogurt
1/2 cup chicken stock (you can use veg stock, or water)
1/4 cup mint leaves, loosely packed
1/4 teaspoon ground ginger
1/8 teaspoon ground coriander
1/8 teaspoon harissa powder
Pinch cayenne
Large pinch salt
Agave syrup, to taste

For salad:
1 small shallot, minced
1 small tomato, seeded and diced, or 5-6 cherry tomatoes, chopped
1 jalapeno pepper, seeded and diced
2 tablespoons lime juice
2 tablespoons orange juice
2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
1 teaspoon agave syrup
1/2 lb fresh blue crab meat

To make soup: Peel nectarines and cut into chunks, discarding pits. Place nectarine flesh into a blender or food processor with remaining ingredients except cayenne, salt, and agave syrup, and pulse to a puree. Season to taste with the last three ingredients. Refrigerate until ready to serve.

To make salad: Place vegetables in a medium bowl. In a small bowl, whisk together citrus juices, olive oil, and agave syrup. Pour over vegetables. Add crab meat and gently fold to coat with dressing. Refrigerate for at least an hour for flavors to meld and to tame the oniony-ness of the shallot.

To serve: Pour soup into bowls or cups. Top with a generous portion of crab salad.

Serves 4-6, with extra crab salad.

Posted on Minxeats.com.

Avocado Soup and Crab Salad

I do most of the cooking on the weekends, except when we go out to eat (of course). If I'm thinking ahead, I plan my meals by Tuesday, our usual grocery shopping day. Most of the time though, I don't give it a thought until Thursday or Friday and then I have to decide whether I should just use what we have in the house, or schlep down to the grocery store to pick up special ingredients.

One recent weekend, we had steamed crabs on Saturday and ended up with a nice container of leftover meat. Rather than default to making crab cakes, I decided to make a crab salad and serve it with a soup made from the two ripe avocados we had picked up earlier in the week. The soup was thick and lusciously creamy, and the citrussy salad added the perfect touch of acid.

I used black garlic to season the soup because I had it. You can use one clove of regular garlic, but chop it and add it to the scallion while it's cooking to cut some of the strong garlic taste. Of course, if you like the flavor of raw garlic, don't let me get in your way!

Avocado Soup

4 scallions, white and green parts, chopped
olive oil
2 ripe Haas avocados
3 tablespoons lime juice
1 cup chicken or vegetable stock
1/4 cup plain yogurt or sour cream
3 cloves black garlic
couple shakes of hot sauce (I used green Tabasco)
salt and pepper to taste

Cook scallions in a bit of olive oil and a pinch of salt until wilted. Add them, along with the rest of the ingredients, to the bowl of a food processor or blender and purée. If the mixture is too thick for your taste, add a bit more stock or yogurt. Season to taste, adding more lime juice, if desired. Serve chilled, topped with a handful of crab salad.

Makes 4 appetizer or 2 main dish servings.

Crab Salad

2 tablespoons orange or grapefruit juice or a combination of the two
2 tablespoons lime juice
1 tablespoon champagne vinegar
1/2 teaspoon Dijon mustard
2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
1 teaspoon honey or agave syrup
1 lb blue crab meat (body and claw), picked over for shell
1 tomato, seeded and finely chopped
fresh basil and mint leaves

Combine the first six ingredients in a small bowl, beating well with a fork until the dressing emulsifies. Season with salt and pepper.

Put the crab and tomato in a medium bowl. Pour over the dressing and toss lightly to coat. Taste for seasoning and add additional salt and pepper, if necessary. Cut basil and mint into a chiffonade and stir in before serving.

Makes more than you'll need for the soup, so grab a fork and dig in.

Posted on Minxeats.com.

Tangerine Beef

I wanted to whip up a little something festive and lucky to celebrate the Chinese Year of the Snake, but I didn't want to go to a whole lot of effort. Yes, I'm lazy, but also tired from planning and dealing with book signings and all that good stuff. Traditionally, Chinese New Year festivities involve labor-intensive dumplings or spring rolls, which symbolize luck and prosperity. That seemed like too much work for me, plus spring rolls need to be deep fried, and I have a long-standing fear of frying.

Then I found a recipe for tangerine beef that sounded entirely do-able, especially since we had everything on hand except the beef and the tangerine. Tangerines are considered a lucky fruit, as the word for tangerine sounds similar to the word for luck. Oranges, too, have a place at New Years feasts because "orange" and "gold" sound alike as well. And as luck would have it (heh) I stumbled upon this recipe for Tangerine Beef in a book already on my bookshelf, Feeding the Dragon, written by brother and sister team Nate and Mary Kate Tate.

The recipe calls for flank steak, which was hella expensive at the local Safeway, so we substituted a piece of London broil, instead. The dish was very different from what we normally think of as "orange beef," which usually has crisp meat and a sugar-laden sauce. Instead, the beef in this dish is tender, the sauce not sweet at all, and with the combination of chili bean sauce, dried chiles, and Sichuan peppercorns, full of ma-la, or the spicy and numbing sensation popular in Sichuan food.

Tangerine Beef (adapted from Feeding the Dragon)

1 tangerine

Meat:
1 teaspoon cornstarch
2 tablespoons soy sauce
1 tablespoon Shaoxing rice wine or dry sherry
1 tablespoon minced fresh ginger
1 lb London broil, sliced thinly against the grain into 2" long strips

Sauce:
1 tablespoons Shaoxing rice wine or dry sherry
2 teaspoons hoisin sauce
1 teaspoon chili bean sauce
1 teaspoon sugar

To Cook:
3 tablespoons vegetable oil
1/2 teaspoon Sichuan peppercorns
small handful dried Sichuan chiles
3 scallions, chopped, white and green parts separated

Peel the tangerine, taking care to leave the peel in large pieces. Using a spoon, scrape out as much of the pith as possible (this is easier to do if the peel is in large pieces). Boil the peel for six minutes to remove bitterness, then slice into slivers. Set aside. Eat the tangerine innards.

In a large bowl, dissolve the cornstarch with the soy sauce and rice wine. Stir in the ginger and add the beef strips. Toss well, cover the bowl, and set aside to marinate for at least 20 minutes.

Stir together the sauce ingredients in a small bowl and set aside.

Heat 2 tablespoons of the vegetable oil in a wok or large saute pan over high heat. Add the beef and stir fry for about 1 minute, until browned but still a bit pink. Remove beef and any liquid from the wok and set aside.

Heat the remaining tablespoon of oil and when it's hot, add the Sichuan peppercorns, chiles, the reserved tangerine peel, and the white parts of the scallions. Stir fry for about 45 seconds, then add the sauce. Toss in the beef and the green parts of the scallions and stir until the onions start to wilt and all is covered with sauce.

Serve hot with plenty of steamed rice to ease the heat.

Posted on Minxeats.com.

True Citrus Chat and Recipe Contest

I've posted in the past about True Lemon and its brethren True Lemon and True Lime. I really love these products because I never seem to have fresh lemons and limes in the fridge when I really want one. Especially in these sweltering hot days of summer when I want nothing more than a big glass of lemonade. Over the weekend I made myself a "virgin mojito" by putting a packet of True Lime, a spring of fresh mint from the garden, and a pack of Truvia in a glass of ice water. Not as much fun as a rum drink, but I'm not all that big on drinking alcohol when it's sweltering. Especially after I've come in from walking the dog and want something to guzzle.

My recipe is pretty basic, but the True Citrus line can be used in place of fresh citrus juice in more complex recipes, too. And True Citrus is kicking off a recipe contest starting today! All of the information can be found here and here. The winner will receive a $500 Visa gift card and 4 others will each receive a $100 Visa gift card - hello! Time to start tinkering with recipes.

Also today is a Ustream online chat with Diane Henderiks, the Dietician in the Kitchen. Diane is a culinary nutritionist, personal chef, culinary educator, and monthly on-air contributor for Good Morning America Health and will be discussing nutrition tips and all of the different ways you can cook with the entire True Citrus product line. Participants can ask Diane anything from the different ways they can cook with True Citrus, to general nutrition questions and more. To participate in the chat, click here or go to http://truelemon.com/community/live.html.

I'll probably not have time to chat because, well, I do have to *work.* If you participate and learn something interesting, please fill me in! In the meantime, I'll be contemplating recipes (as I usually do).

Whole Rockfish

I had never purchased seafood from H Mart before. It seemed we never went early enough in the day to miss the crowds clustered around the array of fresh whole fish. But this time, we were among three whole people perusing the selection and jumped at the chance to make a whole fish for dinner. It all looked so good, and there were so many varieties, but we settled on rockfish because: 1) we knew what it tasted like; 2) I was pretty confident that I could prepare it successfully.

I found a recipe on teh Innernets and adapted it for the ingredients we had on hand. Luckily, we had purchased lemons, limes, and, on a whim, lemongrass, all integral to the original recipe.

The Raw

I thought we could make the baby bok choy we also purchased, along with some shiitake mushrooms, with the fish in our new non-stick roasting pan. (My brother-in-law delivered it last weekend. I admired his after it cleaned up so nicely post-Thanksgiving-feasting, and he thought we should have one of our own. Thanks, Craig!)

Baked Rockfish with Citrus

1 whole rockfish, about 2 - 3 lb, cleaned
juice and zest of 1 lime
juice and zest of 1/2 lemon
2 dried red chiles, broken into pieces
1 stick lemongrass, sliced
3 scallions, chopped
cilantro
1/4 cup olive oil
salt and cracked pepper to taste

Directions

Preheat oven to 400F.  Mix the lemongrass, chiles, lime and lemon zest, and olive oil.

Make three diagonal cuts into the fish on both sides. Place in a roasting pan. Salt and pepper the cavity and stuff with about 3/4 of the lemongrass mixture. Pour citrus juices into cuts on fish and top with remainder of the lemongrass and oil.

Roast in oven for 20-30 minutes, depending on the size of your fish.

The Cooked

Despite the exotic flavors, the fish was a bit on the bland side. It was extremely moist and tender though. The shiitakes took on a silky texture that was quite pleasing, and the bok choy were perfectly cooked - crunchy and juicy. But despite what I thought was a thorough cleaning with a long soaking, they were still a tad sandy.

I served the dish with rice and garnished it with cilantro and chopped scallions. I also made a little lemon butter to pour over the bok choy. But it needed something to add oompfh. At least to my palate - I'm sure other people would find the flavorings just fine.