Sasha's Kitchen: Coconut-Lemongrass Sole with Pineapple-Mint Salsa

A healthy fish recipe to start the new year. I made this recipe using sole, but you could use any whitefish, such as halibut or Chilean Sea bass. This is a simple, tropical inspired fish dish, which was perfect for a busy week night. My favorite way to cook sole is a sole meuniere, which involves a thick butter and white wine sauce. But this is almost as good and much healthier. This was my first meal that I made after returning from vacation in Mexico where the food was nothing special (we stayed at an all-inclusive place, so there was a lot of it, but nothing to brag about). Today was the first day back at work for the new year after a long vacation over the holidays, always a tough day to come back from vacation!

Sasha's Coconut Lemongrass Sole with Pineapple-Mint Salsa


2 filets of sole (or halibut, flounder or chilean sea bass)
1 1/4 cups of light coconut milk
1/2 cup low sodium soy sauce
2 T lime juice
1 tsp sesame oil
2 T diced lemongrass
1 cup diced pineapple
2 T diced mint
1 diced green pepper
1 tsp lime juice (for the salsa)

Combine the coconut milk, soy sauce, lime juice, sesame oil and diced lemongrass to make the marinade. Season with salt and pepper.  Add the fish and allow to marinate for 4 hours.

Combine the diced pineapple, mint, lime juice and diced pepper for the salsa. Set aside. Cook the fish - you can add a little but of butter if you like (I didn't this time though).  I cooked the fish at 300, for about 30 minutes. Top with the pineapple-mint salsa.

Sasha's Kitchen: Coconut-Lemongrass Sole with Pineapple-Mint Salsa

Sasha's Kitchen: Mahi-Mahi Fish Tacos With Mango Salsa

One of my best culinary related memories from our honeymoon in Hawaii was the sensational fresh Hawaiian fish - from the Mahi-Mahi to the baked opakapaka to the ahi poke, all of the fish was fresh catches of the day and some of the catches were fish that you can't find back on the mainland. Mahi-Mahi is one of the few fish that I ate in Hawaii that I am sometimes available to buy quality filets of locally.  So, this dish perhaps takes be back just a tiny bit to those meals at Mama's Fish House and the other great places we ate on that trip. Just an aside, I would love to make fresh ahi poke, but without the local Hawaiian fish quality, I don't think I could do it justice. That might not stop me from trying at some point anyhow though.

Mahi-Mahi makes an excellet soft taco, even though the fish is quite good, because it is a bit tougher than say salmon of chilean sea bass.  I did an asian inspired marinade, very similar to the marinade that I use in my signature Chilean Sea Bass dish.  It came out really well and my husband, who generally prefers the softer, flaky fishes, was pleasantly surprised.

Sasha's Mahi-Mahi Fish Tacos With Mango Salsa

Marinade
1/3 cup mirin (or sake)
1/3 cup pineapple juice
1/3 cup low sodium soy sayce
1 T minced fresh ginger
1 tsp dried lemongrass
1 tsp red pepper flakes
10 oz of Mahi-Mahi, skinned

Salsa
1 mango diced
2 T lime juice
1/4 cup diced red onion
1 to 2 T of diced cilantro

To prepare the fish, I allowed the marinade to soak for about two hours. Then, I grilled the fish, after cutting into small pieces, on my grill pan. You could, of course, grill the fish as one large piece and cut it up afterwards.  To prepare the salsa simply dice and combine the ingredients.  Allow the salsa to chill for about an hour before serving so that the flavors have a chance to mix appropriately. Serve in flour tortillas with a bit of sour cream.  Yum!

Mahi-Mahi

Sasha's Kitchen: Mahi-Mahi Fish Tacos With Mango Salsa

Sasha's Kitchen: Asian Infused Sea Bass With Papaya Salsa

I actually wrote about this meal once before when I first started this blog, but I didn't give it the full attention it deserved, nor was there a photo.  This is my favorite seafood dish, so I wanted to give it a full, true Sasha-blog post.  I love the asian infusion of the Chilean Sea Bass, and the combination of the fresh, tropical papaya with the asian flavors in the fish.  If you are concerned with sustainability, you do not have to use Chilean Sea Bass - you could substitute Mahi Mahi, Cod or Halibut.  I can't help it though, occasionally I get a craving for the soft, flaky sea bass with the asian marinade and fresh papapya.  That's exactly what happened last night.

This recipe is one I derived from a very old cookbook called Taste of the Tropics by Jay Solomon, from a restaurant that used to exist in Ithaca, New York when I was a kid.  The restaurant closed years ago (my husband, a Cornell graduate, says it was closed by the time he got to Cornell), but the cookbook lives on.  I have modified the ingredients in the marinade, which the author of the cookbook says is for Mahi Mahi, and made some minor changes in the salsa recipe.  Here's the recipe that I use in my cooking:

Sea Bass With Asian-Infused Marinade & Papaya Salsa 

1/2 cup soy sauce

1/2 cup mirin or sake

1/2 cup pineapple juice

2 T sesame oil

2 T lime juice

1 tsp lemongrass

1 T fresh ginger

2/3 tsp red pepper flakes

pinch of salt

dash of pepper

1/2 papaya, seeded and diced (for salsa)

3 T lime juice (for salsa)

2 T cilantro (for salsa)

1/2 red onion, diced (for salsa)

2-4 filets of fish (sea bass, mahi mahi, halibut or cod)

Combine the ingredients for the marinade in a bowl.  Marinate the fish for about 4 to 6 hours in the asian-infused marinade.  You can use either mirin or sake for the marinade (the result is very similar).  Rotate the fish at the halfway point.

To prepare the salsa, seed and dice the papaya.  Combine with the red onion, lemon juice and cilantro.

Cook the fish in a bit of the marinade at 350 for about 30 minutes until flaky and cooked to your liking (this will vary a bit depending on the type of fish that you use).    I always serve the fish with a side of the salsa and a bit of the marinade.  It also tastes great with a vegetable risotto as a side, such as the green apple risotto, that my husband makes, or even a plain risotto.  This recipe remain one of my favorite dinner courses, and will quench our palettes any night of the week.

Chilean Sea Bass

Sasha's Kitchen: Asian Infused Sea Bass With Papaya Salsa

Sasha's Kitchen: Tropical Chicken Pineapple Fried Rice

Tonight's post is going to be a bit on the short side because I am also simultaneously attempting to watch President Obama's State of the Union.  Tonight I prepared a large (two day) recipe of my secret (until now) fried rice.  Most everyone makes fried rice with shrimp - I don't like shrimp very much, and instead stuck with chicken.  In addition, my fried rice was a combination of the tropical and exotic (using sesame oil and pineapple), combined with the traditional use of the egg, onion and of course, long grain rice.

Here's what you will need to prepare my asian, but tropical inspired fried rice:

1 package empire chicken breasts, sliced into small pieces
2 cups long grain rice
1 20 oz can diced pineapple, drained
1/2 tsp paprika
1/2 tsp ginger
4 eggs
1 tsp diced garlic
1 onion, diced
1 T rice vinegar
1 tsp sesame oil
2 T fish sauce
2 T soy sauce
1 tsp sugar

First prepare the rice according to package instructions and set aside.   Scramble the egg, and saute the onion and garlic and combine.  Set this aside as well.  Saute the chicken (after cutting into small pieces) with the paprika, ginger and a bit of pepper.  Combine the rice, chicken, onion, egg and garlic in a large pot, such as a saute pan or dutch oven.

Cook with the rice vinegar, sesame oil, fish sauce, soy sauce, sugar until it has the desired fried rice consistency.  This was so good that it reminded me of the fried rice at a good Japanese restaurant such as Inatome in Long Island, a Japanese steakhouse with truly delicious fried rice.  My husband has loved their fried rice since he was a kid (even though all the women in his family won't eat there because the dining experience makes your hair and clothes reek like smoky meat).  Thus, I was attempting to make my own delicious fried rice, with a tropical taste (hence the pineapple).  Plus, no need to do the laundry immediately after dinner.  I was indeed quite successful - the dish was a success and will be served again tomorrow night.

This recipe makes plenty for a larger family, or for leftovers for a second night's dinner.  I garnished with cherry tomatoes to serve.  Now, back to the State of the Union.

Sasha's Kitchen: Tropical Chicken Pineapple Fried Rice

Sasha's Kitchen: Carribean and Tropical Cooking - Two Great Fish Recipes

When I first started to cook, I took an old cookbook from my mom called "A Taste of the Tropics" by Jay Solomon. We got this cookbook at a restaurant we ate at in Ithaca, NY in the late 80s and early 90s. The restaurant is no longer there and I'm pretty sure the cookbook is out of print, but it is a wonderful book which taught me a great deal about Caribbean, tropical and pacific rim cooking, as well as many wonderful ingredients used in cooking from this region. In addition, it is from this book that I learned what a chutney was, how great chutneys are with almost any food and how the possibilities for making a chutney with almost any fruit are endless.

At any rate, some of my favorite recipes from this book are Jay's fish recipes.

On page 49 of this cookbook, Jay has a recipe called "mahimahi with papaya salsa." When I first made this, I could not find mahimahi, but made it with Chilean sea bass. I was sold - this recipe tastes perfect with the soft flakiness of a good Chilean sea bass. Plus, it is super-easy:

Chilean Sea Bass With Papaya Salsa
Marinade:
1/2 cup soy sauce
1/2 cup pineapple juice
1/2 cup mirin or sake
2 T sesame oil
2 T lime juice
2 T minced ginger
1 T lemongrass
1 tsp red pepper flakes
several fillets of Chilean sea bass

Marinade from about 4 hours. Then top with papaya salsa:
1 ripe papaya, diced
1/2 Chile pepper
1/4 cup minced red onion
3 T lime juice
1 T cilantro
dash of salt

It's perfect. This dish is great when served with a nice homemade risotto, which is one of my husband's specialties.

Another great recipe from this book, which Jay says originates from the pacific rim, is red snapper with pineapple-tamarind salsa. Tamarind is such an interesting thing to cook with - I absolutely love it. In fact - it's so tangy and delicious that it's great to just nibble on. I once had a wonderful drink at an Indian restaurant (Indian cooking also often uses tamarind) that was a tamarind cocktail that was amazing. The recipe below is unchanged from the recipe in Jay's book, "A Taste of the Tropics."

To make the red snapper basically only requires making the tamarind-pineapple sauce, which is really no more than a chutney. First you must extract the substance from the tamarind. Tamarind can be bought in blocks, generally at an Indian market or specialty grocery store. First, take an 8 oz block of tamarind and combine with 1 1/23 cup water and simmer for 5-10 minutes, breaking apart the tamarind pulp. This will make a tamarind-juice which you will keep, and discard the remaining pulp.

The add the following ingredients to a saucepan with the tamarind:

Red Snapper With Pineapple-Tamarind Chutney

tamarind juice (see above)
2 cups diced pineapple
2 T butter
1 onion, diced
3 scallions
1 tomato, diced
2 T brown sugar
dash of pepper and salt
1/2 tsp thyme
1/4 tsp cloves
1/4 tsp allspice

Cook for about 15 minutes over medium to medium-high heat until it thickens to the consistency of a chutney (very jam like). The add about 1 T of cilantro, or leave it out if you don't like cilantro.

Now all you need to do is cook the red snapper and top the fish with the chutney and your trip to the pacific rim is complete.

These recipes are great because they do remind me of trips I have taken to the Caribbean and to Hawaii and I love the tropical and exotic flavors. Perhaps they are not 100% authentic (one of the contributing bloggers grew up in Hawaii and may write about some traditional Hawaiian cuisine at some point) but I love them and they do transport me to a wonderful, tropical place. Which reminds me - I so need a vacation.

Sasha's Kitchen: Carribean and Tropical Cooking - Two Great Fish Recipes