Chilean Sea Bass w/ Peas & Shiitake Veloute

I hope everyone that celebrated had a very Merry Christmas yesterday!

I know the Garbes definitely did!

Santa was very good to us!  Andy outdid himself this year and upgraded my little beginner Nikon D40 to a Nikon D3200!  It's absolutely awesome!  And better yet, it came with a wireless adapter to stream my photos from my camera directly to my iPhone!  How neat is that?!  So of course I had to start shooting with it right away.  And one of the first things I did was test out it's ability on food - DUH!  And doesn't it just capture this sea bass beautifully?!  Either that, or I'm getting better at my photography skills.  Maybe it's both =)

Anyway, the day was spent with both of our families, driving, and eating!  It was definitely all worth it!

This was our Christmas Eve dinner (the time when Andy and I usually open our presents to eachother) and we both cleaned our plates dry!  It was SO good!

Ingredients:

2 6 oz. Chilean Sea Bass fillets
salt and pepper, to taste
flour, for dredging

Shiitake Veloute:

1 cup shiitake mushrooms, sliced thinly
1 tablespoons olive oil
salt and pepper, to taste
1 tablespoon unsalted butter
1 & 1/2 tablespoons flour
3/4 cup seafood/fish stock
1/4 cup white wine
1/2 cup milk

1 & 1/2 cups frozen peas
1/2 cup water
salt and pepper, to taste

Preheat oven to 425 F.

Heat a large saute pan under medium high heat.  Add olive oil and saute mushrooms until they start to soften, about 6-7 minutes.  Season with salt and pepper, to taste.

Heat a medium saucepan under medium heat and melt butter.  Whisk in flour to create a roux.  We're basically just making a fish/seafood gravy.  Cook roux for about 1-2 minutes, or until slightly a pale yellow color.  Slowly incorporate the stock, whisking constantly to avoid lumps.  Then whisk in wine, followed by the milk.  Bring mixture to a boil and cook until slightly thickened, to sauce consistently.  You can thin it out with extra stock, if you need to.  Stir in the shiitake mushrooms and season to taste.  Keep warm until ready to use.

Season the sea bass with salt and pepper and dredge in the flour, shaking off any excess.  Heat some vegetable oil and/or butter in an oven-proof saute pan under medium high heat.  Place the sea bass, skin-side down, in the pan and cook until skin is crisp, about 3-4 minutes.  Flip over and carefully transfer pan to the oven to finish cooking the fish, about 5-6 minutes. 

While the bass is in the oven, you can quickly cook your peas.  Bring the water to a slow boil in a small saucepan.  Add peas and cook until warmed - they're frozen peas, so they're already cooked.  Drain and set aside.

When everything is ready, you can assemble your plate.  Place about 1/4 cup of the shiitake veloute in the center of each plate.  Top with a mound of peas.  Top the peas with the sea bass.  Garnish with whatever you like - I used some chives.

And voila - another simple and easy fish dish!  And it's gorgeous, to boot!

Hope you guys have a great rest of the week - and enjoy the snow (I know a lot of us experienced our first batches over the past couple of days!).

Chili-Ginger Chicken w/ Shiitake Mushrooms & Napa Cabbage

I never knew what a good light kit would do for the appeal of my food. I came home this past Sunday after working until 10:30 to a kitchen that looked like something of a t.v. show set. I called Andy while I was on my way home to have him prep the ingredients for that nights dish, and instead he prepped the kitchen for a show... and I can't say that I'm upset, because the pictures turned out amazing, and so did the dish.


Ingredients:
1 tablespoon chili garlic paste
2 tablespoons black bean sauce
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 teaspoon asian sesame oil
3/4 cup chicken stock
3 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 & 1/4 lb. chicken thighs, cut into 1 & 1/2 inch strips
salt
freshly ground black pepper
1/2 lb. shiitake mushrooms, stems removed and cut into pieces
2 tablespoons minced ginger
3/4 lb. napa cabbage, chopped (4 cups)
3 ounces daikon radish, thinly sliced
2 scallions, thinly sliced

The original recipe I found had miso paste in it, and after searching all over Louisville (not really, I only stopped at Kroger and Whole Foods), with no luck, I decided to substitute the chili paste and black bean sauce to give it more of a subtle spicy flavor.

In a small bowl, mix together chili paste, black bean sauce, garlic, sesame oil, and 1/2 cup of the stock.



Heat vegetable oil in wok and add chicken thighs. Salt and pepper to taste and cook until done, about 5 minutes or so.


Remove from wok with slotted spoon and set aside.

Add mushrooms, ginger (instead of mincing my ginger, I had it in the freezer and grated it instead. The freezing of the ginger root keeps it fresh longer, and it just easily grates so I like it better that way), and remaining chicken stock to wok. Cook until mushrooms are tender.


Add the cabbage and chicken back in. Stir fry for a quick minute and add the savory sauce to the wok.


Allow to simmer and finally add in daikon and scallions.


Mix together and serve! Enjoy!