This week is all about cooking with flavors that I love! Don't be afraid to pair flavors and experiment, it's part of the joy of cooking. Sometimes you'll stumble across flavors that work so well together they're worthy of publishing and sometimes you won't. Today's flavors are Ponzu, Chives, Fresh Ground Pepper and Ginger. I decided to go with Cod which is a light, flaky fish that pairs well with just about anything...not to mention its wild caught and not farm raised.
Integrating lots of flavor is important when cooking healthy especially if it's a lifestyle change...you want to make foods that taste good despite their nutritional value. Most people correlate healthy cooking with flavorless but it's not true if you use fresh ingredients like fresh herbs, root vegetables, fruit, etc.
Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Chop 1/4 cup fresh chives. By the way, the knife pictured below is one of the best knives I've ever used because it cuts fresh herbs without bruising them and cutting onions is a breeze. This is a Nonstick Santoku Knife Colori by Kuhn Rikon and it even came with a knife sharpener! I bought it about a month ago at Sur la Table and I love it.
Below I peeled a 2-inch piece of ginger. It doesn't have to be perfectly peeled since the next step is to grate it.
So I'm going to plug another tool that I absolutely cannot live without. I initially bought this handheld grater and thought that it would be fine to use for zesting lemons...boy was I wrong! It was so hard to zest a lemon and it kept on grabbing the white part of the rind. Finally, I decided to find a new one. I ended up at Sur la Table and bought this Microplane Soft Handle Zester Grater...it makes life so much easier!
See how finely the ginger was grated...it's the consistency of a paste which is perfect for this dish as it will act as a crust for the cod.
Tear two pieces of foil, or however many pieces of fish you have, big enough to enclose the fish in and so that that the sides do not touch the fish. I'll tell you the importance in the next step. Smear the grated ginger on the fish, sprinkle chives, add fresh ground pepper and about 1 1/2 tablespoons Ponzu each.
The yellow of the ginger and green chives look so beautiful on the cod filet.
My dad taught me this method of steaming fish in the oven. The idea is a to build a "tent" for it to cook in and when it's in the oven the steam from the fish will circumvent in it's tent and cook the fish evenly.
The first step is to fold the longer sides up...
...pinch and fold over...
...continue until the top is finished. Be sure that the foil on the sides are not touching the fish...
...now pinch and fold the sides.
The finished product! Be sure that there are no holes for steam to escape and pop the fish in the oven for 18 minutes.
While the fish is baking/steaming fill a medium skillet with 1 1/2 cups of water and bring to a boil.
Add 2-3 cups of baby spinach...remember they will cook down so add as much spinach as you'd like.
Before...
After...Blanch for 2-3 minutes. Overcooking vegetables is not only unappetizing but you also lose a lot of nutrients by overcooking them.
Ok, let's started on the spinach marinade. Add 2 tablespoons low-sodium soy sauce to a medium bowl...
Add 1 teaspoon sesame oil...
1 tablespoon rice wine vinegar (the soy sauce and vinegar ratio should be 2:1)...
Add fresh ground pepper to taste and add spinach...
Add 2 teaspoons Tabasco or to taste...
Add a pinch of crushed red pepper and let marinate until the fish is finished cooking.
18 minutes is up and here they are!
Make a bed of spinach and add fish.
Drizzle the spinach marinade around the spinach and serve.
This dish, actually almost any dish, goes well with Italian Soda...some of my favorite flavors are Blood Orange, Tangerine, Lemon, Green Apple, Pomegranate and Grapefruit.
