chilean sea bass
with cilantro-ginger-soy sauce
chef noel mok, osaka grill
savoring san francisco

cilantro-ginger-soy sauce:
1 inch piece fresh ginger, peeled and cut into 4 or 5 slices
20 fresh cilantro sprigs
3/4 cup water
1/4 cup low sodium chicken broth
1/4 cup soy sauce
3 Tbspn sugar
*~~*~~*~~*
1 cup broccoli florets
4 6-oz chilean sea bass or escolar fillets (see note below)
salt and freshly ground pepper to taste
5 Tbspn canola oil
4 oz firm tofu, cut into 8 slices
1/4 cup finely diced yellow onion
1/4 cup finely diced carrot
1 Tbspn finely chopped green onion, including some green parts

1. to make sauce: in a medium saucepan, combine all ingredients and bring to a boil. reduce heat to medium and cook for 3 minutes, stirring occasionally. turn off heat and let sit for 10 minutes. strain sauce through a fine meshed sieve and set aside to keep warm.
2. in a pot of boiling water, blanch the broccoli florets for 1 minute. drain, set aside and keep warm.
3. season fish fillets with salt and pepper. in a large skillet over medium-high heat, heat 3 tablespoons of oil and cook fillets for 2 minutes on each side, or til light golden brown. transfer to a plate and keep warm in a very low oven.
4. in the same pan, heat remaining 2 tablespoons oil over medium heat and sear the tofu til golden brown on each side. push the tofu to one side of pan and add yellow onion, carrot and green onion to other side. saute veggies til crisp-tender, about 1 minute. season with salt and pepper to taste. remove pan from heat.
5. serve each fillet on a warmed plate, with tofu and broccoli along-side. spoon the sauteed veggies over fish. pour warm sauce over fish and serve at once.

okay, so i went to whole foods, cuz they have a very good, fresh seafood section, and asked if they had sea bass. wrong question to ask! the sea monger lady totally bit my head off, telling me whole foods doesn't carry sea bass because it's endangered and they don't condone the killing and selling of an endangered species. okaaaaay, point taken. so instead of the yummy yet endangered sea bass, i got halibut steaks, and it came out deeeelicious (but not as good as sea bass would be, i'm sure). i served the fish with rice, of course. also, i steamed my broccoli instead of blanching, just cuz i love my handy steamer. the sauce is very good, reminds me of the whole steamed fish you get at a chinese banquet. yummmmm.... oh, and no pictures, i didn't think to take one cuz by the time W got home from work and dinner was on the table, it was late and i was STARVING.

one more thing...if you want a great cookbook with more "fine dining" recipes from your favorite SF restaurants, check out savoring san francisco. i love this cookbook!!! it features really great recipes (not exactly your "30-minute-meal" variety) from great SF restaurants like aqua, plouf, shanghai 1930, slanted door, firefly, cha cha cha and citizen cake, to name just a few of the many many restaurants featured in this book. you know, i just realized SF is having dine about town right now. dammit...!! hmmm...i wonder if denver does something comparable...