I'm trying to incorporate postings on spotlight ingredients that are a must-have in my kitchen that not only taste great, but also are pretty darn healthy. Most of these items are asian-inspired ingredients that I've grown up eating; however, you'll find other postings on ingredients that are commonly used for vegetarian oriented meals (like my quinoa posting).
This week, Food52 featured a column on lemongrass that really got me thinking about how great lemongrass goes with everything. Lemongrass regularly revolves around my weekly dinner menu (either infusing a hot and sour soup broth, sauteed with tofu or fish and served with rice, or sauteed with tofu and caramelized onions served over rice noodles and greens). Salty, sour, or savory, lemongrass can go with just about anything.
Me personally, I love a good stirfry/sautee tofu with thinly sliced lemongrass and garlic. It's got this great heat to it and has such a flavorful aroma, it's hard to beat. Alternatively, lemongrass goes great with fish and meats. Tonight's dinner menu featured a simple salad, rice and lemongrass marinated striped bass. So delicious.
My family loves to go fishing. My parents are avid fishermen and often spend their free time off work sitting out on the water, casting the line and waiting for a bite - sometimes, when night fishing is an option, my parents will stay out and just sleep under the stars. When I was younger, I would go out with my sisters out on the boat around 6AM and we'd freeze our butts off on the boat waiting for the sun to come out. Then, eventually when the sun would rise, my sisters and I would complain about the blistering sun in the afternoon and just we'd just snack on chips and ramen while my parents patiently waited for fish to come. Of the different types of catches, striped white bass was probably one of those fish that was just a pain to catch - they'd make you wait forever and tug on the line ever so slowly. If you decided to drift off, your line would be shot. While hard to catch, bass ranks in my book as one of the best white fish varieties to eat. Bass isn't as rich tasting as salmon, but has great flakiness when you boil or poach it, and get hearty texture if you bake or fry it.
My family loves to go fishing. My parents are avid fishermen and often spend their free time off work sitting out on the water, casting the line and waiting for a bite - sometimes, when night fishing is an option, my parents will stay out and just sleep under the stars. When I was younger, I would go out with my sisters out on the boat around 6AM and we'd freeze our butts off on the boat waiting for the sun to come out. Then, eventually when the sun would rise, my sisters and I would complain about the blistering sun in the afternoon and just we'd just snack on chips and ramen while my parents patiently waited for fish to come. Of the different types of catches, striped white bass was probably one of those fish that was just a pain to catch - they'd make you wait forever and tug on the line ever so slowly. If you decided to drift off, your line would be shot. While hard to catch, bass ranks in my book as one of the best white fish varieties to eat. Bass isn't as rich tasting as salmon, but has great flakiness when you boil or poach it, and get hearty texture if you bake or fry it.
One of the best ways to prepare bass in my opinion, is to serve it salted. Simply soak the fish in salted water for an hour (just to get the salt to penetrate). It's a really simple preparation, but you can lightly fry the fish and serve it over rice or as an accompaniment with soup (wintermelon soup tastes great with salted fish on the side).
You can elevate salted fish even more by doing a spice rub mixture of lemongrass. Simply take lemongrass and slice or process it into tiny pieces (you can either do this laboriously with a knife, or use a food processor, your choice - I like to use a knife only because I hate cleaning the processor!). Then finely chop garlic and mix in garlic to lemongrass in a 1:1 ratio. To create a little more zest and heat, add in a few tablespoons of turmeric (if you have a cup of rub total, I'd add in 3 tbsps of turmeric. Random, the turmeric spice is also known to act as an antimicrobial, so this rub is helping to flavor your fish AND sanitize it further! If you're into spice, I'd mince thai chilis (2-3 or however hot you want it) into the mixture, or even throw in chili flakes. Mix this rub together to create a semi-homogeneous mixture of spice and slather the rub on top of the fish.
Mix the rub thoroughly on the fish, making sure to cut into the nooks and crannies of the fish. You can choose to dehydrate the fish (like a jerky) or let the marinate stay for a bit before baking the fish or lightly frying it.
If you choose to bake the fish, assuming you're dealing with a fillet size, simply bake in the oven at 400 degrees F for 25 minutes. Then, let the fish cool and serve over rice or a bed of greens.
Have other lemongrass recipes that are favorites in your house? Let me know!
Happy eating everyone!
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