Disappointing Day Three

She Said:

Well, we made two recipes for dinner last night and didn't particularly care for either of them. I think it may have been the cilantro (not really a fan) but I don't know. I'll put the recipes here in case anyone would ever want to try them. When you read the recipes, you'll think that they should be fabulous but it just didn't work out that way.

These are both from Serving Up the Harvest by Andrea Chesman and are part of our own Julie/Julia Project.

Day Three

Oven-Steamed Chinese-Style Fish With Scallions

6-8 scallions, julienned
1 piece fresh ginger, 2 inches long, julienned
2 garlic cloves, minced
1/4 cup soy sauce
2 tablespoons rice wine (I misread this before I went shopping and thought it said rice wine vinegar, so we used mirin since we didn't have rice wine)
2 teaspoons dark sesame oil
1 teaspoon sugar
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground pepper
1 1/2-2 pounds firm white fish fillets, such as cod, halibut, tilapia (we used tilapia)
2 tablespoons chopped fresh cilantro

1. Preheat oven to 450℉.

2. Scatter half the scallions, ginger, and garlic in a shallow roasting pan.

3. Stir together the soy sauce, rice wine, sesame oil, sugar, and black pepper in a small bowl. Pour half into the roasting pan.

4. Arrange the fish fillets in the pan. Cover with the remaining scallions, ginger, and garlic. Pour the remaining steaming liquid over the top. Seal the pan with aluminum foil.

5. Bake for about 20 minutes, or until the fish flakes readily with a fork.

6. Scatter the cilantro on top and serve hot.

Sesame Broccoli Noodle Salad

Salad
1 pound fresh Chinese noodles or 3/4 pound angel-hair pasta (we used dried Chinese noodles)
1 tablespoon dark sesame oil
1 pound broccoli (1 large head), stem peeled and diced and florets broken into small pieces (about 6 cups)
1 cup julienned baby carrots or 1 red bell pepper, julienned (we chose the pepper)
2 tablespoons sesame seeds, toasted

Sweet Soy Dressing
2 tablespoons rice vinegar
2 tablespoons hoisin sauce
2 tablespoons soy sauce
1 tablespoon sherry or Chinese rice wine (we used sherry)
1 tablespoon chopped fresh cilantro (optional)
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 teaspoon minced fresh ginger
2 tablespoons dark sesame oil

1. To make the salad, cook the noodles in a large pot of boiling salted water until just done. Drain and rinse well to cool. Transfer the noodles to a large salad bowl and toss with the sesame oil.

2. Steam the broccoli over boiling water until tender, about 4 minutes. Drain, plunge into cold water to stop the cooking, and drain again.

3. Add the broccoli and carrots (or pepper) to the noodles and toss again.

4. To make the dressing, combine the vinegar, hoisin sauce, soy sauce, sherry, cilantro, if using, garlic, and ginger in a small bowl. Whisk in the sesame oil until well combined.

5. Pour the dressing over the noodles and vegetables and toss. Sprinkle the sesame seeds over the salad and serve.

The fish cooked quite nicely by using this method and I don't think it's a bad technique to have in your back pocket. But the flavors just didn't mesh well. I'm not quite ready to give up on the noodles yet. They were cold - VERY cold. I think I would have liked them better if they were warm. And, since we have about a ton left over, I'm going to try heating them up for lunch and see how that goes.

But these are two recipes we probably won't be making again, sadly.

Day 3/365:Recipes 3 and 4/175