Fish – Page 2 – Writing With My Mouth Full

Spaghetti with Anchovies and Arugula

Do you ever crave salty food? Last weekend, when I opted to stay in and take cat naps in between eating, all I wanted was salty food. Throughout the Two Days of Nothing, I caught up with Words with Friends games I’ve neglected, organized my music files on Spotify (well, I tried to) and endlessly snacked on leftovers and cooked small easy dishes to fulfill my meal requirements.

This pasta dish is one of those easy ones. I used spaghetti because it’s all I had in my pantry, but I think bucatini works better for its thickness. I sure hope you keep jars of anchovy fillets in your kitchen–they’re very useful for salad dressings, sandwiches and pasta dishes like this one. You can go all fancy and get the Italian brands that cost more than $10 for a small jar, or find a small can of it for less than $3 at your local grocery store. I prefer the anchovy fillets in olive oil, but the ones in water will do if you just drain them before adding to the dish.

Ingredients:
a fist of spaghetti or bucatini
salt
oil
4 cloves of garlic, minced
a small jar of anchovy fillets in olive oil
red pepper flakes
a handful of arugula
parsley

1. Bring a large pot of water to a boil with some salt.
2. While waiting for the pasta to cook al dente, heat up some oil in a deep skillet on the next burner. Sauté the garlic in medium heat and then add the anchovies. Sprinkle in some red pepper flakes. When the garlic sizzles and the anchovies break up, turn the heat down to low.
3. The pasta should be al dente at this point. Transfer the pasta to the skillet using tongs. Toss to combine the anchovy with the pasta. Drizzle in some of the pasta water to avoid drying it up. Add the arugula and the parsley and turn off the heat. Cook the greens in the remaining heat. Add salt if necessary.

Summer Ceviche with Watermelon, Cucumber, Tomatoes

The last time I was in the Philippines was in 2008 for my brother’s wedding. I had been traveling to learn how to surf in the southern part of the country before the festivities and then had to travel up north to fulfill familial obligations right after. On our way to my father’s hometown of Ilocos Sur, my parents and I stopped at the Santa Cruz wet market to buy ingredients for that night’s dinner and provisions for the next few days. All the produce were incredibly fresh and I realized how much I missed the Filipino fruits and vegetables I don’t get to buy in New York City. I watched my dad as he negotiated and haggled with the sellers in his native dialect while I took photographs of the market’s different colors. I had to catch my breath when I saw how fresh the yellowtail fish were. Each fish cost roughly US$3 and my father had to hold me back from squealing in excitement so as not to get a higher price quote from the market ladies. They always say that you have to check for clear eyes when you buy fish to see how fresh they are. Can these be any more fresh?

When we arrived at my father’s family’s house, I had to follow the fresh fish to the kitchen to make sure that no one tries to cook them. Filipinos love their deep-fried anything, and not even fish with super clear eyes will stop them from cooking them. One of my cousins’ wife was in charge of the kitchen and I made her swear not to cook the fish and to fillet all of them right away to make kilawin, or Filipino ceviche.

My dad’s famous ceviche recipe requires a very pungent vinegar locally made in his hometown. I wanted to recreate it here in New York even without that very important ingredient. There is a white coconut vinegar available in Chinatown, but for my version, I used fresh lime juice and cured the fish for 15 minutes while I prepped the other ingredients.

I was trying to avoid turning on the stove or the oven during the heatwave and this dish came to mind after I harvested the second batch of greens from my garden. You can skip the greens here, but crunchy and chilled Persian cucumbers are a must. Sweet watermelons are aplenty in Harlem right now–I bought mine from the back of a truck parked on 147th Street.

It goes without saying that you absolutely need fresh fish here, so make sure you buy sushi-grade quality from a reputable fish monger. I used striped bass because that’s what looked the most fresh, but a thicker cut of halibut for double the price would have been more heavenly.

Ingredients:
fillet from 1 striped bass, patted dry with paper towels, cut in cubes
juice from 2 limes
1 small jalapeño pepper, thinly sliced
1 small red onion, thinly sliced
salt
pepper
watermelon, chopped into cubes
cherry tomatoes, halved
2 Persian cucumbers, chopped into cubes
a handful of salad greens
a handful of cilantro, finely chopped
oil

1. In a glass bowl, cure the fish fillet. Mix the fish cubes with the lime juice, jalapeño and onion with some salt and pepper. Cure for 15 minutes in the fridge. Stir every 5 minutes to make sure the fish is well-covered.
2. While curing, combine the watermelon, tomatoes, cucumbers, salad greens and cilantro in a salad bowl. Toss with oil and season with salt and pepper.
3. The fish is cured if they look white and “cooked”. Divide fish among shallow serving bowls and toss gently with the vegetables. Drizzle with some of the fish-lime juice dressing.

Fish-Lime Masala

What did people ever do before the freezer? It was time to clean the fridge over the weekend and I was surprised to see a package of frozen Swai fish fillets. I called my dad and he told me he brought them one time I invited them over for dinner in the hopes that I would cook them, but I already had a meal ready so he just stored them in my freezer. I thawed them and left the apartment to run errands. When I came home famished, I dried the fish with paper towels and marinated them until I could no longer stand my rumbling stomach. While the rice was cooking, I prepped the rest of the ingredients. Garlic paste will work best here, but you can just mince a whole head of garlic as substitute. (There’s no reason for less garlic, is there?) Make sure you fry all the spices in very hot oil for the best flavor. If it can be helped, don’t use dried curry leaves. The fresh ones fry so awesomely.

Ingredients:
2 fillets of Swai, or any white fish, patted dry with paper towel
2 tbsps turmeric
2 tbsps red chili powder
salt
oil
1 red onion, thinly sliced
8 cloves of garlic, minced
10 fresh curry leaves
1 lime, juice and zest

1. Marinate the fish for several minutes. Sprinkle turmeric, red chili powder and salt on both sides of the fillets. Set aside until ready to cook.
2. Heat oil in a large skillet. When oil starts to smoke, sauté the onions and cook until light brown. Add garlic and cook until golden. Add the curry leaves to crisp.
3. Move the spices to the side of the skillet and add a little bit more of oil until hot. Fry the fish for 4 minutes on one side. Feel free to move the spices on top of the fish if you need more room. Gently flip the fish using a spatula and fry the other side for another 4. Squeeze lemon juice and sprinkle with zest before serving.

Smoked Fish Salad with Golden Beets, Fennel and Mache

A week after visiting San Francisco and sitting at the bar of Bar Jules in the Hayes Valley, I was inspired to recreate a salad I had ordered that used smoked fish. After making it, I looked through my photos from that trip and realized that I put two salads in one.

This is a great salad to prep for because you can roast a lot of beets and just use three for this salad that could serve two and use the rest of them for another dish. The smallest chunk of smoked fish you can get will most likely be still too much, so you can use the leftover somewhere else as well. And the fennel? Who doesn’t like the crunch and freshness of fennel in all their salads? Don’t feel like you have to use mâche–lamb’s tongue at some stores–either; arugula or spinach will do just fine.

At Bar Jules for Sunday brunch, I ordered two things: a salad of arugula with fennel, Mandarin oranges and faro, plus smoked trout with golden beets. Both dishes obviously made an impression so when buying the ingredients for my version, it had slipped my mind that they were two separate salads.

No matter though because it became one of the best salads I’ve churned out of my kitchen. Ever.

Ingredients:
3 golden beets, roasted, peeled, chopped
a small block of smoked white fish
1/4 bulb of fennel, thinly sliced
a handful of mâche greens, some separated by hand
olive oil
pepper
juice from a fresh lemon
fennel fronds

1. Wrap golden beets in aluminum foil and roast in the oven for 45 minutes or until tender. When cool enough to handle, peel with your hands. Chop into small wedges.
2. In the meantime, gently separate the smoked fish meat from its bones using your hands. Set aside the smaller pieces from the larger ones.
3. In a large salad bowl, toss beets, fennel, mâche plus the smaller pieces of fish with olive oil and pepper to combine.
3. Squeeze some lemon juice all over the salad. Divide salad onto serving plates and top each with the larger pieces of the leftover smoked fish and fennel fronds. Drizzle with more olive oil for extra sheen.

Coconut-Fish Curry

I have been craving Indian flavors ever since I came back from Portugal. For our last night in Lisbon, we had dinner at a Goan restaurant and celebrated our stay there with our last bottle of Vinho de Verde. For the first time in a long time, I connected what I learned in school with my travels and remembered how Vasco da Gama traveled far through strange waters to look for those spices favored by the royal families of the Age of Discovery. He brought back to Portugal the exotic flavors from India and influenced trade–and Portuguese cuisine–forever. It wasn’t all smooth: he wanted all Muslims expelled from a Hindu land. Today in Goa, India, a city is named after him.

For this recipe, I tried both cod and albacore fish fillets and steaks. The albacore was more firm and withstood the simmering, but since cod fillets are easier to find and has a sweeter flesh, I’m using it here. (If you use albacore, or another firmer fish like monkfish, add 5 minutes to cook the fish through without overcooking.)

May I also mention that buying 1 stalk of lemongrass and two chiles from Whole Foods cost me a mere 16 cents? The scale couldn’t even register the chiles because they were paper-light, so the clerk just weighed all three items together. (The lemongrass goes for a ridiculous $9.99 per pound! It’s about $1 for five stalks in Chinatown.) It was my record: least expensive grocery tab ever!

Ingredients:
3 pieces of cod fillets
juice from 1 lime
salt
4 cloves of garlic
a small knob of ginger, peeled, thinly sliced
oil
small red onion, thinly sliced
1 lemongrass, chopped in 1-inch pieces, smashed with your knife handle
1 Thai chile
a dash of turmeric
half a can of coconut milk
parsley, finely chopped, optional

1. A few minutes before starting to cook, pat the fish dry with paper towel and transfer to a shallow bowl. Season with lime juice and salt and leave standing for 15 minutes. (You can do this the night before; just cover and store in the fridge.)
2. Using a mortar and pestle, grind garlic and ginger to a paste. Set aside.
3. In a large skillet, heat some oil and sautÃ© onions until soft. Add lemongrass and the garlic-ginger paste and sautÃ© until brown. Toss in chile. Season with turmeric and mix well. Add the coconut milk and the fish and simmer, covered, for 10 minutes, turning the fish halfway through. (Smash the chile here for extra spice.) Sprinkle with parsley before serving with warm rice.