Category: Fish

This is first my contribution to Lasang Pinoy 20: Binalot, All-Wrapped Up! Binalot comes from balot, which means “to wrap”, while isda is Tagalog for “fish”. Simmering in tomatoes is referred to as pinangat, although in my family, it also meant sour broth. It was too hot for soup, so I decided to make this even more simple by wrapping the fish in parchment paper. I wanted something easy and quick, preferably using ingredients that didn’t require me going to the supermarket. I found everything I needed in the fridge and the herbs I wanted on my windowsill. Under half an hour, we were eating dinner. Shortly after, we were ready for bed.

In French, this is also known as poisson en papillote, or fish in paper.

Ingredients:
1 bluefish, scaled and cleaned
a handful of white mushrooms, roughly chopped
1 large tomato, roughly chopped
1 small red onion, finely chopped
2 sprigs of thyme
1 sprig of rosemary
1/4 stick of butter, half of it melted
salt, pepper
parchment paper

1. Preheat oven to 375º. Season the fish inside out with salt and pepper.
2. In a small pan, heat half of the butter. Sauté onions until translucent. Sauté tomatoes until mushy. Add mushrooms and cook until soft. Season with herbs and with salt and pepper. Turn off the heat and set aside.
3. Lay parchment paper large enough to cover the fish on your working table. Brush one side with melted butter. Spoon half of the sautéed tomato mixture onto the paper. Put the fish on top. Stuff remaining tomato mixture inside the fish and spoon the rest on top. Fold the parchment paper over and seal all sides. Put on a baking sheet and bake for about 12 minutes. Move to a large plate and unfold the sides of the paper in front of your guests.

Related post/s:
Where we got our bluefish
All about Lasang Pinoy
I hosted Lasang Pinoy before: Lamang-Loob, Odd Cuts and Guts

I was in the mood for fish after eating too many tacos, so I stopped by the Whole Foods in the Time Warner Center to buy one. It was getting late on a Sunday. I didn’t want to deal with the Fairway crowd and there was not enough time to go to Chinatown. I knew I had no choice but the expensive produce and the long lines in Whole Foods. Their stock was low that late in the day, but I managed to find a whole branzino. I like branzini–in plural form–because of their fleshy, flaky, white meat. They remind me of the Filipino bangus, or milkfish, without the perseverance requirement to pick on small fish bones. Branzino is essentially a Mediterranean sea bass, or to the French, loup de mer, and farm-raised. I also like that they come in smaller sizes than black sea bass or red snapper; perfect for one serving.

I walked over to the vegetable section and found some nice bundles of asparagus. I’ve been eating them grilled lately–watch out, smelly pee!–since they are so easy to cook. If I didn’t end up making a light sauce with them to go with the fish, I thought I’d use them as stuffing. Almost 15 minutes standing in the checkout line led me to go the easier route when I got home.

Ingredients:
1 branzino, butterflied, deboned
4 pieces of asparagus, cut in short pieces
1 shallot, sliced thinly
olive oil, salt, pepper

1. In a large wok, heat some olive oil. Sauté onions and asparagus until onions caramelize a bit and asparagus pieces are tender, about 10 minutes. Remove from wok and set aside.
2. Lay the butterflied branzino on a chopping board. Season the inside with salt and pepper. Scoop some of the asparagus-onion mixture and stuff the fish. Using kitchen twine, close the fish to keep the stuffing inside. You can either use a giant kitchen needle or just gently wrap the fish with the twine to hold the butterflied pieces close together.
3. Using the same wok, heat some more oil. Add the fish and cook one side until golden brown, about 8 minutes. Using a heat-resistant spatula, gently turn the fish over and cook the other side for another 5 minutes. Remove to a paper towel-lined plate.

Related post/s:
I also like frying farm-raised trouts
Why does your pee smell after eating asparagus?

It felt like spring, so imagine how perplexed I was when I saw that there were only a few tents set up in the farmers’ market. I suppose if the market was crowded, I would have missed the group of men gathered around a small table. Men? Shopping? I squeezed myself in just as the last smoked trout was bought, but saw that there were still some fresh fish inside the giant coolers. Dave Harris of Max Creek Hatchery told me that his fish were still swimming until 7pm the previous night. He introduced me to the rainbow trout which had some purple tints on its scales, and to the brook trout which had some yellow polka-dots. He told me he prefers the brook trout, but both were very pretty that I ended up buying them to cook and compare during dinner.

Ooh, pretty, was the Dr.’s reaction when I told him over the phone that I bought trout from the market. He loves to fish and he loves eating them even more, and trout was what he was pining for when we were driving past the river in Oregon. When he came over, he brought with him a bottle of a 2006 Sauvignon Blanc Semillon Australian wine. We drank while he got to work: he put a sliver of butter inside each of the fish with some garlic cloves. He lightly coated them with flour and sprinkled them with salt and pepper. He fried them in hot oil until they were both golden brown and crispy. With some of the leftover frying oil, he sautéed some mushrooms in a skillet and tossed them with arugula and rice wine vinegar dressing. I was surprised that the brook trout tasted like salmon. Its meat was orange and sweet. The rainbow trout was like any fried white fish–a little less exciting but would have been great with green mango salad.

Ingredients:
1 fresh brook trout, cleaned
1 fresh rainbow trout, cleaned
half a stick of butter, thinly sliced
1 cup of flour
6 garlic cloves, thinly sliced
salt, pepper, frying oil

1. Insert garlic and butter in trout’s cavity. Season the inside of the fish with salt and pepper. Combine flour, salt and pepper and coat trout.
2. In a skillet, heat oil and fry trout until golden brown on one side. Use tongs to gently turn and cook the other side until golden brown, too. Do not cover. Remove each each fish to a plate lined with paper towel when cooked.

Related post/s:
Union Square Greenmarket