Rosie Is Back At The Range Again.

 

 One of the first meals I made 

upon arriving home was, naturally, seafood -

specifically, a pistachio encrusted mahi mahi. 

Both Mr. Hawthorne and I missed our East Coast Seafood.

In fact, my column for the Outer Banks Voice

this month was about that very fact.
I find East Coast seafood far superior
to West Coast seafood.

In preparation for that column,

I made this particular dish

which is always a winner.

I served the mahi mahi with a compound butter

of cilantro, lime, and red pepper flakes on top,

sittin' pretty on a nest of oshitashi on the bottom,

with a pineapple rum salsa on the side.

Pineapple Salsa 

small can of pineapple

soy sauce

rice vinegar

honey

orange juice and zest

lime juice and zest

mint

rum

s & p

Mix together in whatever proportions suit you.

Be creative.

I used tablespoon-fulls.

Honey.

Soy.

Rice vinegar.

Rum.

Mint.

Mix all together.

Cover and refrigerate.

Next, a compound butter:

Add some chopped cilantro to softened butter.

Add in some cayenne pepper flakes.

Mix well.

And don't forget the raw, green coriander seeds

on your going-to-seed cilantro plants.

Excellent source of pop and flavor.

For the oshitashi ...

I toasted some sesame seeds

in a little peanut oil

and some sesame oil.

Go easy on sesame oil

until you know how much of a punch it packs.

Stir and lightly toast the seeds.

Add in the spinach and let wilt.

A little soy sauce and ...

... lemon juice are welcome additions.

I love dark green foods.

This spinach dish, 

which I first had at Koi Restaurant in Nashville,

has become a favorite of ours.

On to the mahi mahi,

or dolphin fish,

Coryphaena hippurus.

Freshly ground salt and pepper.

Dip filets in beaten egg whites.

Pistachios.

Ground pistachios.

Evenly coat the filets with the ground pistachios,

pressing the nuts into the fish.

Lightly saute the fish in a 

mixture of oil (I used peanut.) and butter.

The butter is for flavor.

The oil is to raise the smoke point of the butter.

Remove filets.

Deglaze the pan with a little white wine.

Then return filets to pan and

place in a 450 degree oven for about 7 - 10 minutes -

until the fish is firm and opaque in center.

The saltiness of the pistachios is a nice complement 

to the fish and I love me some earthy green spinach.

The toasted sesame seeds are a nice touch.

See those little green balls on top in the butter?

That's coriander, the seed of the cilantro plant.

I pick them while still green to eat.

They give a surprising cilantric and citric punch

to whatever they're on.

Grow some cilantro

because you won't get these little babies

anywhere else.

They're culinary gems, I tell ya.