Rosie Makes Miso Glazed Mahi Mahi.

My son came home the other day with a mess o’ mahi mahi and I’m one happy Mama.  There are so many ways to prepare mahi - one can bake it, grill it, blacken it, sauté it, fry it, and I’ve done them all. 

 For example, you might like to try my

 

 puffy tacos with mahi bites and a kiwi salsa.

 

 

Or my blackened mahi mahi with pineapple.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Or fried bites of mahi.

 

 

 

 

Or you can use the en papillote method.  (Yes, I used grouper in the post but mahi would work just fine.)

 

 Or you can encrust the fillets in pistachios and sauté them.

 

 Or you can simply bake mahi mahi.

 

 

 

 

 

 Today, I’m taking the fillets and marinating them in a miso paste-based sauce, then reducing the marinade and using it as a flavor-enhancing glaze for the sautéed fillets.  Add a few sides, say some wild rice and a stir-fried vegetable mix, and you’ve got quite a palatable meal.

 In case you’re not familiar with the Japanese staple miso paste, it’s a thick, savory paste made from fermented soy beans.  The soybeans are inoculated with a type of mold, called koji  (which is also used to make sake) and blended with other grains, then it’s allowed to ferment.  The longer the fermentation, the darker the paste and the more complex the flavor.  Miso gives you a boost of sapidity, namely that fifth basic taste component, along with sweet, sour, salty, and bitter, called umami.  Umami is salty, earthy, rich, intense, multi-dimensional, and kinda funky.  Basically, it’s what makes your mouth water.

 Now, on to some mouth-watering mahi mahi.

First, I'm making the miso-based marinade.

This is what miso looks like.

I keep it in the freezer and simply scoop out what I need.  (It doesn't freeze solid.)

Here are my ingredients for the marinade:

(Clockwise from top left.)

1 TB soy sauce 

2 TB sake (You could substitute sherry or white wine if you don’t have sake on hand.) 

 1 TB mirin 

1 tsp red pepper flakes  (That's the gochugaru in the picture.)

 2 TB miso paste

1 TB brown sugar 

2 large garlic cloves, minced or pressed 

3 1-inch cubes of ginger, juiced and minced or pressed 

Zest and juice of one lime and one lemon (Oooh... Left out the lemon in the picture.  My bad!)

 

Rosie Note:  What?  You don't have mahi mahi?  Try the marinade with pork or chicken.  Either one would work well.

Combine all marinade ingredients.

Lovely mahi mahi fillets.

Now, remove that bloodline.

In case you don't know, the bloodline is that darker strip of meat that goes down the side of the fillet.  It's often oily and fishy tasting and, as the fish ages, the flavor gets stronger.  But then this fish was swimming this morning and I'm not giving it a chance to age.

Place the fillets in a ziplock bag and add the marinade.

Refrigerate for a couple of hours.

Now, I'm fixing my side dish.

It's a bok choy stir fry.

I have:

chopped bok choy

chopped onion

sliced mushrooms

sliced garlic

sesame oil

sesame seeds

First I added just a slight film of oil in a pan over medium high heat and added in the mushrooms.

Let 'em cook for about a minute, turning and pushing around until nicely browned.

Next, I added in a little sesame oil and...

... added in the bottom stalks of the bok choy.

Cook it about 2 minutes, stirring.

Add in the onions and garlic.

Add in the more tender upper leaves of the bok choy.

Cook another minute.

Add in the sesame seeds.

And you're done!

I had wild rice ready to go.  Nice and nutty.

Now, I'm ready to cook the fish fillets.

Heat a film of oil in the pan and throw in about a tablespoon or so of butter.

Over medium high heat. 

 Add in the fillets after letting the excess marinade drip off back into the bag.

Cook about 2 minutes, then turn over and cook another minute.

Place fillets on a warm serving platter.

Pour the marinade into the pan.

Cook, stirring, until bubbly.

Let reduce a bit.

And now you have a nice glaze.

Pour glaze over fillets and add some sliced green onions.

Enjoy!

Rosie Makes Puffy Tacos.

 I've been in the mood for fish tacos for a while.

I've been thinking about them.

Wondering how I wanted to fix them.

What kind of fish?

How to cook the fish?

And what about the taco?

I didn't want any regular taco.

Rosie Note:  If you want to take a regular taco

to the next level, here's what you do:

Brush the tortilla with melted butter

and season with cumin, cayenne, oregano, cilantro -

you know, the regular stuff.

Then - and this is the beauty -

hang the taco over two rungs in the oven.

Bake on low until golden-brown and then you have a taco 

with a flat bottom that sits straight up on your plate.

 Well, back to what I wanted.

I wanted a special taco.

And then the Puffy Taco ran into my brain,

jumping up and down, 

and wildly waving its arm back and forth,

saying, "Pick me!  Pick me!"

So I did.

 I was in a hurry to get this on the table

since I was feeding other gaping mouths,

so, unfortunately, you won't be getting the step-by-steps

on the pics.

I'll do it for you another time when I have time.

But I'll do my best to explain the process

of producing the puffy taco.

 Here are my little puffy tacos.

Not a good pic,

but they look like little flying saucers.

And there's about 3-4 inches of puff in the middle.

They're fried tortillas and there's a trick to making them puffy.

That trick is hot peanut oil - 400°.

If you haven't bought a laser thermometer yet,

I urge you to do so.

Besides my hands, it's one of my most used kitchen gadgets.

I use an iron skillet, pour in peanut oil (It has a high smoke point.),

and bring oil to 400°.

Carefully(!) slide a tortilla into the hot oil and

ladle the hot oil over the top of the tortilla.

Now comes the scary point.

It starts to blow up like a balloon

and I'm always scared it's going to burst

and cause me severe pain.

Using tongs at arms length and protective head gear,

carefully turn puffed-up taco over and fry on other side.

After the domed middle is golden brown,

using tongs, or asbestos fingers,

lift the taco to rotate and brown the sides.

Drain on paper towels.

 I filled my puffy tacos with seared mahi mahi.

Seasoned the filets with a little Creole/Cajun seasonings I happened to have,

then seared in peanut oil and unsalted butter until done and flaky

Times depend on thickness of filet.

Mine were about an inch thick.

Over medium high heat, I probably seared the first side 3 minutes,

turned over for 2 minutes, then I seared the sides.

You want flaky.

 I tucked in a little jasmine rice,

diced squash, zucchini, onion with a little cumin touch,

homemade salsa, shredded iceberg lettuce,

and my special sauce - mayo, sriracha, sweet chili sauce 

in the proper proportions:

1/4 cup mayonnaise
1 TB sriracha
2 tsp sweet chili sauce
Adjust if you like.

Hawthorne Lunch.

 Today's lunch -

fried mahi mahi

sauteed spinach.

Marinate mahi mahi filets in buttermilk for 30 - 45 minutes.

Prepare a mixture of

2 parts flour: 1 part cornstarch

Plus seasonings - freshly ground salt and pepper,

paprika, Old Bay.

Pick filets out of buttermilk,

let drip,

shake it up with flour and cornstarch mixture.

This was fried in peanut oil

The particular oil is not key.

Except for olive oil.

Do NOT fry in olive oil.

Smoke point is too low in olive oil.

Temperature is key.

You want the temperature of the oil to be 350 degrees.

I made a quick saute of spinach leaves.

Heat a tablespoon of butter and a teaspoon of oil

in a hot pan.

Add in rinsed spinach leaves,

freshly ground salt and pepper,

1/2 teaspoon of sesame oil,

and about a tablespoon of sesame seeds.

Toss and wilt the spinach for a few minutes.

 Oh, yeah.

Squeeze a little lemon juice over both the spinach and mahi mahi.

Dee-Vine.