Wednesday, December 8, 2010

Turbot in Lemongrass Cream

Great food happens when friends cook together, and when those friends have interesting backgrounds with influences from multiple cultures, especially great food happens. Such is the case with Claudia Shaw-d’Auriol and Domenica Yang. Both are from Hong Kong and have traveled and lived in cities in the west. In their new book, Delicious, which I received to review, the two present some of their favorite dishes for first courses, mains, and desserts. The chapters are clearly organized by firsts, seconds, and thirds, and the cuisine spans the globe from east to west. That being said, this is not complicated or fussy, fusion food. In fact, this is dinner party food that will both please and impress without causing the cook undue stress. Let me give you some examples of possible menus you could build from the book: start with herbed pancakes with mascarpone and smoked salmon, followed by stuffed quail with wild rice, with a dessert of fried apples with toffee sauce, or start with mini shrimp toast, followed by caramelized pork belly, with a dessert of fruit tempura with passionfruit ice cream. As I was choosing the first item to try from the book, the Chinese turnip cakes caught my eye as did the duck breast with soba, and taglierini with caramelized scallops and rosemary beurre blanc, but in the end, I decided on the fish in lemongrass cream.

In the book, this dish is called sea bass in lemongrass cream, but I found fresh and lovely-looking turbot at the fish counter at Whole Foods and went with that. Turbot is a white-fleshed fish with a high oil content ensuring great flavor and big flakes when cooked. To begin the dish, lemongrass was steeped in fish stock. I was thrilled to use some lemongrass from my garden before the cold weather wipes it out for the season. The fish stock with lemongrass was combined with a cup of sake and simmered until reduced by half. Then, cream was added and allowed to simmer to warm through. Before serving, the lemongrass was strained from the sauce. The fish was simply seasoned with salt and pepper, seared on top of the stove for a few minutes per side, and then finished in a hot oven for an additional four minutes or so. To serve, I placed the fish fillets on top of some sauteed spinach, poured the sauce over top, and garnished with chopped red chiles and parsley.

I’ll come clean and admit that I really don’t know one sake from another and should take the time to gain a better appreciation of it, but I did really enjoy its flavor in the cream sauce. The simmering mellowed the sake’s alcoholic edge, and the lemongrass added citrusy, bright flavor. Of course, cream never hurts a sauce, and the mixture was as nice with the fish as it was with the spinach. I love it when I can pull together an interesting and delicious meal so easily, and this book will be a great source for more of that.



31 comments:

  1. Lemongrass cream sounds wonderful to go with seafood. I would probably go for the cod.

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  2. That is a wonderful combination. What a refined dish.

    Cheers,

    Rosa

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  3. I adore your pick! I love turbot and with this spinach and lemongrass flavor to pair it with, wonderful! I was so excited when I discovered that we have some lemongrass bushes (nice & thick) growing in our garden in Lebanon. My parents housekeeper used to make tea with it.

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  4. The lemongrass adds so much life to the cream. I bought some lemongrass today - now I can infuse them in my parchment-baked fish :)

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  5. The lemongrass adds so much life to the cream. I bought some lemongrass today. Now I can infuse them in my parchment-baked fish.

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  6. The lemongrass sounds so wonderful. I am intrigued that you are growing them at home! I will have to look into that. Also I have never had Turbot before. This is a beautiful dish.

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  7. I love lemongrass, and of course fish... I'm sure they go great together. I love how you served spinach beneath the fish.

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  8. I love the taste of lemon and I like sea food. ..this is perfect!! Really yummy! Nom nom nom!

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  9. your fish looks beautifull seared and very fresh. love this type of healthy and delicious meal :)

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  10. I love the beautiful fresh flavours of lemongrass, this looks wonderful.

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  11. Turbot is such a lovely fish, you've prepared this so beautifully.
    *kisses* HH

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  12. This looks amazing. Something i would love to have!.. Thank you for sharing such a delicious recipe. All the best. Luna

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  13. That's a beautiful looking piece of fish and sounds like a wonderful preparation. I love the flavor of lemon grass- it's so distinct. I'll have to check out WF's fish counter again- haven't been by in a while. Eric and I went into Quality for the first time recently looking for fish for Thanksgiving but were so disapointed with the icky looking fish that we left without ordering anything.

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  14. A great combo. The dish looks scrumptious!

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  15. That turbot looks so delicate! The lemongrass flavor is fantastic to go with this fish, excellent!

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  16. Turbot is my absolute favorite fish, and this preparation sounds fantastic! Oh, the things I could do with lemongrass cream....- S

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  17. This looks amazing! I love the thought of lemongrass cream, I can already taste it. And it's ok that you don't know sake that well - I don't either. the only thing I know about it is that there is filtered and unfiltered (the creamy one). I DO know how to drink it though!

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  18. This turbot fish looks delicate & wonderful! I will keep an eye out for the book too. Sounds like a great holiday gift :)

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  19. Lemon grass and sake in cream? I could happily drink that, let alone put it on some lovely fish. LOL

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  20. The turbot looks beautiful and the sauce sounds elegant and flavorful - perfect for entertaining!!
    Have bookmarked this recipe - will have to try!!

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  21. Lemongrass cream, eh? Now THAT isn't something that you see very often. But it sounds delicious!

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  22. Wow, this looks and sounds so wonderful and delicious. I love lemongrass. And it looks beautiful on the bed of spinach.

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  23. Perfectly lovely presentation, Lisa! Fun to use your own lemongrass too!
    My daughter seems to know a lot about sake, so I defer to her!

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  24. Lisa, a gorgerous dish with a nice looking fillet. Fish and seafood adore lemon flavours.

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  25. class. y. i've never even tasted lemongrass, nor would i recognize it if i saw it at the store. geez, lisa, you're making me feel like a neanderthal. :)

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  26. Looks absolutely delicious and yummy!
    Congrats on the top 9! :)

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  27. Wow, this sounds and looks absolutely delicious!!!

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  28. The flavors sound like they just jump off or onto your tongue. Love lemongrass and imagine it pairs brilliantly with the turbot.

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  29. I love the lemongrass flavour! Great combo.

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  30. This is a great fusion dish, your turbot looks so thick and inviting.

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