ROUPER WITH ASIAN VEGETABLES
Serves 4
MARINADE
У2 cup virgin olive oil 1 cup safflower or other salad oil Ч2 cup soy sauce
bay leaves
black peppercorns
small bunch fresh cilantro, roughly
chopped
large cloves garlic, cut in half
Juice ofl orange, 1 lemon, and 1 lime
GINGER-GARLIC VINAIGRETTE
soy)
¥2 cup dark-roasted sesame oil
¥2 cup chopped cilantro
¥2 cup chili oil
3 tablespoons chopped peeled ginger
3 tablespoons minced garlic
1¥j tablespoons sugar
1 cup red wine vinegar ¥2 cup soy sauce (preferably low-sodium
Freshly cracked black pepper
Four 7- to 8-ounce pieces of fresh filleted
grouper, cut on a severe bias
About 8 cups assorted fresh vegetables such as
cucumbers, purple cabbage, daikon, red and
yellow peppers, bok choy, bean sprouts, Napa
cabbage, enoki mushrooms, and fresh water
chestnuts (2 cups mixed vegetables per serving)
Lime wedges for garnish
1. Mix all of the marinade ingredients together in a stainless steel bowl at least 1 hour in advance to allow flavors to blend.
2. Combine all vinaigrette ingredients and keep at room temperature.
3. Cut the assorted vegetables in small slices or strips on the bias, as is common with oriental preparations. Keep cool in a bowl. Be sure you have chosen vegetables with a good variety of colors and textures.
4. Prepare a hot, well oiled grill.
5. Marinate grouper 2 to 4 minutes (no longer or the fish will taste overly salty from the soy sauce). Remove from marinade and grill until just done. Remove to a platter.
6. Put vegetables in a large, shghtly warm bowl and add just enough of the room-temperature vinaigrette to coat the vegetables lightly-you can reserve any leftover vinaigrette for another use. Mix well and then mound the vegetables over the fish. Garnish with lime
The ginger vinaigrette dressing on the vegetables might argue for a cold, bitter beer, but a semisweet wine such as a California Riesling would be a good choice.
and serve.
FISH AND Note: If you substitute another fish, such as snapper, I would advise you to braise the fish and then, while you are waiting for your sauce to reduce, peel off the cooked skin and discard it. It is not as interesting, texturally, as bass skin, but leaving it on during braising helps to keep the fish moist.
A moderately priced California Chardonnay or a young, crisp White Burgundy, like St. -Veran,
would be the best choices here.
FISH AND SEAFOOD ENTREES SEAFOOD ENTREES
IAN-COOKED GROUPER
Over Ancho Butter Sauce
with Avocado and Tomato Bearnaise
Most Americans, except perhaps in the far West and Southwest, have had very little exposure to the many interesting uses for chiles. Chiles come in various forms and are called different names by different people. Perhaps this shifting nomenclature has kept many people from trying them, hut a more probable cause is fear. "Just how hot are those devils," you shudder when faced with the presence of the gnarled, twisting finger of a fresh cayenne pepper.
With the influence of Mexican and Spanish cooking cutting deeply into the mainstream of American dining, this attitude is changing quickly. Beyond that, many Asian and other oriental cultures also employ the use of chiles, and Americans have fallen in love with foods from that part of the world.
There are many who argue that the presence of chiles is too violent and upsets the delicate subtleties of European-styled cuisine. While it is true that in the past many classically trained chefs went only as far as dried cayenne pepper added sparingly to some sauces, many chefs are now eagerly incorporating chiles, both fresh and dried, into their repertoire.