Fish in Coconut Sauce
Jeff has been helping a friend's company in Birmingham. It's a really cool project that's got him jazzed. I love listening to him talk about it. Jeff has a brilliant business mind, which is one of the many things that attracted me to him. And while I used to love my time alone, a couple of years into marriage and I'm getting used to having him around. I miss him when he's gone. He had been in Birmingham most of the week and I wanted to make him a special dinner when he got home on Friday night. Shabbat is our jam - we love to make a great dinner, light the candles, grab a challah from Alon's and enjoy just being home.
Jeff had been wining and dining (should you find yourself in Birmingham, dear reader: Dreamland BBQ, Highlands Bar & Grill and Bottega) all week, so he asked me to make something light. My friend Kelly Stone on Martha's Vineyard turned me onto this recipe, and the more times I've made it the better I've honed my technique. It reminds me of being on vacation. Well of course a phone call distracted me when I was shopping at the grocery store, and I forgot to buy coconut milk. I realized it in the car on my way home and asked Jeff to pick it up for me on his way home. He walked through the door so happy to see me and proud of his purchase, which he held up as he walked in the door: organic coconut milk... beverage. It wasn't the canned milk that I needed, so I told him to go back to the store. He had just driven three hours and gone to the grocery store, soasking him to get back in the car during rush hour was pretty much a jerk move. Dinner went downhill from there.
Never one to be kept down, I rallied for a re-do the next night. Not this time, coconut milk! I met friends at the Buford Highway Farmers Market where they have coconut milk from every imaginable country and where the fish is significantly fresher (and cheaper) than Whole Foods. Dinner was perfection. We ate it in front of the TV while we binge watched our new show, "Red Oaks," set in the 1980s at a Jewish country club in New Jersey, Jeff's home state. Do not miss this show.
Not every meal is going to be perfect. In fact, I burned a pot of beans as I was writing this. "Who burns beans"? Jeff asked incredulously. "Your wife, jerk," she said. Happy cooking!
Fish in Coconut Sauce
2 Red Snapper filets
2 T coconut oil
1 chopped onion
2 T minced ginger
2 cloves minced garlic
2 limes, zest and juice
1 can organic coconut milk
2 C chopped red cabbage
2 C sliced carrots
1 bunch mint, parsley and basil roughly chopped
Salt/pepper
Heat coconut oil in a heavy bottom braising pan on medium high heat. Sweat the onions with salt until soft, about 10 minutes. Add the ginger, lime zest and lime juice and saute for 10 more minutes. Add the cabbage and carrots and saute for 10 more minutes. Pour in coconut milk. Season the fish with salt and pepper and place on top of the vegetables. Cover pan and cook until fish are done, about 10-20 minutes depending on thickness. Serve with jasmine rice