Aah, today, Sunday February 24, 2013 begins my week of gourmet eats from the stuff I have at home. Never mind, at the end of this post you will be given the recipes. I have decided that I will cut down on red meat (a consequence of dietary requirements and not Lent) so my diet will see mainly fish and vegetables. That doesn't mean that I will totally remove red meat from my diet, nope - I am not mad, and Curry Goat and Beef so nice, no way!
I grew up in central St. Ann, Brown's Town and as a result, I am not particularly good with telling what fish is what, ask me about chicken, beef, and chevon (goat meat) I can tell you all you need to know. I grew up on a farm where we had tonnes of those in the time Jamaica had a very vibrant Agriculture sector that saw a lot of Beef, Goat and Chicken Production - that was back then. Anyway, while getting my wife's car washed I came across a fisherman with about 5 kilograms of fish, one type he called some Snapper or the other which is also know in the Falmouth are as "All Purpose" meaning they can be steamed, poached, fried, roasted or baked and the other type was the infamous Lionfish (Pterois), that very destructive and invasive fish from the Indo-Pacific region where strangely they are not considered food. I purchased 4 Kg of the Lionfish and the balance in these so called "All-Purpose. So this is what I am going to do with it, I am going to steam the two biggest ones and serve them with some steamed vegetables. Since everybody is into the whole Low-fat craze. So, below is the recipe and the directions.
Fish Preparation (3 Hours in advance)
2 Large Lionfish (about 1 1/2 lbs each)
1 Medium Garlic
1 Medium Onion
2 Tbsp Pimento (Allspice)
1/2 Hot Pepper
1 Small Sweet Pepper (Bell Pepper)
1 Tsp Black Pepper
1 1/2 Tsp Salt
2 Tbsp Butter (I love the flavour of Anchor Butter)
Thyme
1 Stalk of Escallion
Vegetable Preparation
1/2 lbs Cabbage
1/2 lbs Broccoli
1/2 lbs Cauliflower
2 large Carrots
2 Medium-sized Irish Potatoes
1 large sweet pepper
2 cloves of garlic
1 Scotch Bonnet pepper (for flavour)
2 Tbsp Coconut milk powder
1/2 Tsp salt
1 Tsp Black Pepper
Thyme
Method
Clean the and clove the garlic, clean the onion, peppers and thyme and chop everything into very small dices (I use a Black and Decker Mill/Chopper). Add the crushed pimentos and black pepper to the mixture. Now, put the two fishes in a covered container in which they can fit then coat every inch of the gutted and cleaned Lionfish with the paste. Make sure that the inside and the head is also coated very liberally with the seasoning. Leave the fish covered in the refrigerator for at least 2 hours (overnight would be more suitable) for the seasoning to soak in.
Once that is being done, chop the vegetables into medium-sized pieces. Do not include the garlic or the peppers or the coconut milk (leave those for later). Julienne the carrots for garnish.
Now, once we have our vegetables all chopped up we are going to prepare the fish. Get yourself a nice Frying-pan that can hold these two rather large fishes. Put 1 Tbsp of butter in the pan on low flame and allow that to melt, next we put both fishes into the pan and cover it to allow it to steam, care must be taken to ensure that the water doesn't dry out. Leave to simmer for 5 minutes, once that time has passed, put 2Tbsp of water in the covered dish that the fishes were in stir it around to get all the seasoning in the water to put in the pot to steam in the fish. Leave covered for 15 to 30 minutes checking periodically to ensure that the water hasn't dried out.
While the fish is being cooked, put all the chopped vegetables and the potatoes in another pot with the butter and 1 tbsp of butter and 2 tbsp of water to allow them to steam (not cook) for about 7 minutes. After they have cooked but are
still firm sprinkle the coconut milk powder over the vegetables then add the crushed garlic and the scotch bonnet pepper, allow that to steam for another 2 minutes. Serve each fish with the vegetable and garnish nicely with the carrots.
And there you have it...
