Tasked to write a recipe for a dear friend (Shirley Bovshow), I wanted to make sure I was accurate in referencing her heritage. We spoke about the foods she grew up eating, and I incorporated those into a new take on classic baked beans.
If my family is going out for dinner, the odds are high that we're having Chinese food. With Linda at the table we're never stuck ordering American standbys (General Tsao's is just fried chicken, you know that, right?) and my favorite dish is the whole braised fish. To celebrate the new year I decided to serve a few of my friends whole striped bass. Best part? No one fought me for the cheeks.
INGREDIENTS
Sauce
3 tablespoons Sesame Oil
2 inches Ginger, sliced thinly
3 Garlic Cloves, sliced thinly
3 Scallions, minced
1/2 cup Preserved Black Beans
1/2 cup Shaoxing Rice Wine
2 cups Chicken or Veggie Stock
1 tsp Corn Starch
Fish
1 Striped Bass, ~2 pounds
2 inches Ginger, sliced thinly
3 Scallions, roughly chopped
Stems and Roots of one bunch Cilantro
BUSINESS
Begin with the sauce. In the base of a wok heat oil over medium-high heat. When hot, add ginger, garlic, and scallion. Stir fry for 5-7 minutes, until browned and fragrant.
Rinse black beans under hot water until the runoff is relatively clear. Add washed beans to hot wok. Stir fry for another 5 minutes.
Add rice wine to wok, stir to deglaze pan.
Add stock to wok and drop heat to simmer. Whisk in corn starch and cook for ~10 minutes, until slightly thickened.
Prepare the fish. Have your butcher remove the scales, gills, and guts, but leave the head, tail and spine intact. Stuff the raw fish with sliced ginger, and scallions. Using the back of your knife, bruise the cilantro stems until they are fragrant, stuff into fish.
Slide fish into hot wok with sauce. Increase heat to medium. Cover wok with lid or large bowl. Cook fish for 8 minutes, remove lid and flip the fish. Replace lid and cook for another 8 minutes, until the flesh is white and tender. Serve with pan sauce.
