If you like fish, definitely take advantage of our local catches such as mahi, grouper and snapper. These are some of my favorites.
If you've never had fish that was caught and cooked on the same day, I highly recommend that you try it. Mahi-mahi is actually a type of dolphin, but should not be confused with the dolphin that is a mammal.
To avoid this misunderstanding, the Hawaiians came up with the name mahi-mahi and it has become widespread.
Mahi-mahi is found in warm waters throughout the world, and is a moderately fat fish with a firm, flavorful taste.
Pan seared mahi over baked sweet potato fries topped with a jumbo lump crab and heirloom tomato salsa, finished with a ginger scented pan sauce
Makes four servings
4 6 ounce pieces of mahi mahi
1/4 cup of olive oil
1 tablespoon of garlic, minced
1 tablespoon of shallots, minced
1 cup of Chardonnay
wine
2 tablespoons of fresh ginger juice
1 tablespoon of butter, unsalted
Salt and freshly ground white pepper to taste
Jumbo lump crab and heirloom tomato salsa
3 ripe heirloom tomatoes, 2 red and 1 yellow
1 small red onion, sliced thin
1 pound of jumbo lump crab meat
2 tablespoons of fresh cilantro, chopped
2 teaspoons of lemon zest
2 tablespoons of orange zest
2 teaspoons of rice wine vinegar
1 jalapeño, minced
Salt and freshly ground white pepper to taste
Sweet potato fries
4 sweet potatoes, peeled and cut in half then cut into wedges
1/2 a cup of olive oil
Salt and pepper to taste
We will start with the jumbo lump crab and heirloom tomato salsa. The hardest part of this is getting ripe heirloom tomatoes, but you can usually find them at farmers markets or gourmet food stores. Wash them well, cut in half, then each half into four wedges and slice each wedge into four pieces. Place into a medium-size mixing bowl, add the remanding ingredients and mix gently.
To make the sweet potato fries, preheat your oven to 380 degrees on the convection setting, if possible. Peel and cut the potatoes in half then each half into 3 to4 wedges. Coat each wedge with olive oil and season with salt and pepper. Bake for 20-25 minutes, remove from the oven and cover loosely with foil until the fish is done.
Now for the fish. Heat a medium to large sauté pan over high heat and add the 1/4 cup of olive oil, season the mahi on both sides with salt and pepper and place into the pan. Cook for 8 minutes without moving the fish around, then turn it over and cook for another 4 minutes.
Now to start the pan sauce, add the minced garlic and shallots to the pan with the mahi and cook for 1 minute, add the white wine and cook for 2 minutes. Add the ginger juice and cook for another minute.
To finish the sauce, turn the heat off, remove the fish, season with salt and pepper and add the butter. Mix until it has blended with the sauce.
To plate this dish, simply stack six to eight sweet potato fries in the center of four dinner plates. Place the mahi on top of the sweet potatoes, then spoon the jumbo lump and tomato salsa over the top.
To finish, spoon the sauce around the plate and you are done.
Tips and Techniques
. A great bottle of wine to serve with this dish is, Patz @ Hall chardonnay from Dutton Ranch in the Russian River Valley in Sonoma County, Calif.
. You can substitute almost any fish with this dish.
. The salsa can be made up to 2 hours before serving.
. Always remove the pan from the flame before adding any kind of liquor to avoid a flash fire.
Contact Chris Kennedy at Seasoned Catering at (561) 351-0221, or e-mail chris@seasonedcatering.com.