Delicious dinner for 2
Most of the week, there’s only two of us for dinner.
I find it bittersweet to shop and cook for two — especially when missing family. Look on the bright side: This is the ideal time to celebrate with more pricey proteins, such as fish, and to work on certain kitchen techniques, such as steaming.
Enter our local restaurant’s version of steamed fish with shredded ginger and bok choy.
This dish is the perfect meal for two: It ticks all the boxes for high protein, low fat and bold flavor. Plus, I promised a cousin I would try to recreate it and send her the recipe.
At home, I seek advice from one of my all-time favorite cookbooks, “Mastering the Art of Chinese Cooking” by the late Eileen Yin-fei Lo.
The author of 11 cookbooks, Lo taught many of us about Asian ingredients, the basics of Chinese cooking and the beauty of a well-written, expertly tested recipe.
Lo tells us that steaming is a standard technique in Chinese cooking. She writes, “steaming is, in every respect, a restorative process that makes foods glisten.”
Traditionally, Chinese cooks steam whole fish in large bamboo steamers set over boiling water in huge woks on top of a burner. Smaller fish, or portions of fish, can steam in a bowl with their seasonings set into the bamboo steamer.
These days, when cooking individual portions of fish, I prefer to use a microwave oven — a perfect steamer without the wait for boiling water.
Marinated fish fillets, covered tightly to capture the steam and consequential flavor, cook to perfection in less than 5 minutes.
For the marinade, a combination of soy sauce, hoisin sauce and mirin season the fish deeply. A generous amount of finely shredded ginger adds kick. A drizzle of homemade hot chili oil spices things up. Store-bought chili crisp makes a fine substitute.
In the recipe here,
surround the steamed fish with briefly stir-fried vegetables, including readily available baby bok choy and relative newcomer tatsoi. Deep green, tender tatsoi is a member of the cabbage family with a mild, sweet taste.
Another option is choy sum, aka choi sum or yu choy, another brassica family member. Seek out both these delicious greens at Asian produce markets. Spinach or swiss chard make fine substitutes.
Serve the steamed fish and stir-fried vegetables with a side of brown or white rice. Dinner for two never looked so good.