BBQ Fish with Seaweed Salad and Crispy Rice Cakes
Photo courtesy of Effie Benjamin
BBQ Fish with Seaweed Salad and Crispy Rice Cakes
Courtesy of Dan Silveira
Talk about an incredible summer barbecue. Last year around this time, two dozen spearfishers hunted and foraged in the morning then prepped their harvest for judges in the early afternoon. The inaugural Catch & Cook by Fin + Forage at Del Monte Beach netted a bunch of incredible recipes, including this one by contest finalist, spear fisherman, and home chef Dan Silveira. (This recipe first appeared in Edible Monterey Bay.)
Seaweed Salad
Ingredients
3-4 large bull kelp fronds
½ Gal ocean water
½ Gal fresh water
3 tbsp sesame oil (high quality)
3 Tbsp soy sauce
1 Tbsp dark soy sauce
Sesame seeds
1 Tbsp garlic, finely chopped
2 Sprigs green onion, chopped
1 Tbsp fresh ginger, minced/micro planed
Method
Combine the liquids and bring to a boil. Clean the kelp fronds of any organic matter then add to the boiling water to blanch until they turn vibrant green. Leave them in water for 2 more minutes, then bring them out and shock them in an ice bath. Reserve the kelp water for steaming the rice. Pat them as dry as you can and remove all slime with a towel. Slice the kelp into 4” pieces and julienne lengthwise to make very thinly chopped seaweed strands. Mix the strands with the sesame oil, soy sauce, dark soy sauce, sesame seeds, garlic, green onions, and ginger.
Crispy Rice Cakes
Ingredients
1.5 C seaweed water from above
1 C glutenous, short grain rice
3 Tbsp mirin
3 Tbsp rice vinegar
1 Tbsp white sugar
Vegetable oil
Bonito flake
Furikake seasoning
Method
Thoroughly rinse rice, until water runs clear. Bring the rice and water to a boil in a sauce pan and then turn down to simmer. Cook until rice is done, and water is absorbed. Using a rice cooker is much easier if the option is available. Let the rice cool in the pan. In a small saucepan, heat the mirin, rice vinegar, and sugar until the sugar is dissolved. Pour over the rice and gently mix it up. Place it on saran wrap, cover it with a separate sheet of saran wrap, then press it down until it is all about a ½” thick layer. Set it in a cooler or refrigerator for 1-3 hours. When done, heat vegetable oil in a frying pan over medium-high heat. Cut the rice into 2” squares and fry them; flipping regularly to avoid burning. Once they are golden brown, they can be sprinkled with bonito flake and furikake seasoning. They can be stacked next to your fish and used to stack fish on top for consumption.
Barbecue fish
Ingredients
1 whole rockfish, gutted
Salt and pepper
Garlic powder
Sauce
Ingredients
1 C parsley, finely chopped
3 full green onions, finely chopped
2 heads of garlic, finely chopped
½ C red and orange bell pepper, finely chopped
1/8 C yellow onion, finely chopped
1 lemon, juiced
2 Tbsp Portuguese fermented chili paste
½ C Pace Picante
1/8 C balsamic vinegar
3/8 C soy sauce
1 Tbsp clam base, heaping
Method
Prepare all your ingredients prior to putting the fish on the grill. Once everything is chopped, scale the fish, slice it 3 times at a deep diagonal through skin and meat, then season it. In a frying pan over medium heat, add the olive oil and garlic. Quickly after garlic starts to cook, add all the vegetables to the pan. Stir to sauté. Toward the end, add the rest of the ingredients and mix well then remove from heat. Add the fish to a deep plate and pour the sauce over the top of it to marinate and coat fish for 5-10 minutes. Pull fish out and remove most of the sauce so just the oil remains, then add on a hot grill. Flip fish after 10-15 minutes to finish cooking, basting fish with the sauce. Once cooked, add fish to plate, and pour the remaining sauce over the top of it. Plate with crispy rice and seaweed salad.