I’m always on the hunt for different things to eat. I go through phases where I’ll eat vegetarian for days on end (unintentionally) and then stretches where I’m basically a carnivore (equally unintentionally). I often find myself looking for balance and often turn to fish. Usually my go-to fish is salmon, pretty much for convenience but I’m trying to get better about buying other types of fish. Oftentimes when I go to Asian restaurants (particularly Thai and Chinese restaurants) they do some really striking whole fish dishes that I always want to order but never do. I decided to play around and try to recreate one of those dishes chez moi.
I started out with a visit to my usual fishmonger in Kensington Market where we’ve been buying fish for years. I opted for Red Snapper because it’s one of my favourite types of whole fish. I also find it to be pretty versatile and the flavour isn’t too obtrusive. Price-wise it’s generally affordable and is usually in the $3-4/lb range.
I did some searching and liked the idea of flavours that I’m used to like ginger, sesame, garlic and soy. I also wanted the preparation to be simple so I wanted to do some sort of steaming in a packet type deal. After some research I decided to do a simple technique where I put the fish in a foil packet and top with a sauce, seal it and cook. Easy to execute and and better yet, easy to clean. Everyone wins!
This fish turned out really well. The sauce was just what I needed with the fragrance of the ginger and garlic, nuttiness from the sesame and a wee bit of heat from the pepper. It also made for a striking presentation. I have traditionally been freaked out by fish heads but I was able to overcome this and even deboned my fish myself. Clearly I’m growing up. For the record I did NOT put the fish head on my plate, that stayed in the kitchen. I could not have those eyes looking at me. My only beef was that I wish the skin was crispy. Obviously you don’t get crispy skin by steaming but I kind of wish you could.
Ginger-Sesame Steamed Fish
2 whole fish fish, cleaned (I used red snapper)
1/2 cup sliced scallions (green part only)
2 tablespoons fresh julienned ginger
2 cloves garlic, sliced
1/2 cup soy sauce
1/4 cup oil (olive, veg, peanut, whatevs)
2 teaspoons sesame seeds
1 teaspoon sesame oil
1 teaspoon chili garlic paste
1/2 teaspoon sugar
Preheat oven to 450°.
Combine the scallions, ginger, garlic, soy sauce, oil, sesame seeds, sesame oil, chili paste and sugar in a bowl. Whisk to combine.
Get a long piece of foil (enough to turn into a packet for one fish) and put a fish on top of it. Turn up the edges a bit. Season fish with salt and pepper all over. Pour the sauce over the fish and seal edges of foil around fish to form a packet (you want it fairly roomy).
Bake the fish allowing about 10 minutes per inch (of thickness) of fish). Remove from oven, open packets and serve fish on plate with some of the sauce. Sprinkling with scallions and sesame seeds if you’re feeling fancy (you likely are at this point).
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