Asian-Chilean Shrooms n Pot

Though the sea bass my wife made last week was great, she wasn't quite happy with it since she thought the recipe was a bit off and the sea bass wasn't the freshest. So we went out and caught a fresh sea bass steak from our neighborhood Whole Foods. Besides the price sometimes, this place doesn't disappoint.

Who knew cooking in dried dirt could be so yummy?

12 oz Chilean sea bass
1 bunch Chinese noodles
4 oz of brown pearl mushrooms, halved
2 stalks green onion, chopped
1 clove garlic, minced
1 tablespoon microplane-grated ginger
¼ cup sweet soy sauce
¼ cup rice wine
¼ cup chicken stock
2 teaspoon hot (spicy) sesame oil

Though she baked the fish like last week, the approach was completely different. Mix the sweet soy sauce, rice wine, hot sesame oil, ginger, garlic and green onions. Pour over the fish and let marinade for 30 minutes. Soak the noodles in cold water. Insert the clay pot with its lid into the oven and preheat the oven to 400ºF. Once preheated, carefully remove the clay pot onto the stove top. Now create a bed for the fish by first adding the chicken stock, then the noodles and finally the mushrooms. Lay the fish on top of this edible bed and pour all the marinade onto the fish. Cover and bake for 25-30 minutes or until done.

The noodles will turn brown since it absorbs the marinade and any of the fish juices. The excess liquid will steam the fish and mushrooms. What you'll end up with is a flaky chunk of fish with plenty of salty, sweet noodles that taste much like what I would expect of Chrysomallos' golden fleece.

To add some color to our diet, I whipped up some garlic stir-fried ong choy.

Enough to make Popeye proud.

This is an extremely yummy and easy dish to make. It's also healthy for you or so I was told as a kid...maybe my parents made me eat it because they didn't want to...either way, I love it now. Buy a large bunch of it at your local Asian food market. (If you ever been to one, you know why I don't have an specific amount listed). Clean it by cutting off about 2 inches of the thick stalk ends, submerging and gently shaking in a large bowl full of water to remove dirt. Then snap each stalk into 2-3 portions of equal length and put the smaller pieces into a separate dry bowl. Once you've snapped all the stalks into pieces, like all those hearts your broke in high school, discard the dirty water and repeat washing (not snapping) once more, just to be sure. Once done, mince 4-6 cloves of garlic, depending on how much ong choy you have. In a large wok on high heat, add oil and garlic and stir until aromatic. Then add all the ong choy and gently stir until all the leaves wilt. Serve with dinner like below.

What you don't see is the little puddle of drool at my feet.