Saturday, May 3, 2014

Parmesan poached fish

Parmesan poached fish 







If you really are passionate about culinary topics you tend to pick up little tips here and there and from everywhere. It was on a lazy afternoon when I was watching TLC that I came across this fabulously simple Spanish dish for fish. Now TLC usually doesn't repeat the recipes in writing so I quickly noted down that all that one needed was a slab of fish which was poached in milk with fresh Parsley. Cut to May and it was on a happy Summer's morning when Calcutta had cooled down a teeny weeny bit from 40 C to 30 C after a 2 minute shower the previous night I was ready to stock my refrigerator in the morning. I have been wanting to have fish for the longest time and so I marched to the market and bought a nice bhetki out of which my fisherman sliced and made thick fillets. I immediately knew what I wanted courtesy TLC's Spanish fish recipe, sicne my fresh parsley had wrinkled up in this terrible heat I decided I would make my own dish. Back at home after a bit of cleaning of the home I was pretty hungry and so I wanted lunch. Well here is a recipe which takes 15 minutes and yields a fantastic dish indeed



Serves 1

100gm fish
230ml of milk (I used skimmed milk)
3 tbsp  Parmesan which has been freshly grated
1/2 tsp Freshly ground black pepper
2 cloves of garlic thinly sliced
1/2 an onion thinly sliced
1.5 large potato
Salt as per taste
1 tsp finely chopped cilantro




I will tell you what I did. So I popped the two large potatoes in the micorwave at 900W for 12 minutes and while it cooked I brought 230ml of milk to a boil and added some salt , the freshly curshed pepper and simply added my fish along with thinly sliced onions and thinly sliced garlic , poached it for 4 minutes on each side and then I took out the fish and switched off the gas stove. I peeled my potatoes and then sliced it in thin circular pieces, some crumbled but that's how it should have been in my mind. The idea was to have potatoes which weren't perfectly sliced but with a crumbly yet some whole circular pieces. I switched on the gas stove with the pan of milk and added the potatoes and brought it to a boil and simmered for 50 seconds and then drained it and put it on a plate and added the fish on top while the milk kept on simmering . I used 1.5 potatoes and reserved the rest since I knew I wouldn't be able to finish the entire bit. Now I added the grated Parmesan and Cilantro  to the simmering milk and whisked well to create a smooth thick sauce and topped my fish dish with the sauce and garnished with some cilantro. It was cheesy yet light and perfect for the summers yet it filled the stomach.



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