laocook

I love working with Fish, especially white fish such as Sea Bass or Bream. The meat is wonderful and can absorb flavours without losing its identity. One great way to cook the fish is to marinade it in herbs and simply roast it in the oven. Below is one of our favourite dishes.

Roasted Laotian Style Fish with Vegetables and Brown Crab Sauce.

You will need:

2 Fillets of fresh white fish

1 Whole stalk of Lemongrass, split

For the Marinade:

½ Stalk of Lemongrass, finely chopped (white part)

2 Lime Leaves, finely Chopped

Fresh Coriander Stalk, finely chopped

Dash of Light Mushroom Soy Sauce

Score the skin of the fish, marinade in the above ingredients. In a pan, lightly brown the fish then place one fillet between the split Lemongrass stalk, cook in a hot oven 180º for 2 minutes.

For the Vegetables.

Chopped Mushrooms, lightly cooked in butter

Cherry Tomatoes, lightly grilled until the skin cracks

Artichokes, blanched in boiling water with olive oil and bay leaves then lightly browned in a pan

For the Brown Crab Sauce

Knob of Salted Butter

2 Torn Lime Leaves

Dash of Fresh Cream

Fresly Milled Blackk Pepper

1 Live Crab (we use Centollo, Spider Crab)

Steam the crab (upside down) for 10 minutes, allow to cool slightly. Carefully open the body and collect the brown juice. Pass through a sieve. You can freeze this in manageable blocks for use later. Keep the legs and claws for another dish.

Place some of the Brown Juice in a sauce pan and slowly bring to the boil and let reduce by a third. Add the Lime Leaves and Butter, then slowly pour in the cream, season with Pepper, remove the lime leaf.

To serve.

In a warm plate, mount the Vegetables and lay the fish alongside. Pour some sauce over the vegetables and drizzle the fish with a little Roasted Garlic and Chilli Oil. Enjoy.