Review: Sweet Black Pepper Fish & Asparagus Salad (CL Jan-Feb 04)

[Kuvy]

These both received "****" from me and DH!!!

I bought the halibut from Whole Foods this afternoon - $9.64 for two 6-oz fillets!!! Thank god it was so yummy because that's way over budget for us, especially when you add in the 1 lb asparagus and then $2.99 for fresh lemongrass stalks .

A little chopping (ooh that lemongrass smells sooo good as you chop it, and on your hands afterwards...), throw everything in a non-stick skillet, a little simmering, add your final ingredients and voila! this was incredibly easy and produced a succulent, impressive looking dish with a beautiful, very fresh sauce. It was sweet and slightly tangy - like a mild sweet'n'sour sauce - and went perfectly with the asparagus.(And only 5 points! Ya-hoo!)
A definite repeater - for guests even!! Next time I'll make it with Stir-fried Sweet and Sour Vegetables (recipe here.)

The asparagus ("Asparagus Salad with Mustard-Soy Dressing)") was also really delicious and couldn't have been any easier. The ends of the asparagus stalks were a little woody so they must not be in season yet.... Also it was weird eating a raw egg yolk. I couldn't find any "pasteurized" eggs so I just used a regular one but then I felt a little leery about it, and stirring the sauce with the asparagus you could see a little of the egg yolk texture which kinda grossed me out ( !!) but I'm funny about that kind of thing anyway!!! LOL Anyway I made myself get over it and sure enough it tasted great and was perfect with the rest of the meal.

[Terrytx]

I'm glad to know that you liked these. They are both high on my list from this new issue.

[RebeccaT]

Yay! This is on the list for this week! Thanks for the great review!

[kristalsnow7]

I like the looks of that fish recipe, and now I'll have to give it a try. Thanks for the reviews, Kuvy!

[RebeccaT]

DH and I made this last night for dinner, and I didn't really care for it. I don't think it was the recipe's fault, though... I think I just didn't care for the flavors in the dish. I don't usually like black pepper as a primary seasoning, and the black pepper was very bright in this dish. The flavor was very interesting though, and DH really liked it!

My grocer didn't have any halibut, so I made this with cod. It was an acceptable sub, but I would try to use a firmer fish if possible, maybe snapper if you can't get halibut.

[Ralph]

Thumbs up for the fish here. As already mentioned, it was really easy to put together. The only problem I had with it was that I still had a few pieces of rather tough lemongrass left in it.

[Buechner]

Made the fish last night with cod and it was quite tasty! It is always an adventure cooking for one from a recipe, so my measurements were not exactly proportional. I used less sugar and fish sauce(mine is very strong!) and more water and lemongrass. Recipes tend to usually just be ingredient guides for me anyway I served this with some baby bok choy and quinoa.

[catharine]

Made this old recipe last night. It came out great. It made for a really easy and flavorful weeknight meal. I served it with asparagus with browned balsamic butter and a kasha (buckwheat) pilaf. All three dishes took about 1 hour total and it was a great meal. I don’t make fish often, mostly because I find most fish dishes kind of bland and boring. But I really liked this and might even make it for the in-laws upcoming visit. Thumbs up!

I also had lemongrass issues. I couldn’t find fresh (even at the Wegmans) so I used Penzeys dried. It didn’t soften so I had these straw like pieces in the sauce. Ick.