Al Dente Hunting.

Food Porn

Grilled white fish with asparagus

This is one of the few dishes I can actually manage to emulate well. It’s one of those KISS dishes. I like swordfish for this but whatever is fresh and fairly meaty will do nicely for this dish.

Grill the fish in a hot pan with a teaspoon of butter and a dash of sesame oil. When the fish is almost cooked through add the asparagus. Obviously, wash and chop said vegetation before this and cook until it’s still just al dente. It’s the not overcooking it part that’s tricky because the fish keeps cooking even after it’s removed from the heat. After it’s plated drizzle a bit of the sesame oil with balsamic vinegar over it. Et voila!

I saw this dish done spectacularly at a Japanese restaurant, and went home and fiddled and tinkered until I got it as close to the real deal as I’m ever likely to get. I ain’t no sous chef, that’s for sure but this one is, at least, edible.

Thank $Deity it even looks pretty in the picture, yes? Hurray for food porn!

Al dente is one of those concepts that tends to be rather elusive. It’s the cook’s equivalent of Elysium – largely kept alive in the heart and truly known only by the imagination. But I think I’m getting there with this one.

Rating: One solid spank and a slap on the wrist.