Zawazawa Kitchen

Baked Halibut with Corn Salsa

One wants to live near a good fish monger. We haven't found one yet in Boston, but in Vancouver we like Seafood City in Granville Island for most things. We make a trip to the market early in the morning to buy fresh fish is a couple of times a week when we are in Vancouver.

For our summer 2007 BBQ we bought a large piece of halibut that we did not get around to cooking, so the next day we cam up with a recipe that worked and that used up the left over corn and tomatoes as well. We wanted to do something simple that would bring out the flavour and texture of the halibut but not be too bland. We decided to bake, tired of all that grilling the day before, and to rely on favourite summer flavours - salt, tomato, corn and a taste of the sea.

• Halibut fillet, a big thick piece is needed for this recipe
• Grilled corn
• Tomatoes
• Various peppers
• Various onions
• Garlic
• Sea salt
• Kelp (konbu)
• Something citrus
• Green onions (negi)
• Ginger
• Herbs
• Cilantro

Sprinkle the halibut liberally with sea salt and surround with strips of konbu (dried kelp). Bake at a temperature high enough so that the top gets crispy and brown at the same time the fish is cooked through and is tender to a thin knife. This depends on the fish (how thick it is, how fresh) and the oven. In this case we started at 325 and went up to 425 for the last five minutes and probably should have started a bit higher. Total baking time about 20 minutes.

While the fish is baking prepare a simple salsa. We began by softening a combination of garlic, scallions, three types of onions and a tiny bit of ginger in a pan, then added a variety of hot peppers in. We had roast corn left over so we added a generous amount (it had beautiful charring and you want this both to bring out the sugars and to play off the brown halibut crust). At the end we mixed in diced tomatoes and added some cilantro and herbs from the garden (curry plant in this case, though that may not have been the best choice).

We served the halibut topped with salsa and sprinkled with green onions and a bit of lemon juice.

Pork Tenderloin Cooked in Three Stages

Every year we hold a large summer BBQ at our home in Kitsilano. The event draws between 60 and 100 people of all ages and backgrounds, from babies a few months old to people in their late 80s and every age in between. All five of us invite people, so there is a good mix of ages, and friends are welcome to bring their own friends. This being Kitsilano, we are happy to cater to everyone from hardcore raw vegans (many of whom are excellent chefs, have to be I guess) to the frankly carnivorous, and for all the cultures that our many friends represent - this year one could hear Korean, Mandarin, Japanese, French, German, Czech, some Punjabi and even English spoken at the party. In the next few posts I will put up some of the more popular recipes from the 2007 version of the party. This year was a special occasion for us, as we are living in Boston for a few years and it was good to be in the zawazawa of our friends and family.

One recipe that several people asked for was the pork tenderloin. This recipe comes from Yoshie and is a fairly typical Japanese style preparation, modified to suit our family. It uses a three stage cooking approach with each stage bringing out a specific layer of flavour:

• Sear to caramelize the flesh
• Boil to deepen flavours and remove fat
• Grill to recaramelize with the new flavours and crisp up the texture

The ingredients

• Fresh ginger, about four centimeters per tenderloin, peeled and sliced
• Raw garlic, about four cloves per tenderloin, peeled and quartered
• Raw onions, about half an onion per tenderloin, a mix of red and yellow is good
• Hot peppers (optional), depending on how much heat you want, it is good to use several types
• White vinegar, soy sauce and mirin or rice wine in equal proportions, enough to cover the tenderloin
• Roast sesame oil
• Lemon
• Pork tenderloin, not too small

Prepare a large pot of the liquids, add salt and the first four ingredients, bring to a boil and reduce to a simmer.

Sear the pork tenderloin is a tiny bit of roast sesame oil at a very high temperature, get a good dark brown crust.

Boil the pork tenderloin in the liquid for about 45 minutes, until tender.

Grill the pork tenderloin over very hot coals until is darkens and the outside bits are crispy, normally about five to seven minutes.

Finish with a small plash of roast sesame oil and a squeeze of lemon. and if you like a garnish - chives can work, or finely minced scallions.

The cooking liquid can be strained, thinned with a bit more mirin and soy sauce, and used to drizzle over the pork or on rice.