Okay, I'm going to go Rachael Ray on you. I had a friend over for dinner this weekend and I made one of my favorite dishes: Macademia-crusted mahimahi with carmelized onion-pineapple sauce. And I added a Thai-style vegetable medley on the side. So I took pictures of the process to show you how it came out and how you can make it yourself. I usually eyeball things and don't like recipes with a lot of exact info, so this dish is pretty easy to make and not too dependent on proportions. But the flavor is amazing! So please bookmark this thread and try it yourself sometime.
So let's start with the vegetable medley. Much of this can be premade first and put in the refrigerator until you are ready to use them.
Chop up some broccoli and asparagus into small pieces. Slice up some mushrooms. And get some frozen green beans. Steam each in the microwave. You could use a steaming tray, or you can simply place them in a wet paper towel (watch out, it can get hot). Meanwhile take a Jeanie-O turkey burger patty and cook it in a skillet, chopping it up with a spatula into pieces. You can also do the mushrooms in the skillet if you wish. The result:
Next dice some tomato and bell pepper:
Now, put all of these into the refigerator.
Next, let's work on that yummy yummy sauce. Take a can of crushed pineapple and a can of diced pineapple. Strain the juice and put in a separate bowl (this will be used later). Next, take a white onion and mince it up. Then take a dollop of butter and put it in the skillet over low heat. When the butter is melted, add the onion and stir until the onion is transparent (this takes about ten minutes). Then add the pineapple:
Stir over low heat until all ingredients are browned. This takes about 20 minutes:
Next add the pineapple juice you had set aside. Add also rice vinegar, about two tablespoons worth. Cook for about 10 more minutes over low heat.
By now the onions should be quite carmelized. Don't use any high heat, as this ruins the carmelization process. The sauce should now be thick and golden.
Okay, once you've got it like this, take off the heat and set aside. It's time to work on the fish. First, preheat the oven to 400 degrees (on bake). Next, crush some macadamia nuts. Other nuts might work okay, but the flavor of macadamia complements the fish very well, so I strongly recommend using macadamia.
Take two thawed mahimahi fillets (I got mine frozen at Safeway, but any whiteish fish could do) and dredge each fillet in a bowl with flour until coated. Next dip them in whites and sprinkle the nuts on top.
Place in the heated oven and set the timer for 20 minutes. This should give you enough time to finish the sauce, the vegetables, and the noodles. First fill a pot with some water and bring to a boil. Set aside some rice noodles (pad thai-style):
While you are waiting for the water to boil, put the other burner on HIGH and restore the skillet with the pineapple/onion mix. Add some ginger puree (about a teaspoon) and about 2 cups of vegetable stock and bring to a boil:
You don't have to be exact, btw. Split a vanilla bean open lengthwise and when the liquid is boiling, add the bean and a squirt of soy sauce to the skillet:
You will see flecks of vanilla leech out into the sauce:
Simmer for about 10-15 minutes, until the fish is done. While it is simmering, put another skillet on the remaining burner and get the vegetables and ground turkey out of the refrigerator and put into the skillet:
Remember, the tomato and bell pepper are raw and the broccoli and asparagus are already steamed. This ensures that everything will be cooked equally well without being overcooked. Next add a half can of coconut milk and some ginger paste and Thai sauce. I use this:
But you can use or make your own lemongrass/cilantro/chili pepper blend. It should look like this in the skillet. Oh yeah, DON'T FORGET TO STIR the pineapple sauce in the other skillet.
Now stir and bring to a boil. Add some vegetable stock (about 2 tablespoons worth, but it doesn't have to be exact):
Boil for about 5 minutes and it is done. It should be just long enough for the tomatoes and green pepper to get softened. Now add some fresh basil. I grow my own basil, both Italian and Thai varieties. But you can get some fresh basil at the store.
Chop up some basil (Thai basil is best), and mix into the vegetable medley.
You don't want to add this until after it is done. The pineapple sauce should also be done. Take out the vanilla bean and scrape out any additional vanilla from the bean and add to the sauce. Throw away the bean and put the pineapple sauce into a blender and puree. Take out the fish from the oven and serve on a plate with the vegetable medley and noodles. Pour some puree over the fish and the noodles. The finished meal should look like this:
Now how does it taste? It's delicious! The fish has a delicate flavor accented by the macadamia nuts and the pineapple vanilla sauce gives the fish and the noodles a sweet scrumptous taste. The vegetables add some spiciness to the palate, so if you want to go easy on the spices here, you can definitely add just as much as you feel is needed (go easy on the ginger, red pepper, and basil, if in doubt). The ground turkey also adds some meaty texture and flavor to the veggies.
The best thing is that the ingredients are fresh, natural, and not overcooked, so you get the full nutritional benefit, and the whole meal is very low cal. The fish and pineapple sauce is 230 calories, and with the noodles and vegetable medley it should be about 500+ calories (depends how much noodles you have). But with so much flavor, it doesn't taste like a lo cal meal.
List of ingredients:
For the fish: macadamia nuts, flour, egg whites, mahimahi filets
For the sauce: butter, white onion, pineapple, rice vinegar, ginger paste, vegetable stock, vanilla bean, soy sauce
For the vegetable medley: Jeanie-O turkey burger (small size), mushrooms, broccoli, asparagus, green bell pepper, tomatoes, frozen green beans, coconut milk, Thai-style paste (or fresh lemongrass, ginger paste, red pepper, and cilantro), vegetable stock, fresh basil.
Plus rice noodles.
So anyway, let me know if this sounds good and whether you plan on trying this. If anyone likes, the next time I do my other favorite dishes, I will do a similar write-up.
