Steamed Sea Bass w/Black Bean Paste

That's Black COD.

Originally I thought that this recipe used Black Cod, but no, it was Chilean Sea Bass.  The two fish are similar so go ahead and substitute.

Nobu Matsuhisa is a helluva chef.  One of the best meals of my life was at Nobu's New York restaurant.  It was my birthday and I had the top-tier omakase menu.  Far from all sushi dishes, this 8 course tasting menu hit all the parts of his menu.  This particular dish was excellent and also featured in his first cookbook.  I don't know whether his black bean paste was plain or the one I got was flavored, but his recipe needed serious modification to be palatable.  Here's the version that I make.

You'll need;

• 4 fillets of fish (you choose)
• pepper
• 4 Tbsp Chinese Black Bean Paste
• 4 oz sake plus 4 oz of water
• ginger spears
• chives cut into spears
• 8 Tbsp olive oil mixed with 2 Tbsp sesame oil
• 2 cups of white rice steamed.

Ignore the wine behind the the olive oil.  It was standing in for the sake.

Make the rice and let it stay warm in the cooker or pot.  This recipe goes quick and you'll need the rice to sop up the sauce and temper the taste.

Peel the ginger, cut off any dried areas and cut into spears about 3 in long. Matchstick thickness or less if you have da skilz.  Cut chives about 5 in long and cut them again lengthwise.  This opens up the chive a bit and reduces its strength.

Set the fish fillets skin side down and grind a little pepper on each fillet.

Smear 1 Tbsp of black bean paste on each fillet. Take it easy here, this stuff imparts a lot of garlic and salt if you overdo it.  If the fish has a slope to it, pile more on the top as it will run a bit during the steaming phase.

That is really more black bean paste than you should use.

Place fish in a steamer basket and put the sake and water into the bottom of a pot.

Bring sake to a boil and place the basket in the pot.  Cover and steam for 10 minutes. No peeking!

Put the oil mixture in a small skillet and heat to nearly smoking.

Remove the basket and leave the liquid in the pot.  It will have been flavored by the bean paste and fish. 

Place each piece of fish in a heat-proof serving bowl and top with the ginger and chive spears. I wasn't feeling artistic but it still tasted good. I put the ginger along the axis of the fish and the chive across.

It is weird not to be doing this in the bowl it will be served in.

Drizzle or spoon the oil mixture over the fish to cook the chives and ginger.  Don't use more than 2 Tbsp oil per fillet. The chive will wilt and drape down the sides of the fish and the ginger will smell heavenly.

Nobu does this on a dish other than the serving dish.  He prefers that the oil not be part of the liquid below.  I love the mix of the oil and the steaming liquid.  So here's what I did.  I made one with the full oil in the bottom of the serving bowl (to which I added the steaming liquid), one where I poured off most of the oil before adding the liquid, and the last where I did the oil thing on another bowl, then plated (bowled?) with just the steaming liquid.  You decide which looks best.  I'll report which tasted best.

This one had the full 2Tbsp of oil in the bottom of the pan before the liquid was added.

This little piggy had half the oil removed before the liquid was added.

This one was without residual oil.  Looks good, but no one wanted to eat it so I added oil to serve.

Add the reserved steaming liquid to the bottoms of each bowl.  Enough to cover the bottom, but not so much that you need SCUBA gear to eat your meal.

Add garnish if it is a fancy occasion.  I put a wad of pickled ginger (gari) in the bowl sometimes.  Dusting with sesame seeds might look nice too.  To eat, either lift the fish off the skin or tip the fish over and remove the skin before eating.  Add a wad of rice to the bowl to soak up any leftover liquid.  The 10 minute steam really preserves a moist yet flaky texture.

I could use some suggestions on how to pretty this up.  Maybe an Emeril-like dusting of some spice around the edge of the bowl?  A turnip cut like a rose?  I dunno.  I'm usually so hungry by the time this is done that I inhale it like a prisoner. Oh, the one with the full oil tasted the best, but the reduced oil one was healthier and still tasted pretty good.  I ask you, what is one Tbsp of oil in the grand scheme of things?