By Chef Jeff
Ive contemplating the age old question that many of us ask again and again and again.
Not – will the Albies show in SoCal. Not – will we get an El Nino (as of today 6/9 that answer is yes – according to many weather sources) but I’ll believe it when I see it
The question so often asked is “what to do with left over fish that I have cooked?” Please use that fish – you harvested it and you are responsible for its consumption. Take only what you will eat – please!!
There are a number of tasty options – depending on the fish.
Tuna, Yellowtail, skip jack, Wahoo, mackerel, and salmon all make great ‘salad’ as in tuna salad. Fish salad – grab up your favorite things you usually put into a ‘tuna salad’ But the number1, super-secret ingredient to the absolute best fish salads is … wait for it. Making homemade aioli (mayo) it’s real easy and makes ALL THE DIFFERENCE IN THE WORLD! And it will keep in the fridge for a couple weeks (great on turkey)
Here’s a quick recipe
AIOLI
Start with a clean 32 oz wide mouth Mason jar or Ball jar. Wand or stick blender (use food processor if you don’t have one)
Into the jar
3 cloves peeled garlic
Juice of 1 lemon
2 oz red wine vinegar
4 dashes Worchester
1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
3 dashes good fish sauce or 3-5 anchovies (good white anchovies are best – not the canned crap)
Hit with blender and blend
Add 2 egg yolks – yes raw egg yolks (you’ll live, it’s ok, chill)
Blend again for a quick minute
With blender in the jar running SLOWLY add extra virgin olive oil or avo oil until it thickens, your jar will be about 2/3 full when it gets thick
Add 1 oz water and blend
Add a bit more oil to thicken. It will be a little looser than mayo more like a thick salad dressing but it will solidify nicely in the fridge
This is a bsic flvor aioli but its very versatile: add sesame oil, chili and pickled ginger. Or cilantro and serrano. Or roasted peppers and ginger. Or anything you can think of – it’s a blank palette
I had made dinner for 3 and had 4 pieces of beautiful cabrilla. Hmmmm – leftover fish, what to do. Here’s what I did with roasted cabrilla from two nights prior.
I made a rice with a little ginger, gram masala and black pepper
I took my leftover filet and sliced it like a sashimi slice and shingled it out over the rice and drizzled a slight amount of good soy sauce and juice of ½ a lemon over it
In a little sauce pan I heated up:
1oz extravirgin olive oil
1oz sesme oil
2 cloves fresh garlic minced
2” peeled ginger minced
1 jalapeno fine diced
Salt and pepper
I got this nice and hot without burning anything then spooned it over the fish. Topped with green onion and I must say it was fabulous. We ate every slice – nothing wasted.
Well there’s at least a couple of answers as to what to do with your leftover fish.
Say hi to El Nino if you see him
