Asparagus Meyer Lemon Steamed Fish

This dish was "conceived" or rather inspired via email. It is a virtual world. ya? :P A friend, whom I have lost touch for almost a decade, was talking about how enjoyable home-cooked food can be (don't ask me how we ended up talking about food!), which I totally agreed.

A one-liner "my mom steams the fish with lemon, carrot, tomatoes, asparagus and a splash of white wine" from my friend just popped! And that's it! I want to try that! I never had such a combination for my steamed fish. My go-to combination for steamed dish was usually zucchini, red bell peppers, edamame, broccoli.

From inspiration to execution...

Few days later, I got my groceries (Meyer lemon, organic on-the-vine tomatoes, in-season asparagus, organic carrots, and Dover fillets). Well, I could have done a whole fish such as trout or even salmon fillets but ok, I confess - the Dover fillets were on sale. I bought 2 fillets for just USD1.80. I could not resist.

I know this is going to look different from the original version which I have never seen and probably will never get a chance to see. Amazing how one dish (of the same ingredients) can be so differently interpreted by different individuals, esp. in terms of presentation.


Meyer Lemon and Asparagus Steamed Fish

Ingredients: 3 thin slices Meyer lemon; 3 thin slices of organic tomatoes (vine); 3 asparagus spears, sliced at the bias into smaller spears; some carrot matchsticks; 4 thin slices of ginger; 2 Dover fillets; extra virgin olive oil, salt and pepper to taste, a little Shaoxing wine (to substitute the white wine which I did not have)

Directions: Line some tomatoes, asparagus, ginger at the bottom of the bowl. Roll up the Dover fillets. Top with remaining tomatoes, asparagus, not forgetting the carrots and lemon. Drizzle some extra virgin olive oil over, dash of salt and pepper, and drizzle of wine over the fish rolls. Add about 5-6 tbsps of water (optional - note: I wanted a more soup-based dish for my steamed fish, thus the water). Steam for about 10mins and voila!



So refreshing! And I love it! Thanks, friend.

If you can do your food prep. mainly to julienne and slice, really fast - then you can totally achieve this dish in 20 minutes or less. Fuss-free cooking, almost instant delicious results - what's not to love.

Tip: As intended to be more "soupy", a bowl was used and due to the "real estate" restraint on laying the fillet flat, the fillets were rolled up instead which to me, happened to turn out prettier.



Happy!

Another regular dish, shared with Hearth and Soul and Souper Sunday, to be added to my repertoire of fish dishes.


Tag: fish, soup,fish soup,asparagus

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