About a year ago I visited a Wolfgang Puck restaurant in Washington, DC called The Source, (http://www.wolfgangpuck.com/restaurants/fine-dining/3941).  They had an appetizer that I really liked, Tandoori Arctic Char.  Arctic Char is a wonderful fish with light orange flesh and a great flavor that I find similar to salmon.  The fish was prepared with Indian Tandoori seasoning and was so good that I have been thinking about it ever since.  So, I decided that I needed to try it at home.

I didn’t follow a recipe for this meal, I just made it up as I went along, so my notes on how I prepared it are below.

I purchased an Arctic Char filet, rinsed it and rubbed it with olive oil, then coated it with Tandoori seasoning.  I used the Penzey’s Spices Tandoori Seasoning and coated the fish heavily with it, placing it into a glass baking dish.  Then I covered it, put it into the refrigerator and let it sit for 2 hours.

I pulled the fish out of the refrigerator and let it warm up for about 30 minutes.  Then I poured canned Coconut Milk over the fish, covering it.  I also lifted up the fish and put a little Coconut Milk under the fish.  Then I added a little more Tandoori Seasoning on top.  I let this sit while I started working on the rice.

In a medium pot, I added 4 cups of Chicken Broth and began heating it up.  I cut up 1 bunch of Green Onions into 1/4 inch slices and added them to the Chicken Broth.  I also peeled a 1-inch piece of Ginger root and sliced it into 1/4 inch slabs, then added them to the Chicken Broth.  Once the broth was boiling I added 2 cups of Basmati rice (basically followed the package directions for water to rice ratio).  The directions said to stir the rice and broth, then reduce the heat, cover and leave it alone – so I did just that.

While the rice was cooking I put the Arctic Char under the Broiler at 500 degrees.  I cooked the fish about 10 minutes or until the fish flaked easily and the coconut milk browned.  Then I pulled the fish out, covered it and let it rest until the rice was done.

I also cooked up a little Kale to add a vegetable and some color to the meal.

What Went Right

Well, everything for once!  The fish was very moist and had that great Tandoori flavor I had been craving.  The coconut milk added a nice creamy touch to the dish also.

The ginger and onion flavors of the rice were a nice complement to the Tandoori seasoning giving the meal a nice Asian flare.

What Went Wrong

Hummm, there wasn’t enough fish I guess – really could have kept eating this all night.

What I Would Do Differently

The Source dish came with a Cardamon Raita which I tried to replicate with the Coconut Milk.  I might actually try making the Raita next time and cook the fish “dry” with just the Tandoori Seasoning, just to see how that tastes.

Wine

For this meal, I poured a Pinot Noir from California (Radio-Coteau I believe).  I find that Pinot Noir goes really well with Asian food and frankly I was just in the mood for a red wine.  You could also go with a white wine here, perhaps a Chardonnay (a rich, lightly oaky style) or a Rhone style white like a Roussanne.  The Pinot Noir however worked really well with the full flavors of the fish.

Give it a try and let me know if you enjoy it as much as I did.

Tim
 

I love duck and have been craving duck breast with Chinese Five-Spice powder for weeks.  Something about the richness of duck meat and all the different flavors of the five-spice were just calling me.  So I found a recipe on Epicurious.com and generally followed that with a few tweaks to make it my own.   I also picked up some Hibiscus powder on a recommendation from a friend and thought it would be a really good addition to the duck.

Here is the link to the Epicurious recipe:

http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/Pan-Seared-Five-Spice-Duck-Breast-with-Balsamic-Jus-369209

I decided to prepare the duck with just the spices in the recipe rather than trying to incorporate the Hibiscus powder.  I planned to add a small amount of the Hibiscus powder into the wine/balsamic jus to give it a more fruity / sour flavor, which sounded like it would really compliment the duck.

To round out the meal, I wanted something that we could pour the jus over and soak up the duck juices.  We had a bag of Fregola, which is a pebble shaped pasta and decided to do it risotto style, which is slowly adding warm chicken broth and stirring until the pasta becomes soft and creamy.  We also cooked a small butternut squash to add some color and a vegetable.

For a wine, Pinot Noir is a great match with duck and the recipe suggests a Russian River Valley Pinot from Sonoma.  I decided to open the DuMol Aidan Pinot Noir from the Green Valley in Sonoma.  I wanted a darker and fruitier wine to stand up to the sauce with Hibiscus powder.

What Went Right

The duck was cooked really well, a perfect medium rare.  The duck breasts I used were thicker than those in the recipe so I had to increase the oven roasting time by another 10 minutes (20 minutes total in the oven).

The Fregola turned out great.  We actually sauteed a few green onions before starting the risotto process, which gave the pasta a nice little flavor kick. The creaminess of the pasta was a very good contrast to the duck.  Would definitely do this again.

The wine was very good, but didn’t exactly match the flavors of the meal – more on this below…

What Went Wrong

The duck did not have much of that Five-Spice Powder flavor I was craving.  I think since the duck breasts were thicker, I should have increased the amount of spice.  I would definitely increase the amount by half next time and perhaps cut the duck breasts in half to give more surface area for the spices.

The wine / balsamic juice was terrible.  Adding the Hibiscus Powder made the sauce gritty and gave it an unpleasant sour flavor.  We decided to abandon the sauce and remake a wine / balsamic reduction.  It didn’t have much of the duck drippings however, so it lacked a lot of the richness I was expecting.

What I Would Do Differently

More Spice!  As I mentioned, more spice and better coating of the duck breast to really give it that Five-Spice flavor.

Skip the Hibiscus Powder since it really clashed with the Five-Spice Powder.  I will probably try duck breasts with just Hibiscus Powder because it really does seem like it would pair well with duck.

Well, my first recipe post is out of the way.  I learned a lot including that this is harder that I thought.  Time to step up the game.  So look for new and improved posts coming soon.

Tim