Tonight's Dinner

Originally Posted on 10/03/06

Justyn and I have decided to go on somewhat of a half assed diet. We work out on the rowing machine almost every night to burn off the bad food we've been eating.

Earlier today, I went on slashfood.com just browsing interesting foodie facts and articles and stumbled upon a recipe for Hot & Sour Poached Halibut. Here's the recipe courtesy of
Hot and Sour Poached Halibut2 tbsp soy sauce2 lbs halibut filets or steaks1 quart vegetable stock3 tbsp tomato paste1/4 c honey2 1/2 tbsp cider vinegar12 thin slices fresh ginger1/2 tsp crushed red pepperscallions and cilantro, to garnishIf unable to find halibut, a similar fish, such as cod or haddock. Place in shallow dish, and sprinkle soy sauce on both sides of each piece of fish. Refrigerate for 15 minutes. In a flat bottomed pan, place vegetable stock, tomato paste, honey, vinegar, ginger, and red pepper. Over medium heat, bring to a boil, lower heat, and simmer for 12 minutes. Add fish to pan, and cook for 10 minutes, or until fish is almost done. Turn off heat, and allow to sit for an additional 2-3 minutes. Serve over rice, garnished with scallions and cilantro.

Now you tell me if that doesn't sound yummy.

Justyn said I had to find a recipe for some veggies, so I found one that used tofu and baby bok choi. You basically just stir fry some garlic and the baby bok choi and deglaze with chicken stock mixed with oyster sauce and soy sauce. Thicken it with a slurry of chicken stock and corn starch and it's done.

When we went grocery shopping at Marina after work, I found that they didn't have Halibut, Cod or Haddock so I ended up using Sole. Apparently, that's a bad idea. Sole doesn't stand up to poaching and falls apart very easily. Oh well, live and learn right?

The flavor of the poaching liquid was pretty good. It had a nice tang from the vinegar and like the name of the dish, hot and sour. The honey balanced the heat out well and you could really taste the individual ingrediants. The stirfry turned out extra good. The greens were perfectly cooked and the sauce was nice and thick. I added some Red Rooster to it since Justyn likes his aZn food super spicy. He didn't think it was hot enough, so he added more of the Red Rooster to his.

Here's a picture of dinner: