Mackerel Simmered in Soy Sauce

Another first - cooking with mackerel, which is one of my favorite fishes (especially in sushi). Bittman's recipe was simple, easy and flavorful - perfect over white rice with a side dish of butter-sauteed enoki and a bottle of Jennifer's Jamabalaya. Recipe, with a couple of tweaks, reproduced below.

UPDATE, 8 Jan 2010: Doubled this recipe, skipping the water and using mirin instead of the sake and sugar. Also tasted wonderful.

• 1/2 cup soy sauce
• 1/3 cup sake
• 1 tbsp. sugar
• 2 tbsp. rice vinegar
• 1/2 cup water
• 8-9 thin slices ginger, peeled
• zest of 1 lemon, grated (about 1 loose, heaping tbsp.)
• 5 garlic cloves, crushed
• 4 skin-on mackerel fillets, 1-1.5 lbs.
• 1-2 scallions, chopped

 In a skillet large enough to hold all the fish fillets in one layer, mix the soy sauce, sake, sugar, rice vinegar, water, ginger, lemon and garlic. Bring to a boil and cook over medium heat for 5 minutes.

Put the fish in the skillet, skin-side down. Simmer till done (when the fish is opaque, about 7-10 minutes).

Serve on a plate with white rice and some of the sauce, garnished with scallions.

Chicken Adobo (4) with Livers

This latest in the adobo chronicles is a fairly mellow, but flavorful and rich (perhaps partially because of the chicken livers) version. The base recipe comes via Burnt Lumpia (who adapted it from Steamy Kitchen); I merely fiddled with some proportions and added the livers. Next time I may try crushing the garlic instead (which gives me discrete cloves to nibble on or smash into the rice) and adding gizzards (balunbalunan in Tagalog; grandma used to put an extra helping in her adobo for me).

• about 3 lbs. chicken (4 leg quarters in this case)
• 1/2 lb. chicken livers
• 2/3 cup cider vinegar
• 1/2 cup soy sauce
• 1 cup water
• 6-8 cloves garlic (minced or smashed, as you prefer)
• 2 tsp. sugar
• 2 tsp. black peppercorns
• 4 bay leaves

Combine all the ingredients in a large pot. Marinate for at least two hours.

Over high heat, bring the mixture to a boil. Simmer till chicken is done (about 20-30 minutes).

Remove chicken from pot and reserve. Bring heat to high and reduce the sauce, stirring often, till it thickens to desired consistency (I was getting hungry, and so stopped after about five minutes - perhaps halfway to almost-thick-enough-to-coat-the-back-of-a-spoon. Tasted fine, though.)

Pat the chicken pieces dry, then place them skin-side-up on a baking sheet or in a cast-iron skillet. Place under a broiler and broil till the skin is crisp, about 2-4 minutes.

Serve with white rice, pouring sauce over everything.

Brassica di Seville: Goi Ga Bap Cai (Vietnamese Chicken Cabbage Salad)

So that seven-plus pound cabbage from a couple of weeks ago? There's still some left after this latest recipe. The salad, courtesy of Wandering Chopsticks, turned out to be a perfect dinner to bring to Nationals Stadium for this year's Opera in the Outfield (a wonderful production of The Barber of Seville, with a deft and assured Lawrence Brownlee as Count Almaviva). The full recipe - including sub-recipes - is reproduced below. Even with a bare 30 minutes to chill, it tasted wonderful - flavorful and filling, with a nicely varied texture.

• 2 scant cups shredded chicken (I boiled four small thighs; will use more next time)
• 1 bunch cilantro, stems removed and roughly chopped
• 1 small carrot, julienned
• 1 medium head of cabbage, sliced very thinly

• 1 red onion, sliced thinly
  
• 1/4 cup rice vinegar
• 2 tsp. sugar

• 1/4 cup patis
• 2 tbsp. sugar
• juice from 1 and 1/4 lime
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 1/4 tsp. red pepper flakes (substituted for 1 chile)
  

Prepare the hanh dam (Vietnamese vinegared onions). Dissolve 2 tsp. sugar in 1/4 cup of rice vinegar. Add thinly sliced red onion; use more vinegar if need be to cover. Leave for 15 minutes or till onions get soft.

Prepare the nuoc mam cham (Vietnamese fish dipping sauce) - I opted for the spicier version. Mince three cloves of garlic along with the juice of 1 and 1/4 lime, 1/4 cup patis and 2 tbsp. sugar; adjust flavors to taste. Set aside.

Boil the chicken (I did so in about a quart of water with a half a head of smashed garlic, some of which I added to the dipping sauce afterwards, and a chopped onion); set aside.

Slice the cabbage as thinly as you can. Julienne the carrots, then stem and roughly chop the cilantro.

Combine everything - veggies, vinegared onions and dressing - in a bowl and mix. Correct seasoning if necessary.

Chill for at least half an hour, longer if possible, to let flavors meld. Enjoy.