August 19, 2016
By Harold Dieterle
Print Recipe
Yield: Serves 4
Prep Time: 30 minutes
Cook Time: 50 minutes
Ingredients:
Eggplant-Basil Sauce
- 2 Italian eggplants
- 4 cloves garlic
- 1 shallot
- ¼ cup palm sugar
- ¼ cup Thai basil
- 2 tablespoons fermented yellow soy bean paste
- 2 tablespoons fish sauce
- Juice from 2 limes
- 3 cups chicken stock
- Salt and pepper to taste
Quinoa and Wood Ear Mushrooms
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- 1 cup quinoa; blanched
- ½ cup wood ear mushrooms
- 1 cup Chicory; blanched
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 2 teaspoons lime juice
- 1 tablespoon chives; minced
Triggerfish
- 1 tablespoon oil
- 2 (6-ounce) triggerfish fillets
- Salt and pepper
- 1 tablespoon butter
Directions:
Heat a grill. Put the eggplant flesh side down on the hot grill and cook for 8 minutes, or until completely charred. Flip and cook until the flesh is completely soft. Let cool slightly and scoop out the eggplant flesh into a pot. Add the garlic, shallot, and chicken stock and cook for 20 minutes. Transfer the mixture to a Vita-Prep blender. Add the palm sugar, Thai basil, soy bean paste, fish sauce, and lime juice and blend. Strain through a chinois and reserve.
Heat the olive oil in a sauté pan over high heat. Add the mushrooms and chicory. Cook for 2 minutes. Reduce the heat to medium and add the cooked quinoa. Season generously with salt. Finish with lime juice and freshly minced chives.
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Heat the oil in a medium sauté pan over high heat. Season the fish generously with salt and pepper and put in the hot pan. Cook for 3 minutes, or until golden brown. Add the butter and baste the top side of the fish with the melted butter for 2 minutes. Flip and cook for 1 minute. Remove from the pan.
Spoon the eggplant-basil sauce across a plate. Top with a heaping portion of quinoa and lay a triggerfish fillet on top. Garnish with heirloom tomatoes and drizzled reduced Chinese black vinegar.
