Brain Food #1 | Fish

Ok let’s talk about …..ummm what was it again??...... oh right BRAIN FOOD!

Isn’t it annoying when you just can‘t seem to remember certain things such as a person’s name, if you fed your dog, took your vitamin or even showered??

Maybe we can help by giving the brain a boost!

For my daily morning mental exercise I enjoy working the crossword puzzle and yes blogging…but here we will talk about the ways to nourish the mind with food.

Today’s food:

Fish

Protein, an important component in the making of neurotransmitters, is essential to improve mental performance. Aside from being an excellent source of high quality protein, fish are packed with essential oils, such as Omega-3, which protect the brain and supports its development and functioning. Deep sea fish have the highest amounts of fatty acids, and they include salmon, sea bass, halibut, mackerel, and sardines - Dr. Maoshing Ni                       You can find more on his website: http://www.taoofwellness.com/

Who doesn’t like fatty food especially when it’s good for you.
Let’s get brainy! Here I have cooked a Sea Bass which is packed with tons of fatty acids.
I prefer having fish whole, that way you do not lose the wonderful flavor.
At my favorite seafood market, picked out the freshest fish.

How to tell if the fish is FRESH or NOT, by checking 3 things.

1. Body should be firm to touch NOT soft and soggy
2. Eyes – clear NOT cloudy
3. Check under the gills – should be reddish NOT brown ( you can have them show you)

The fishmonger will de-scaled and clean out the inners of the fish. At home I did the final steps of cleaning by snipping the fins and rinsing the fish inside and out with cold water. Pat Dry.

**If you find some scales on the skin, take a small knife and just run it on an angle against the scales and it would pop right out.**

Will post pictures of the steps soon.

Simple Chinese Steamed Whole Sea Bass

• Sea Bass
• Scallion & Cilantro – cut into slivers ( handful)
• Ginger – slice in sticks
• Oil
• Toasted Sesame Oil
• Light Soy Sauce
• Rice Wine
• salt

1. Season the fish inside and out with salt. Fill cavity with some scallion and ginger. Place fish on a dish.
*Make sure the dish fit into your steamer; here I used a bamboo steamer.
**You can also use a pot or a wok; you will need a steaming rack or a tuna can opened both sides to hold the dish, make sure water does not touch the dish.

                                  

2. Fill Wok or Pot with water, bring to a boil. Place dish in the center and cover and steam over gentle heat medium – high. Do not steam over HIGH heat that will dry out the fish.

For this small fish I steamed it for 5 minutes. To check if the fish is done, a trick I learned from Mama Ng. use a chop stick and poke the center of the body near the head. If it goes thru smoothly it’s done! Or you can just use a fork by lifting the fillet off the bone …if you don’t mind ruining your presentation.

Remove from steamer. Tool : Plate Grabber / Tongs/Oven Mitt * Be Careful*

Drain all liquid away. Drizzle some soy sauce on the fish

3. In a small pan , heat oil and sesame oil until you start to see the oil smoke. Add the scallion/ ginger/ soy sauce and a dash of wine into the pan. Sauce is ready when the scallion starts to wilt and brown. Pour directly over fish and sprinkle a handful of cilantro. Done!

When you get the hang of it, it’s quite simple. As you can see I enjoyed my simple dinner with nice bowl of hot Bitter Melon Soup * Click For Previous Post/Recipe* this one added dried oysters and tomatoes.

Will be back with more Brain Food.

*Isn’t it funny that how we never forget to eat!*
Cheers to our Mental Health!

Shanghai Nice Green Bo - #2

Another Sunday visit to Green Bo. We can't help it everything on the menu sound so delicious we must try them all. Can't wait to try their Rice Cakes.

Here we started with an cold dish of aromatic beef (chilled sliced five spice marinated beef tendon ), side with roasted sesame oil jelly fish ( crunchy and slippery with hints of sesame oil and vinegar).

Gave Soup dumplings a rest ordered Wonton soup instead ( the wrap just melts in your mouth)

Dry stir fry string beans with pickle greens.

Fish Belly in brown sauce.

All good except the fish was a bit on the sweet side.

Previous Green Bo Lunch 

Nice Green Bo Shanghai Restaurant - Click for the full MENU *

I swear I can cook...

even though all my postings have been about dining out.

I was professionally trained to be a chef a few years ago. I thought I was going to be a culinary goddess until I started my first internship. I saw a stock pot that was the size of me and thought.. " this isn't going to work". I wasn't built for hard labor. Basically, I chickened out. So now I just cook for fun.

I've been feeling a little insecure about my culinary skill so I decided to cook one night. This is what I made....

Oven Roasted Orata with Shallots, Olives and Tomatoes

Recipe:

1.5 lbs Orata

4 plum tomatoes sliced

1 lemon * cut half for juice and the rest sliced to bake with fish

4 gloves of garlic thinly sliced

1/4 black olives rough chopped

1/4 cup each of rosemary, thyme and marjoram

3/4 cup of chopped shallots

4 tbsp of olive oil

salt

pepper

Use everything fresh!

Preheat oven at 350. Season fish with salt, pepper and lemon juice. In a pan, sweat garlic and shallots about 3 minutes, add in the rest of the ingredients and sauteed about 4 minutes. Salt and pepper to taste. Remove from heat. Add sauce to fish, on top and inside. Cover and bake for 35 mins. Drizzle with olive oil.

Isn't that pretty??? I served it with mashed lemon potatoes and sauteed swiss chard. I think I'm going to keep cooking.

Try it!

Very Simple Grilled Whole Tilapia

Who is in the mood for delicous tilapia?

This is very easy to prepare and to cook, so you can kick back and enjoy a glass of wine, that's what I did...

With this recipe, you can grill, bake or just simply steam the fish.

Tilapia is a fresh water and non-oily fish, that way it was able to absorb the sauce and seasoning well.

What you need :

Fresh Tilapia - ( yes the fish market will do most of the hard work)

scallion

ginger

garlic & black bean sauce (LeeKumKee Brand)

salt . pepper

-clean fish inside and out, you might find some scale left, use a knife scape aganist the scale which is toward the head.

I usually have the head of the fish facing me and scaping toward my direction, that helps the scales fly to opposite direction to the wall of the sink (easy to clean) or do it under water.

lightly score the skin of the fish on both side

rub salt and pepper inside and outside

stuff the cavity with ginger and scallion

lay the fish on a plate and rub the garlic and black bean sauce on the entire fish ( can put some in the cravity) you can thin out the paste with anykind of stock

Set up a sheet of foil, lay stalks of scallions then lay the fish on top so it won't stick to the foil.

semi seal it and put on grill, about half way done spread the foil open so the skin is exposed (close lid) that way the skin can crisp. Tilapia is more on the meaty side compared to other fishes but each bite is like butter.....mmmm go on...give it try...

That night we realized we should've got 2 tilapias...

Here is a not so good photo but sooooooooo delish ....served with grilled veges ..

oh yes , foil is great btw ..... we had friends to enjoy our meal with ...

you look good! ---------------------no...you look good!