Eye for a Recipe

Chicken thighs are among my favourite things to make for a quick and easy weeknight supper. In this recipe from the April 2013 issue of Martha Stewart Living you roast chicken thighs, tomatoes, olives, shallots and thyme together on a baking sheet. While the chicken is resting, return the other ingredients to the oven and roast until they are golden brown. The final touch is a garnish of feta and fresh mint.

Avoiding Additives and Preservatives

The olives and feta may contain additives and preservatives. I used President’s Choice green olives stuffed with garlic and a feta cheese with all-natural ingredients.

Toss ingredients together in a bowl

Arrange on a baking sheet

Roasted chicken thighs with tomatoes, olives and feta

Ingredients:

8 bone-in, skin-on chicken thighs (about 2 ½ pounds)

3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil

1 pint grape tomatoes, halved lengthwise

½ cup pitted Spanish olives

6 medium shallots, halved lengthwise and peeled (about 6 ounces)

3 sprigs fresh thyme

Coarse salt and freshly ground pepper

Fresh mint leaves, for garnish

Feta cheese, crumbled, for garnish

Preparation:

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Combine chicken, oil, tomatoes, olives, shallots, and thyme in a large bowl. Season with salt and pepper and toss. Transfer to a rimmed baking sheet and spread chicken mixture, skin side up, in a single layer. Roast until a thermometer inserted into thickest parts of the thighs (do not touch bones) reaches 165 degrees, 35 to 40 minutes.

Transfer chicken to a platter and loosely cover with foil. Return vegetables to oven and roast until golden brown in places, about 10 minutes more. Transfer vegetables and accumulated juices to platter with chicken, and season with salt and pepper. Garnish with mint and feta. Serves 4.

From the April 2013 issue of Martha Stewart Living

This is an extremely flavourful dish that is light and easy to make. Cilantro, ginger, garlic, chiles, lime and coconut milk are combined into a delicious Thai-style paste that is then tossed with cooked rice. The rice forms the base for the fish and snow peas, which are steamed in the oven. This recipe from Jamie Oliver’s Cook with Jamie calls for sea bass, but you could use any kind of fish of seafood. I used halibut, and it was delicious.

Avoiding Additives and Preservatives

Use tamari instead of soy sauce and look for a brand of sesame oil and coconut milk that are additive-free.

Coconut milk is the base for the Thai paste

Combine the paste with cooked basmatic rice

Place the fish and snow peas on top of the rice, cover and steam in oven

Steamed Thai-style fish with rice

Ingredients:

For the Thai paste

2 large bunches fresh coriander, leaves picked and stalks reserved

2 thumb-sized pieces fresh ginger, peeled

3 cloves garlic, peeled

2 fresh red chiles, halved and deseeded

2 teaspoons sesame oil

6 tablespoons soy sauce

Juice and zest of 2 limes

400 ml light coconut milk

For the fish and rice

400 g basmati rice

Sea salt

Freshly ground black pepper

4 x 170 g sea bass fillets, or other fish, pinboned and skin scored

1 handful sugar snap peas

1 bunch spring onions, outer leaves discarded, trimmed and finely sliced

1-2 fresh red chiles, deseeded and finely sliced

1 lime, quartered

Preheat the oven to 200ºC/400ºF. In a food processor or liquidizer, whiz up the coriander stalks, half of the coriander leaves, the ginger, garlic, halved chiles, sesame oil, soy sauce, lime juice and zest and the coconut milk. This will give you a lovely fragrant Thai-style paste.

Cook your rice in salted, boiling water until it’s just undercooked, then drain it in a colander. Scoop it into a high-sided roasting tray. Pour your Thai paste over the rice and mix it in well, then shake it out flat. Lay the sea bass fillets on top, scatter over the sugar snap peas, then cover the dish tightly with tinfoil and put it in the preheated oven for around 15 minutes. Remove the foil and sprinkle over the spring onions, the sliced chile and the other half of the coriander leaves. Divide between your plates with a wedge of lime. Serves 4.

From Cook with Jamie

The April 2013 issue of Food and Wine features pasta recipes, and this puttanesca—made with sun-dried tomatoes and a fresh hot chile—is spectacular. Olives, capers, anchovies, chile and garlic are sautéed in olive oil, then combined with almonds, sun-dried tomatoes and crushed canned tomatoes. Cook the pasta until it is almost done and then add it to the sauce, with some reserved pasta water (the recipe suggests adding three cups of water—I added far less, as I didn’t want a runny sauce). Stir in fresh herbs, add a spritz of lemon zest and juice and you have a puttanesca that is every bit as good as the one made by your favourite trattoria.

Avoiding Additives and Preservatives

I was very excited to finally find sun-dried tomatoes packed in oil that did not contain additives or preservatives. The brand is Allessia and I found them at the Bloor Street Market. Check the ingredients of your olives—I used President’s Choice green olives stuffed with garlic, which are all-natural. Unico capers, anchovies and crushed tomatoes don’t contain additives or preservatives. Make sure your almonds are preservative free and look for a white wine with a sulfite content of less than 10 parts per million. Finally, be sure to squeeze your own lemon juice—the concentrates are bitter and contain chemicals.

Saute the olives, chile, capers, garlic and anchovies

Add the sun-dried and crushed tomatoes

Add the slightly undercooked pasta and some pasta water

Fresh chile puttanesca

Ingredients:

¼ cup extra-virgin olive oil, plus more for drizzling

3 ounces green olives, such as Castelvetrano, pitted and chopped (½ cup)

1 tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon drained capers, chopped

One 2-ounce can anchovy fillets in oil, drained and chopped

1 Fresno chile or jalapeño, seeded and minced

2 garlic cloves, thinly sliced

½ cup chopped oil-packed sun-dried tomatoes

½ cup canned crushed San Marzano tomatoes

¼ cup sliced almonds

1 cup dry white wine

1 pound spaghetti

¼ cup chopped flat-leaf parsley

¼ cup torn basil leaves

½ teaspoon finely grated lemon zest

1 tablespoon freshly squeezed lemon juice

Preparation:

In a large pot, heat the ¼ cup of olive oil. Add the olives, capers, anchovies, chile and garlic and cook over moderately high heat until sizzling. Add the sun-dried and crushed tomatoes and the almonds and cook for 1 minute. Add the wine and cook until reduced by half, about 7 minutes.

Meanwhile, in a large pot of salted boiling water, cook the pasta until pliable but still hard in the center, about 5 minutes. Drain, reserving 3 cups of water.

Add the spaghetti and the reserved cooking water to the sauce and cook until the pasta is al dente. Stir in the parsley, basil, lemon zest and lemon juice and serve in bowls with a drizzle of olive oil. Serves 6.

From the April 2013 issue of Food and Wine

If you enjoy hot and spicy stir fries, try this recipe from Food52. Gong Bao chicken, sometimes called Kung Pao chicken, is made with chicken, chiles, peanuts and a variety of other ingredients, depending on the recipe. In this recipe, the deeply satisfying heat comes from dried red chiles and Sichuan peppercorns. Sichuan peppercorns are a hot, fragrant type of dried peppercorn that, when ground, is one of the ingredients used to make five-spice powder. Once you assemble your ingredients, this dish cooks in less than 15 minutes. I served it with steamed rice and sautéed baby bok choy.

Avoiding Additives and Preservatives

I didn’t have Chinese cooking wine, so I used a sweet rice cooking wine made by Kikkoman. I also substituted balsamic vinegar (with no sulfites added) for the Chinese dark vinegar. Use tamari instead of soy sauce, and look for a low-salt brand to reduce the sodium in this dish. I used cashews instead of peanuts and they worked just fine.

Assemble your ingredients before you start to cook

Partially cook the chicken and remove from pan

Stir fry the chiles, peppercorns, garlic, ginger and scallions

Return chicken to pan and add sauce

Gong Bao chicken with steamed rice and baby bok choy

Ingredients:

2 chicken thighs, deboned and cut into 1/2-inch (1 cm) cubes (if yours are tiny, you may want to throw in 1-2 more)

½ teaspoon (2 mL) beaten egg

2 teaspoons (10 mL) cornstarch

1 pinch salt

1 teaspoon (5 mL) Chinese cooking wine

2 teaspoons (10 mL) dark soy sauce

2 teaspoons (10 mL) brown sugar

1 tablespoon (15 mL) Chinese dark vinegar

1 tablespoon (15 mL) cornstarch

6 tablespoons (90 mL) of water or stock

½ cup vegetable oil (125 mL)

1 generous handful of peanuts

2 green onions, chopped into 1-inch (2.5 cm) lengths

4 garlic cloves, skin removed, smashed and chopped

6 slices of ginger

8 red dried chiles, chopped

4 teaspoons (20 mL) Sichuan peppercorns

Preparation:

In a medium bowl, whisk together the egg, cornstarch, salt and wine. Toss with the chicken to coat and set aside. Can be refrigerated for up to 12 hours.

In a small bowl, stir together the soy sauce, brown sugar, vinegar, cornstarch and stock. Set aside.

Add the oil to a large non-stick skillet or wok and heat until shimmering. Add half the chicken and cook, stirring frequently, until half-cooked, about 2 minutes. Remove chicken with a slotted spoon and set aside on a plate. Repeat with the rest of the chicken.

Drain off all but 2 tbsp (30 mL) of oil in heated wok, throw in chiles, peppercorns, garlic, ginger and spring onion; stir-fry until fragrant, about 2 minutes; add peanuts and stir-fry for another 1-2 minutes.

Return chicken to pan and stir-fry for about 2 minutes. Add the reserved sauce and simmer until the sauce thickens and the chicken is cooked through, about 3 minutes.

Garnish with ground Sichuan pepper; serve with rice. Serves 2.

From The Food52 Cookbook, Volume 2

This recipe from the March 2013 issue of Chatelaine is another quick weeknight supper. Slice a pork tenderloin into half-inch rounds and then pound flat. Quickly sear the pork in a skillet, remove it, and then make a quick pan sauce with marmalade, soy sauce and chili flakes. Return the pork to the pan, toss in some sliced oranges, heat through, and you’re done. This would be great served with rice – I served it with roasted sweet potatoes and steamed broccoli.

Avoiding Additives and Preservatives

The two ingredients in this recipe that may contain additives and preservatives are the marmalade and the soy sauce. I used Wilkin & Sons Tiptree pure orange marmalade and tamari, which is preserved with alcohol instead of the sodium benzoate used in most soy sauces.

Slice oranges

Slice pork tenderloin and pound flat

Sear the pork until browned and just cooked through

Make the pan sauce, return the pork to the pan and add the oranges

Pork a l'orange

Ingredients:

1 orange

1 large pork tenderloin

¼ tsp salt

¼ tsp pepper

1 tbsp canola oil

3 tbsp marmalade

2 tbsp light soy sauce

¼ tsp hot-red-chili flakes

2 green onions, thinly sliced

Preparation:

Cut orange in half, then slice into thin half-moons. Stack and cut into quarters. Set aside.

Slice pork into 1/2-in. rounds. Sprinkle both sides of meat with salt and pepper.

Heat a large non-stick frying pan over medium-high. Add oil, then meat. Cook until lightly browned, 2 to 3 min per side. If meat is browning too quickly, reduce heat to medium. Transfer to a plate. Cover meat loosely with foil to keep warm.

Add marmalade, soy and chili flakes to pan. stir until saucy, 1 minute. Add orange, pork and juices to pan and cook until meat is warmed through, about 2 minutes Transfer meat and orange to plates and spoon sauce overtop. Sprinkle with green onions. Serve with rice. Serves 4.

From the March 2013 issue of Chatelaine

This is another recipe from the Food52 Cookbook, Volume 2 – the cookbook written by visitors to the Food52 website. Mujaddara is a dish of lentils, rice and caramelized onions, and it’s delicious. This recipe combines it with an Indian-spiced yogurt topping. I served the mujaddara with tandoori shrimp; it would be great with chicken or as a vegetarian main dish. You can also make it ahead and reheat it in the microwave.

Avoiding Additives and Preservatives

Check your butter, yogurt and spices. The butter should contain only cream and the yogurt should contain no artificial ingredients. Make sure the spices do not contain colour or anti-caking agents and use freshly squeezed lemon juice.

Look for small green lentils

Caramelized onions add sweetness to this dish

Mujaddara is a mixture of lentils, rice and onions

Mujaddara with spiced yogurt, served beside tandoori shrimp

Ingredients:

For the Mujaddara

¾ cups Puy lentils (aka French lentils, the tiny dark brown ones)

1 teaspoon salt, divided

1 cup jasmine rice

2 tablespoons butter

3 tablespoons olive oil

6 cups onions (about 3 medium onions), halved and thinly sliced

For the yogurt

½ cup Greek yogurt

½ teaspoon cinnamon

½ teaspoon cumin (freshly ground, if possible)

½ teaspoon coriander (freshly ground)

½ teaspoon spicy paprika or aleppo pepper

3 tablespoons chopped fresh mint

Juice and zest of half a lemon

¼ teaspoon salt

Preparation:

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.

Put lentils, ½ teaspoon salt, and 4 cups water in a large pot and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer lentils until soft but not mushy, about 20 minutes. Drain lentils and set aside. Rinse pot.

Add rice, the remaining ½ teaspoon salt and 1 1/2 cups water to the pot, set over medium heat, and bring to a boil. When water begins to boil, cover pot, transfer to oven, and cook for 17 minutes until perfectly cooked. Remove from oven, uncover, and fluff with a fork. Set aside.

While rice cooks, set a wide, deep sauté pan over medium-low heat and add butter and 2 tablespoons olive oil. When butter has mostly melted, add onions and toss to incorporate with butter and oil.

After 5 minutes, onions will have softened slightly and started to release their liquid.

Raise heat to medium and cook 10 to 12 minutes more, until onions are very soft and browned. Add water by the tablespoon if pan gets too dry or if onions start to stick. When onions are well browned, add last tablespoon of olive oil and raise heat to high. Cook another 3 to 4 minutes, until bottom layer of onions has charred and crisped; try not to stir too much, or onions won’t crisp up.

Combine rice, lentils, and most of the onions in large serving bowl and let sit for at least 15 minutes, to marry the flavors together. Taste, and add more onions if desired. Meanwhile, make the yogurt: mix all ingredients together in a small bowl.

If mujaddara has cooled significantly, reheat in a low oven or even in the microwave for a couple minutes. To serve, plate a big scoop of mujaddara and top with a dollop of yogurt. Serves 4.

From the Food52 Cookbook, Volume 2

My dear friend Anne Marie gave me a copy of The Food52 Cookbook, Volume 2 for my birthday (thank you again, AMQ!). I wasn’t familiar with the Food52 phenomenon, but have since learned that two Brooklyn food writers, Amanda Hesser and Merrill Stubbs, started the Food52 website to essentially “crowd-source” a cookbook. Anyone could submit recipes to the site, readers would vote for their favourites, and one recipe from each week of the year (hence the “52” in the title) made it into the cookbook. It worked out so well they have now published a second volume, which organizes the recipes by season.

Food52, Volume 2 contains many interesting recipes and combinations I would have never thought to try, such as this linguine with tinned sardines, fennel and tomato. Thinly sliced fresh fennel and garlic are caramelized in oil from the can of sardines. Then add the tomatoes, vermouth, sardines and lemon juice. Toss cooked linguine with the sauce, top with some toasted breadcrumbs and lemon zest and you’re done. A couple of tips: The original recipe called for the garlic to be sautéed first, but, as the cookbook points out, it tends to burn by the time the fennel is done, so add the garlic after the fennel. Also, I found the sauce to be a little too lemony, so you may want to add it a tablespoon at a time and taste until it’s right for you.

Avoiding Additives and Preservatives

Look for sardines packed in oil with no other ingredients and for tomatoes that contain only salt. Use fresh lemon juice and breadcrumbs with no artificial ingredients (I made my own in the food processor using day-old bread).

Fennel, tomatoes, sardines, garlic, lemon zest and breadcrumbs

Saute the fennel in oil from the sardines

Add tomatoes

Add the sardines and cooked linguine

Linguine with sardines, fennel and tomato

Ingredients:

Kosher or sea salt

1 tin sardines packed in olive oil (about 4 ¼ oz.)

Extra virgin olive oil

2-3 fat cloves of garlic, peeled, smashed, and roughly chopped

1 small or ½ large bulb fennel, fronds reserved

¼ teaspoon red chile flakes, or more to taste

1 cup canned peeled tomatoes with their juice, gently crushed

2 ounces white (dry) vermouth

1 medium lemon, juice and zest

1/3 cup toasted breadcrumbs

¾ pounds dry linguine

Preparation:

Bring a very large pot of heavily salted water to a boil.

Open the sardine tin and drain a tablespoon or so of the oil into a wide skillet (the amount of oil in the tin will vary by brand, so add additional extra virgin olive oil if necessary to make up a tablespoon). Warm the oil over medium-low heat.

Trim the fennel and slice the bulb very thinly (a mandoline works great here). Add to the skillet with a sprinkle of salt, raise the heat to medium, and cook until the fennel is soft and beginning to caramelize. Add the garlic, cooking until fragrant. Add the chile flakes and let them sizzle for a minute, just until fragrant, then add the tomatoes with their juice.

Cook until the liquid is reduced, then add the vermouth and let that reduce slightly.

Add the sardines to the skillet with the tomato and fennel mixture, breaking up slightly but leaving some chunks. Zest the lemon and combine a tablespoon or so of zest with the toasted breadcrumbs, then set aside.

Juice the lemon and add the juice to the pan. Taste and adjust salt if necessary.

Add the linguine to the boiling salted water, cooking it until it is just short of al dente. Using tongs, transfer the linguine to the sauce to finish cooking, adding a little bit of the starchy pasta water and tossing gently to combine. (You’ll want to leave this a little wet, as the breadcrumbs will soak up the sauce and dry the pasta out a bit once you’ve added them.)

Transfer the pasta and sauce to a large warmed serving bowl (or individual pasta bowls), add a drizzle of olive oil, sprinkle on the toasted breadcrumb-lemon zest mixture, and garnish with picked small fennel fronds and the remaining lemon zest. Serves 2-4.

From The Food52 Cookbook, Volume 2

Need to get a healthy supper on the table in 20 minutes? Try this pan-seared salmon and salad recipe from Food and Wine. Sear the salmon in a skillet and, while it is resting, sauté cherry or grape tomatoes and a sliced shallot. Toss the warm veggies with the arugula and a lemon-mustard dressing and dinner is ready. This recipe would work well with other types of fish, such as halibut. If you don’t use arugula, use a sturdy green that won’t wilt too much when the warm vegetables are added, such as spinach or kale.

Avoiding Additives and Preservatives

For the dressing be sure to use fresh lemon juice, as the concentrates contain artificial ingredients. Look for a Dijon without white wine and sulfites, such as PC Old-Fashioned Dijon.

This receipe doesn't use many ingredients

Sear the salmon in a non-stick pan, such as a cast-iron skillet

While the salmon rests, saute the tomatoes and shallots

Toss the warm vegetables and dressing with the arugula

Dinner's ready!

Ingredients:

¼ cup extra-virgin olive oil

1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice

1 teaspoon Dijon mustard

Kosher salt and freshly ground pepper

Four 6-ounce salmon fillets with skin

1 cup grape tomatoes, halved

1 medium shallot, halved and thinly sliced

5 ounces baby arugula (6 packed cups)

¼ cup thinly sliced basil leaves

Preparation:

In a small bowl, whisk 2 tablespoons of the olive oil with the lemon juice and mustard and season with salt and pepper.

In a large nonstick skillet, heat 1 tablespoon of the olive oil. Season the salmon with salt and pepper. Cook the salmon skin side down over moderately high heat until the skin is very crisp and golden, about 5 minutes. Flip the fillets and cook until opaque in the center, about 4 minutes. Transfer the salmon to plates, skin side up. Pour off the oil in the skillet.

Heat the remaining 1 tablespoon of olive oil in the pan. Add the tomatoes and shallot and cook over moderately high heat, stirring occasionally, until browned in spots, about 2 minutes. Season with salt and pepper.

In a large bowl, toss the arugula with the basil, dressing, tomatoes and shallots. Mound the salad beside the salmon and serve. Serves 4.

From Food and Wine magazine

Happy Chinese New Year! We celebrated with this delicious one-pot, Asian-style chicken and rice dish from Lucy Waverman. It is a combination of skinless, boneless chicken thighs (my favourite), shiitake mushrooms, fragrant rice and spicy citrus-mint sauce. I’ll be making this again.

Avoiding Additives and Preservatives

Soy sauce, chicken broth, sriracha and fish sauce can contain additives, colour and MSG. Try tamari, which is preserved with alcohol, and an all-natural stock like Imagine brand. I haven’t been able to find all-natural sriracha, so I used Tabasco sauce. You can find fish sauce without additives; I am currently using Cock brand, which contains anchovies, salt and sugar.

Make the spicy citrus sauce first, to allow the flavours to blend

Marinate the chicken for a few minutes

Brown the chicken well, then set aside

Saute the shiitakes

Bring rice, liquid, chicken to a boil

Add the peas during the last 10 minutes of cooking

Asian-style chicken and rice

Ingredients:

Chicken

500 grams (1 pound) boneless, skinless chicken thighs, sliced in half

2 tablespoons finely chopped shallots

2 tablespoons finely chopped ginger

2 tablespoons finely chopped garlic

2 tablespoons soy sauce

1 teaspoon sugar

3 tablespoons vegetable oil, divided

Salt and freshly ground pepper

8 large shiitake mushrooms, stems removed, cut in half

Rice

1 1/2 cups Thai jasmine rice, rinsed

2 cups chicken broth or water

1 teaspoon sriracha (Asian chili sauce)

1/2 cup green peas

1/2 cup finely chopped green onions

1 tablespoon chopped mint or coriander

Spicy citrus sauce

1 teaspoon grated ginger

1 tablespoon sriracha sauce

1 tablespoon fish sauce

1/4 cup water

2 tablespoons lemon juice

2 tablespoons lime juice

1 tablespoon plus 1 tsp brown sugar

2 tablespoons chopped fresh mint

Preparation:

To make the spicy citrus sauce, combine the ginger, sriracha sauce, fish sauce and water. Stir in lemon juice, lime juice, brown sugar and fresh mint. Let sit for one hour before serving. The sauce should be served in a sauce boat so diners can drizzle it over their food as desired.

Place chicken thighs in bowl. Combine shallots, ginger and garlic in separate bowl. Toss chicken with half of this mixture and all of the soy sauce and sugar.

Heat 2 tablespoons of oil in a skillet over a medium-high heat. Remove chicken from marinade, season with salt and pepper and add to pan. Fry 1 to 2 minutes on each side or until golden-brown but not cooked through. Remove from pan, add mushrooms and sauté 1 minute or until softened.

Season mushrooms with salt and pepper and set aside. To prepare the rice, heat the remaining tablespoon of oil in a large, heavy pot over medium heat. Add the remaining shallot mixture and sauté for 30 seconds. Stir in the rice, chicken broth (or water) and sriracha. Bring to a boil.

Reduce heat to low and place chicken pieces and mushrooms over the rice. Cover and simmer for 10 minutes.

Scatter in peas and cook, covered, until both rice and chicken are cooked (about 7 to 10 minutes longer). Spoon into a serving bowl or serve from the pot. Garnish with green onions and mint or coriander. If there is a layer of rice that is slightly browned and sticking to the pot, this is considered a delicacy. Serves 4.

By Lucy Waverman

If you are trying to eat more fish, try this very quick and easy recipe using one of my favourite types of fish—branzino. Branzino is a mild-flavoured white fish, also known as European sea bass. It is delicious grilled or steamed (whole), fried or baked. I couldn’t get branzino the day I made this recipe, so I bought trout fillets, which were excellent. In this recipe from the February 2013 issue of Food and Wine, the fish is simply pan-fried and topped with a sweet-and-sour sauce, which takes only a few minutes to make. Add steamed rice and a green vegetable, and dinner is on the table in 30 minutes.

Avoiding Additives and Preservatives

Use an all-natural stock such as Imagine brand and tamari instead of soy sauce. Marukan rice vinegar has no artificial ingredients and neither does Heinz ketchup. Check the label on the Chinese cooking wine or substitute sherry. I have never been able to find an all-natural chile-garlic sauce, so I used Tabasco hot sauce.

It only takes a few minutes to make the sweet-and-sour sauce.

Quickly pan-fry the fish; the skin should be crispy

Top the fish with the sweet-and-sour sauce and serve

Ingredients:

1 cup low-sodium chicken broth

¼ cup low-sodium soy sauce

3 tablespoons unseasoned rice vinegar

2 tablespoons ketchup

2 tablespoons sugar

1 tablespoon Shaoxing (Chinese cooking wine) or sherry

1 tablespoon cornstarch

1 teaspoon Chinese chile-garlic sauce

3 tablespoons canola oil

1½ tablespoons minced peeled ginger

2 large garlic cloves, minced

Four 4- to 5-ounce branzino, striped bass or trout fillets

2 scallions, thinly sliced on the bias

Steamed rice, for serving

Preparation:

In a small bowl, whisk the broth, soy sauce, vinegar, ketchup, sugar, wine, cornstarch and chile sauce. In a small saucepan, heat 1 tablespoon of the oil. Add the ginger and garlic and cook over high heat, stirring, just until fragrant, 1 minute. Whisk the sauce ingredients, then add them to the pan. Simmer until the sauce is thickened and glossy, 5 minutes. Keep warm over low heat.

In a large nonstick skillet, heat the remaining 2 tablespoons of oil until shimmering. Add the fish, skin side down, and press lightly with a spatula to sear the skin for 10 seconds for each fillet. Cook undisturbed over high heat until the fillets are browned and crispy at the edges and just barely opaque on top, about 5 minutes. Flip the fish and cook just until cooked through, about 1 minute longer. Transfer the fish skin side up to plates. Spoon the sauce on top, garnish with the scallions and serve with rice. Serves four. The sweet-and-sour sauce can be refrigerated overnight.

From the February 2013 issue of Food and Wine