Sunday, April 27, 2008

A Taste of Yellow: Seared Halibut with White Asparagus, Tomato Concasse & Yellow Pepper Coulis



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Food.

It brings us strength and brings us together. It is, in it's way, the one true elixir.

With a bit of free time on my hands I made this dish for Barbara and the A Taste of Yellow LiveSTRONG event. (Which actually asked us to incorporate a Lance Armstrong Foundation Yellow bracelet in to the photo, but I didn't have one.)

It is complex, as life is, and delicious as life should always be.

Try it my peaches, and taste the joy.

4 yellow tomatoes
1/4 cup minced parsley
grapeseed oil
Zest of one Meyer lemon
salt

2 yellow bell peppers
1 clove garlic
4 each dried apricot
white pepper
white wine vinegar
1 Meyer lemon
2 tablespoons butter
pinch of sugar

1 pound white asparagus
2 tablespoons butter
salt

4 six ounce pieces of halibut
2 tablespoons grapeseed oil
2 tablespoons curry powder
black pepper
salt

Prepare a large bowl of ice water.

Bring a small pot of salted water to a boil. Using a small knife, make an “x” on the bottom of the tomatoes and core the stem from the other end. Blanch the tomatoes in the boiling water until the skin is just beginning to curl (about 45 seconds) and remove to the ice water bath to stop the cooking. Drain and peel. Slice in to the tomato vertically and follow around to cut out the seeds and core, then lay the flesh out flat and dice small. Toss this with the minced parsley and grapeseed oil. Do not season with salt until you are ready to plate.

Roast the yellow bell peppers over an open flame until charred on all sides. Place in a bowl and cover with plastic wrap to steam. After five minutes, rub off the charred skin and remove the stem and seeds.

Meanwhile, in a (very) small sauce pan, simmer the garlic and apricots in a small amount of water (just enough to cover the bottom of the pot.) until the apricots are soft and the water evaporates.

Puree the bell pepper, garlic and apricots in a small food processor. Taste and add white pepper, white wine vinegar and lemon juice to taste. Strain through a fine-mesh strainer and set aside.

To make the asparagus. Trim the very ends and peel the stems all the way to the tips (leaving the tips in tact.) add to a sauté pan in a single layer and add just enough water to cover half way. Add the butter and salt and simmer until the water has evaporated and the asparagus is cooked through (with white asparagus you want it cooked all the way.)

Meanwhile, season the presentation side of the fish with the curry, pepper and salt. Heat the grapeseed oil in a small skillet and sear the fish, turning once, until cooked through.

To plate. Drizzle some of the yellow pepper coulis onto a large plate. Lay out the asparagus, then top with the fish and the tomato concasse. Season with salt and serve.

© 2008 Fresh Approach Cooking

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© 2008 Rachael at "Fresh Approach Cooking" www.freshcatering.blogspot.com This RSS Feed is for personal non-commercial use only. If you are not reading this material in your news aggregator, or at the aforementioned url, the site you are looking at might be guilty of infringing upon terms of copyright.

Concasse - Applying to raw or cooked tomatoes: Peeled, seeded and diced.

Human epidemiologic studies have suggested that eating cruciferous vegetables like broccoli is associated with reduced risk for bladder cancer. - Today's Senior

LiveSTRONG with A Taste Of Yellow has been accepted by the
Lance Armstrong Foundation as an official LiveSTRONG Day event.