Warning: For those of you who grew attached to Doug, the red snapper, after my last post, you may want to brace yourselves. This may be disturbing.
No, you are not imagining things. Doug is, in fact, on a plate ready to be eaten.
After my jolting experience attempting to clean my own fish the other day, Brad came to my rescue and did the dirty work for me. Finally, I could make the whole red snapper I’d been dreaming about for months!
I contemplated how to prepare Doug. Doug was a special fish. We’d been through so much and he deserved a dignified preparation/farewell.
My conclusion was to infuse him with ginger and steam him. Ah yes. But first, I needed to marinade him in something tasty. Ginger, garlic, peanut oil, vegetable oil, lemon juice, black pepper and a dash of tabasco sauce. Oh yes.
After the marinating and steaming, I threw together a little spicy garlic aioli to top him off. I sort of cheated with the aioli and used mayonnaise. It was so much faster this way and tasted pretty darn good, too!
Somehow, the trying experience Doug and I suffered through the first time around seemed worth it. I had watched Brad do “the deed” (you know, the whole guts thing) this morning, so I knew exactly what happened to bring this delicious fish to my plate. Well, at least from the time I bought it at the grocery store. I can only assume how he made it from the ocean to the fish counter…
The point is, Doug fulfilled his life’s journey of ending up in my stomach. Sad but true. And delicious.
RIP Doug.
Ginger Steamed Whole Red Snapper Spicy Garlic Aioli
1 whole red snapper, cleaned and scaled (any size will do as long as it fits into your steamer- I used one that was around 1lb)
3 inch piece of ginger, peeled and sliced into 1/4″ rounds
1 inch piece of ginger, cut in half
1 garlic clove, chopped
sea salt
lemon juice
Marinade
2 T peanut oil
1/3 cup vegetable oil
juice from 1 lemon
2 T ginger, peeled and chopped
dash of Tabasco sauce
2 teaspoons black pepper
Spicy Garlic Aioli
1/4 cup mayonnaise
1/2 teaspoon Tabasco sauce
1 clove garlic, chopped
1/4 cup lemon juice
1/2 teaspoon onion powder
Slice three slits in each side of the fish. Sprinkle the cavity with sea salt. Insert the ginger rounds into the slits and cavity of the fish. Stuff the cavity with the chopped garlic. Place in a shallow bowl and squeeze lemon juice over the top.
Mix the ingredients for the marinade in a small bowl. Whisk until well combined and pour over the fish. Place the fish in the refrigerator and allow to marinade for 10 minutes. Turn the fish and marinade for 10 more minutes.
While the fish is marinading, boil the water for the steamer. When the water begins to simmer, add the ginger halves and continue until the water reaches a boil. Insert the steamer.
Lift the fish out of the marinade and carefully place it in the steamer. Steam, covered, for 10 minutes (or more depending on the size of the fish). Gently place the fish on a plate. Top with the aioli and some flat leaf parsley or cilantro leaves. Enjoy!
