Suan Cai Beurre Blanc

I wish I could say this is entirely my idea, but this originally came from a dish I had recently, when the chef prepared the seared threadfin fish with fermented cabbage, fish broth and chili oil, a dish said to be inspired by the Sichuan classic “Suan Cai Yu” (hot and sour fish with fermented vegetables 酸菜魚). Taking the cue, I decided to do my own version, switching the local threadfin fish with the pack of Patagonian Toothfish which I received from the online seafood purveyor Qwehli served with Beurre Blanc sauce made based on the traditional recipe with the addition of “suan cai” (fermented vegetables 酸菜) and fatty pork. 

Challenge Accepted

Before the Easter long weekend, the team at Qwehli has generously sent me a few of their products for me to try and see what I could do with them. One of which was their Atlantic Salmon which was farmed in the North Sea in Denmark, and delivered to me as the frozen whole fillet with the skin on. I took it on as a challenge to see how many dishes I could create with this 2kg piece, and as it turned out, quite a lot actually.

Seafood Recipe Part 2: Hake and Potatoes

I followed up with a rustic-style seafood main course using another pack sent by the purveyor Qwehli (see my previous post for the introduction). Hake is one of the fish species I love working with, for its firm texture and versatility, slightly richer than cod and leaner than black cod. One I received was caught wild off the Atlantic Coast off France and came in vacuumed and frozen pack of around 300g - good for 3-4 person.

Seafood Recipe Part 1 - Red Mullet Ceviche

I have to go back quite a few pages to see the last time I shared a recipe here – August 2018, to be exact. Not that I haven’t been cooking at home, just that I haven’t had much time to trace back the steps to create some of the dishes I have prepared. But when the team from the French seafood purveyor Qwehli offered to send me a few sample products to try recently, I thought I would share my experience with a couple simple recipes.