I was perusing back in my blog for some reason the other day–I forget why–when I came across Global Kitchen‘s Seared Mahi Mahi, featured in one of my early To Try Tuesdays (and yes I keep meaning to re-start them, but honestly it’s been a while since I have had a chance to leisurely peruse the web–I think it is because most of my free time on the computer lately has been spent teaching myself Adobe Lightroom). Anyway, it immediately struck me that it would be a good dish to try on my parents, who were coming to visit for dinner.
I used Alaskan cod, since that was what I had in my freezer (I never buy seafood fresh, contrary to conventional wisdom, because the only decent fresh seafood would be at least 45 minutes away, which does not really work so well with making dinner that night; instead I buy my seafood at Costco). I served the dish with roasted asparagus and roasted organic baby redskins (wow they have been good this spring), and it was a big hit. The next night I tried the leftover green gazpacho with a seared marinated skirt steak, and it was also excellent. I did discover, however, that I would make the gazpacho slightly differently depending on which I was serving it with. I like it with lemon juice for the seafood and a lot more salt for the steak, although note that the original recipe called for vinegar for the seafood, and so maybe this was just my preference.
Green Gazpacho Sauce
Adapted from Epicurious
1 1/2 cups coarsely chopped English hothouse cucumber (about 1/2 large)
3/4 cup coarsely chopped green onions
1/2 cup coarsely chopped fresh cilantro
2 1/2 t chopped seeded serrano chiles, optional
4 T extra virgin olive oil
1 1/2 T (or more) white balsamic vinegar (for beef) or lemon juice (for fish)
Salt to taste–I needed a fair amount for the beef
cherry or grape tomatoes, for garnish
Place the first 5 ingredients in a food processor and pulse until finely chopped. Transfer to a bowl and mix in the vinegar or lemon juice and add salt to taste. Serve on top of or next to the seared fish or beef; garnish with halved cherry or grape tomatoes.
Fresh fish is hard where I am at too, so I tend to shy away from cooking fish. This looks delicious! You could probably use the gazpacho sauce on chicken too?
Looks wonderful!
I love the idea of a gaspacho sauce over fish!
Casey: I think you could use it on anything to your own individual preference. I tend to prefer sweeter/fruitier sauces on pork and chicken but obviously tons of people don't agree with me. 🙂