Tony Vultaggio Fishes for Black Cod

Thai Inspired Black Cod Coconut Soup

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The top of mind preparation for Black Cod has to be Nobu Matsuhisa’s Miso Black Cod.  It’s luscious,  velvety, addicting and incredibly easy to make. And I really like The Kitchn’s recommendation to marinate the fish on the weekend and serve it mid-week.

But I didn’t want to wait three to four days to eat my latest Community Seafood share so I decided to pair the buttery textured black cod with the satin feel of coconut milk in a simple Thai inspired coconut soup. When it comes to cooking at home for mom and friends I don’t worry too much about sourcing exact ingredients.  Instead I rely on my insane pantry of condiments and my weekly farmers market haul.  I also lean heavily on my “pantry” of citrus aka citrus trees in pots on my concrete covered back “yard”. Having several lime varieties, Meyer lemons and a Thai (kafir) lime tree pretty much insures a yearly supply of acidic and useful fodder for South Asian recipes.

For the soup I needed the following building blocks:

-broth    -flavor paste   -umami condiments  -acid spritz   -noodles or rice

A few of my SoCal customizations based on what I had in the house were:
For the Broth:  Dashi, Coconut Milk, Mandarinquat for the slices.  Never tried them before. Bought them at the Santa Monica Farmers Mkt and had to try them
Flavor Paste:  Both Green Onions and Spring Onions (onions that get pulled in spring to let bulbs grow), Thai Lime Leaves (I have a little tree in a pot because I’m too lazy to run to the store when I want to use them).  Just use more lime juice as a substitute.
Umami Condiments:  I beg you to buy a tiny bottle of fish sauce and just try it.  Don’t smell it first.  The smell out of the bottle and what it does for your food are totally different.
Acid Spritz:  I nearly always use lime juice.
Noodles or Rice:  I used Bean Thread Noodles.  They’re cheap and take 3 minutes to cook, but I also love serving coconut soups with sticky Japanese rice.

Fish:  Yes you can use any fish, shellfish, or chicken even.  With the black cod right off the boat it was ohsogood!

Thai Inspired Coconut Soup with Black Cod

Course: Entrée, Soup
Cuisine: Fish, Thai-ish
Servings: 3 servings
Prep Time: 20 minutes
Cook Time: 15 minutes

Ingredients
Flavor Paste
2 inch piece of fresh ginger
5 green onions trimmed and coarsely chopped
2 Thai (kaffir) lime leaves cut into a few big pieces
2 peeled garlic cloves
2 teaspoons curry powder

Broth
2 cups dashi or chicken broth
1 can coconut milk
4 thin slices lime, kumquat, lemon whatever you have

Umami Condiments
2 tablespoons soy sauce
1-2 teaspoons fish sauce OR
Salt to taste

Fish
1 lb Black Cod Filetskinned and cut into 2′ wide chunks
1/2 bunch cilantro washed well and coarsely chopped

Instructions
1. Either cut the peel off the ginger or scrape it off with a spoon. The scraping thing is kind of miraculous. Try it if you never have. Then cut the ginger into a few pieces. Slice the white part of the scallions or spring onions and set them aside. Save the tops for the paste.

2. Throw the peeled ginger, green or spring onions tops, cilantro, Thai lime leaves, garlic and curry paste into the blender or food processor with steel blade. Add a bit of neutral flavored oil to help process the ingredients. Blend or process until as coarse or finely chopped as you like. I went kind of rough on this one.

3. Heat wok or other pot that conducts heat well. Add a couple tablespoons full of the solid part of the coconut milk if you’re using full fat coconut milk or a neutral flavored oil. Heat until hot but not smoking and add the flavor paste and the sliced green or spring onions. Saute until vegetables soften and you can smell the aromatic aroma. It should take a maximum of 5 minutes.

4. Add dashi and bring to a boil. Add the lime slices (or whatever you have available. I used Mandarinquats.)

5. Add the coconut milk and the Umami Condiments. Bring to a gentle simmer. Slide fish into the broth.

6. Serve atop cooked Bean Thread Noodles or Japanese Rice.