Something prettier

Sometimes, when glancing over recent photos of myself, I wonder if there's something to be said about putting more effort into my appearance. Not that I look grotesque or anything, but even I will admit that these days, I attend events in a rather plain, shaggy, and "out-of-place" fashion, my mien amplified when set against the drop of my many composed friends. As usual, I waver between ambivalence and slight embarrassment regarding this matter, which if you think about it, isn't such a bad place to be. Nonetheless, as I posited before, there may be something to be said about it. Something.

I know, I know. Impressions, appearances, all of these things are exceedingly important in this work-a-day world. I myself even ascribe to this model of judgment to a certain extent (which makes me wonder if I'm hypocritical for not following its rules to a tee). I mean, what else do we have to fight against the onslaught of strangers and random people we see on the street? And yet, what do people think when they come across me, the bundled up Asian version of Harry Potter huffing up the street, with my giant bag eating my back and my hair completely covering my eyes? What do they think??

Who really knows? It's all probably for the better. Nevertheless, I tried to put effort into the appearance of this dish. In my usual case, if something turns out pretty, then fantastic, if not, I don't post so much about it or take photographs. This time, however, I made a conscious effort to put some beauty into the dish, and it worked wonderfully. 

Swai fish (falls into the catfish family, I believe) is a mild, juicy, firm but tender fish that melts away in your mouth when baked the right way with the right ingredients. It stands up well against the richly flavored kale and adouille sausage medley, which imparts a smokey essence to the dish. Served atop a bed of shitake mushroom risotto, the recipe and method which can be found here (with the addition of a finely diced stalk of celery), this dinner is light and healthy, and really isn't that difficult to make. 

Kale and Andouille Stuffed Swai Roulades

Serves 2-3 

1 medium bunch of kale

3 oz. smoked andouille sausage, chopped fine (chicken)

5 cloves of garlic, minced

2 TB fried shallots

1-2 TB olive oil

smoked salt

freshly ground pepper

3 large swai filets, defrosted

3 TB Greek yogurt

3 TB Dijon mustard

1 TB unsalted butter, softened

lemon pepper

salt

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Prepare a muffin tin by buttering 6 of the tins (or spraying 6 of the muffin tin spots with a non-stick coating). I used a 6-muffin pan, which in terms of size, yields jumbo muffins. So butter 6 jumbo-size muffin spots. One can probably use a regular muffin tin as well; your fish flowers will be tighter.

Bring a pot of water to a boil on the stove, and blanch the kale bunch in the water (boil the leaves for approximately 2-3 minutes, then remove from the boiling water and immediately run under cool water). Kale should now be a beautiful bright green. After draining, let the kale rest until cool to touch. Once cool, roughly chop the leaves (should yield a little more than 2 cups), and reserve in a bowl. If you are adding the stems to the mix (I always do, why waste them?), make sure you chop them very fine, much more fine than the leaves, and discard any bits that are still too fibrous after boiling. Don't want too much roughage coming in the end to bite you in the ass.

In another pan on medium flame, heat up the olive oil until oil (or you can use vegetable oil spread) until shiny and coats the whole pan easily. Add in half of the minced garlic and all the fried shallots, cooking until shallots and garlic are sizzling and releasing their aromas. Then add in the finely chopped andouille sausage (you can use andouille pork sausage here if you'd like) and cook until it is beginning to brown. Finally, add in the chopped kale and saute everything for approximately 5 minutes. Season with smoked salt and ground pepper. Then remove from heat, stir in the remaining fresh garlic, and cover. Set aside for later assembly.

Split the filets in half, lengthwise (will have a total of 6 pieces). Mix together the Greek yogurt, Dijon mustard, and butter until a smooth paste is formed. Season 1 side of the filet-piece liberally with lemon pepper and a little bit of salt. Flip the filet-piece over and coat the other side with the yogurt-mustard mix. Do this for the remaining 5 filet-pieces. You are now ready for the final assembly. 

Using a muffin pan, lay your fish filets into the muffin tin spots so they look like rose petals, one filet-piece per muffin tin. Yogurt-mustard side of the filet should face in, while the lemon-pepper side of filet should face out. While the pictures above should make this whole assembly self-explanatory, I'd like to give some clarification. This dish puts the fish into a roulade (or roll) form, a.k.a. there should be a hole in the center for the stuffing, or the fish filets loop around the stuffing. I prefer using the muffin tins instead of rolling the fish by hand into a roulade because hand-rolling the filets and then skewering them with a long toothpick allots for more handling of the fish, and thus more possible destruction of the delicate flesh. I also think baking the fish this way makes for a beautiful presentation (none of the filling splooges out), hence bringing me back to the theme of this post. Prettier.

After the fish roulade has been assembled, pack the kale and andouille sausage mixture into the centers of the rolls (into the holes), until slightly overflowing. Begin your risotto. When you have about 10 minutes left for your risotto, pop your fish, or muffin pan, into the oven and bake for 15 minutes. Remove the roulades from the oven when time is up (do not over bake the fish!) and serve immediately atop a bed of risotto.