Swordfish is diced, sautéed and marinated in a flavoursome sauce. This dish goes well with rice and the flavour is so good that you will probably ask for another bowl of rice.
This is another of Nagi’s favourite Japanese dishes that I make (well, she has many favourites).
Because swordfish is a large fish, the meat is normally sold as steaks. The meat is firm so you can cook it in many ways which you cannot with other types of fish. For example: on skewers; dicing the meat and cooking. This recipe takes advantage of the characteristics of swordfish meat. The fish is diced and sautéed.
I find that swordfish has a slightly stronger fishy flavour than other white meat fish, perhaps because of the high fat content. But in this recipe, the sauce made of soy sauce and vinegar mixed with ginger and shallots eliminates the fishy flavour of the meat. The cooked fish is marinated in the flavoursome sauce while hot to absorb the good flavour.
Cutting the meat into bite size achieves two objectives here: (1) each piece gets marinated well, (2) it is easier to eat with chopsticks.
The main ingredient is of course the fish. But I think the star of this dish is the sauce. Plenty of finely chopped shallots, grated ginger and garlic adds so much flavour to the sauce that you could even eat the sauce with plain rice without any fish!
It is pretty easy to make this flavoursome dish. You need to allow 15 minutes for marinating the fish before cooking and another 15 minutes after cooking so the elapsed time to make this dish and get it ready to eat is more than 30 minutes. But the cooking time is probably only 4-5 minutes or so.
I was not keen on using the word ‘vinaigrette’ in the recipe name which is how Nagi called it. Strictly speaking, the sauce is not really vinaigrette as it does not have oil in it. However, once the sautéed fish is marinated in the sauce, it becomes a vinaigrette with the oil from the fish. So I decided to call it ‘Swordfish in Vinaigrette’. What do you think?
Enjoy the meal.
Yumiko
Swordfish in Vinaigrette
Swordfish is diced, sautéed and marinated in a flavoursome sauce. This dish goes well with rice and the flavour is so good that you will probably ask for another bowl of rice.
Recipe Type:
Main
Cuisine:
Japanese
Serves: 2
:
Ingredients (tbsp=15ml, cup=250ml)
Fish
-
2
swordfish fillets
, 200-250g (0.4-0.6lb) each - A pinch of salt
-
1
tsp
soy sauce -
1
tsp
sake -
2
tbsp
flour -
2
tbsp
vegetable oil
Sauce
-
3
shallots (scallions)
finely chopped -
1
tsp
grated garlic -
2
tsp
grated ginger -
2
tbsp
soy sauce -
3
tbsp
rice wine vinegar
(Note 1)
Instructions
-
Remove skin from swordfish if intact. Cut the fish into bite size pieces, about 2-3cm (1″) cubes and put them in a bowl or a zip lock bag.
-
Add salt, sake and soy sauce from the Fish ingredients to the bowl/bag and mix with the fish. Leave for about 15 minutes.
-
Meanwhile, mix the Sauce ingredients in a wide bowl or deep plate so that the fish pieces can be distributed without piling up.
-
Discard any excess liquid collected at the bottom of the bowl/bag with the fish. Add the flour and coat the fish well.
-
Heat oil in a non-stick fry pan set over medium heat, and place the fish pieces in the pan. Cook for 1-2 minutes or until golden brown, then turn. Keep turning like this ensuring that all sides of the cube are cooked and golden brown.
-
Transfer the fish from the pan to the sauce bowl/plate and mix so the fish is coated with the sauce. Marinate for about 15 min.
-
Serve with rice.
Recipe Notes
1. You can substitute rice wine vinegar to white wine vinegar.
2. It can be served at room temperature and is good the next day too in bento (弁当, lunch box).
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