Ginger Soy Steamed Butterfish

He's a Mahi guy and she's an Opah girl. So,...Butterfish? "What the heck is butterfish?" This is exactly what I said when I first heard about it on Christmas Day, 2006, the day I surprised and proposed to my wife, Dawn, on the beach, at sunset on the Waikoloa Beach Marriott Resort & Spa shoreline, just Northeast of Kona, Hawaii

Stay with me now for a bit, because you're soon going to get to the recipe to make this beautiful and tasty dish in just a few minutes. Gotta A.D.D. first... :)

Looks pretty onolicious, eh, brah? Hang tight!

Okay, short story; you can read about the whole, amazing event in my book. After the beach proposal Dawn and I ended up at Roy's Waikoloa Bar & Grill where we had dinner and met Manager, and now friend, Arnie. What a small world because Arnie went to Kamehameha, Dawn to Iolani, and me to Punahou. Yeah, we know which one's best :) And, get this, Arnie's cousin is a friend and Punahou classmate of mine and his Auntie is a family friend as she and my Mom worked together in the Punahou School Admissions Office. WOW! I mean, brah, this is one small world.

So, we meet, we talk a bit, and Arnie joins us at the table and asks about our wedding plans. We tell him it will be on King's Knoll, right across the street at the Marriott and in August 2007. And, yes, David O. was our photographer. What a great guy and fantastic photographer! Yup, we planned our entire wedding in a manner of a few short hours with a few, well, refreshments, and a lot of phone calls. "Reception?," Arnie asks. I respond with, "Not sure yet." He says, "Why not right here?" as he points down at us all sitting at the table together. I come back with, "Roy doesn't do wedding receptions at the restaurant." I was, am still a great fan of Roy's as Chef Roy Yamaguchi worked with my Dad back when he opened his first Roy's Restaurant in Hawaii Kai way back in 1988. My Dad worked in Commercial Property Management and Roy needed a place to open his first restaurant. Arnie next comes back with, "Well, he does now 'cause you're going to have it right here!" OMG, as the saying goes…This is going to be great.

So, we looked over the menu and discussed options right there, that night. The Misoyaki Butterfish appetizer came up and I had never heard of it before. I'm more of a Mahi guy while Dawn is an Opah girl. So Arnie suggested we try the butterfish and, OMG (yup,...again), it was freaking amazing! I had never tasted such a great fish and this recipe was wonderful. It just melted in my mouth and the flavors mixed so well together. My palate was have multiple org....well, you get it. ;)

Eight months later, Arnie shut down half the restaurant that evening and our wedding reception at Roy's Waikoloa Bar & Grill was nothing but spectacular! Everyone commented on what a 'different' reception it was and what a phenomenal meal they had that evening. Yes, the Misoyaki Butterfish Appetizer was definitely on the menu that evening. Also, thanks to Arnie, each table got a large Chocolate Soufflé to share while Dawn and I got a personal one (below) to have together. Let me just say, when you go to Roy's, get the Chocolate Soufflé. Understand? Get it!

So, back to butterfish. We hadn't heard of it for outside of Roy's until my great friend, Kent, sent me a Facebook message last month in Apr 2012, asking if I'd like some butterfish. Wow, I haven't heard that name in awhile. Butterfish, not Kent. :) Kent owns and operates Poi Boy Fishing in Anchorage, Alaska. He and I go way back to when we flew fighters together in England (a long time ago on a continent far, far away). So, after inquiring about the butterfish from Kent though a few e-mail exchanges, I learned that it's basically all the same. I mean, Black Cod is Butterfish, which is also know as Ling Cod. So, yeah, we're in. You better believe we're in! I think my mouth even watered a bit as I remembered Roy's butterfish and put two and two together. Seriously, I don't think I would ever order Black Cod on a restaurant menu if I saw it. Oh, yeah, I'd order butterfish, but cod? You mean, fish and chips type cod? Ah, yeah, not so much; not the same.

Heck, we're writing this cookbook too and we both remember Roy's onolicious Misoyaki Butterfish. We're always anxious for new recipes to make and design so this would be a great opportunity to work with butterfish ourselves. So, I say yes to Kent and a couple of day's later we get this ice packed box delivered via FedEx overnight and I open it to gaze upon 8 beautifully filleted and vacuum sealed sides of butterfish, fresh from the waters of Alaska. Seriously, look at this!

Nicely done, my friend. And please, check out Kent's, Poi Boy Fishing web page where you can order and receive beautiful filets just like those above. Nice pitch, huh?

Next up...a recipe. Well, neither Dawn nor I have Roy's Misoyaki Butterfish recipe, but Dawn had just returned from Kaneohe, Hawaii where she was visiting her newborn twin nieces. While there she was served a Ginger Soy Steamed fish that her sister-in-law, Viki, made for dinner one evening. She got her verbal recipe from a chef at the Hilton Waikoloa in Hawaii after an amazing anniversary meal. Dawn raved about how great it was, sending pictures on the night she had it.

Later that month, after coming home from a company trip and soon after Dawn's return from the islands, I arrived to find that she had made the Ginger Soy Steamed fish recipe for me with a piece of Mahi we had in the freezer. Remember, he's a Mahi guy? Well, needless to say, it was truly amazing and the oohing and aahing Dawn did via text that evening in Hawaii was spot on. Here it is accompanied with some forbidden rice.

Ginger Soy Steamed Mahi Mahi

So, let's make it sometime with Kent's butterfish, I thought. And what a great time to do it as Dawn's Dad and Step-Mom were soon to visit and they both love fish. So, we took out a couple fillets, cut them in half, and thawed them out for dinner. Collectively, we put the dinner together and the fish was again, the star of the meal.

Wow, thank's for hanging in there for me!  Here's the recipe:

Ginger Soy Steamed Butterfish

Fish:

4 - 4-6 ounce fillets

1 Tablespoon Minced Fresh Ginger Root

1/2 Tablespoon Salad Oil

Salt and Pepper to taste

In a blender or food processor, add oil and ginger and puree until smooth. Pour over fish

and mix to cover. Let stand for 1 hour.

Sauce:

1/2 Cup Soy Sauce

1/2 Cup Sugar

1 Tablespoon Minced Fresh Ginger Root

1 Tablespoon Minced Garlic

2 teaspoons Sesame Oil

Red Chili Flakes to taste

In a separate container, mix 1/4 Cup Cornstarch with 1/4 Cup Water

Combine sauce ingredients and cook over medium heat until it begins to thicken, 10-15

minutes. Slowly add cornstarch mixture until desired thickness is reached.  You will not use all of the mixture.  Keep warm.

Garnish:

Cilantro

Julienned Carrots

Julienned Scallions (green part only)

1/4 Cup Peanut Oil

2 Tablespoons Toasted Sesame Seeds

To Prepare the dish:

Season ginger infused fish with salt and pepper. Transfer to a basket steamer and

steam for 6 minutes or until flesh just starts to flake when pierced with a fork.

When fish is done, transfer to individual plates and drizzle sauce over fish. Top with

cilantro, green onions and carrots.

In a small pan, heat peanut oil until smoking. Drizzle smoking peanut oil over cilantro, green onions,

and carrots.  Sprinkle with toasted sesame seeds and serve immediately.

Served here with forbidden rice and grilled artichoke with garlic aioli. The grilled artichoke and garlic aioli are in a totally separate recipe.

And here's the plating:

Ginger Soy Steamed Butterfish

Well, there you have it: one short story about our engagement night and a great new recipe to try for yourself. Seriously, it's very easy to make and takes no time at all. It's even faster if you have the sauce already prepared or frozen.  Dawn made a double batch of the sauce so we had it ready to go and the steaming takes only 6 minutes, so as amazing as the recipe is, you can have it on the table in no time.  Yes, I was a Mahi guy and Dawn an Opah girl, so this recipe would also work well on just about any sweet, white, flaky fish. Trust me, you will be pleasantly surprised and your palate will luv it. And remember, we still have some butterfish sealed away in the freezer, so don't be surprised if you see it on the table if you come and visit us.  (Thanks again Kent!)

Oh, and here's the picture I took moments after that proposal on Christmas Day, 2006. I had her hooked at that point, so I got to take some pictures while she made phone calls. Oh, the hopeless romantic...

Mahalo for Cooking with Captain Bobby Mitchel

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