Haddock in a Ginger and Garlic Crust with Thai Dipping Sauce

For tonight’s Saturday Night Dinner we continue to explore the Irish cookbook My Wild Atlantic Kitchen. This recipe, Monkfish in a Garlic & Ginger Crust with Thai Dipping Sauce, originally requires monkfish. Needless to say, the local Food Lion doesn’t carry monkfish. But they do have cod and haddock, both of which would work with this, so I went with haddock. I think might even be great with salmon.

This is my interpretation of the meal.

I’m cooking for one person, so I halved the recipe. For instance, instead of 2 lbs of fish, I used 1 lbs

Ingredients

2 lb sturdy white fish

• Fresh ginger, peeled and roughly chopped (I used two heaping tablespoons of ginger puree)
• 4 garlic cloves, peeled
• 2 tbsp olive oil
• 3 tbsp plain white flour, with 1 tsp cracked black pepper (it called for salt here, I left it out)
• 2 tbsp Kerrygold butter, for frying
• Coriander powder to taste

Thai Dipping Sauce: • 2 Tbs good quality red wine vinegar
• 1 tbsp agave
• 2 garlic cloves, peeled and finely chopped
• 3 large red chillies, deseeded and finely chopped. I used one finally chopped habenaro


Thai dipping sauce:
To make the Thai dipping sauce, place the vinegar and sugar in a small stainless steel saucepan. Bring to the boil, then simmer until the vinegar has reduced by half. Add the garlic and chilli.
Preheat the oven to fan 400°F .

Cut the fish into small pies, a few inches long, an inch wide. In a food processor, blitz the ginger and garlic until finely chopped, then add 1-2 tbsp of oil to form a smooth paste. Coat the fish in the garlic ginger paste, then dip in the seasoned flour to lightly dust.

Heat an ovenproof frying pan with the butter over a high heat until it reaches smoking point. Shallow fry the fish for 3 minutes or until golden brown either side. Place the pan in the oven and roast for 3-5 minutes, or until cooked depending on the thickness.

Serve the fish with a small dish of Thai dipping sauce on the plate with freshly snipped coriander (I used powder) over it, lime wedges.

I served mine with spiralized zucchini. (sauteed onion and roasted red bell pepper, the quickly cook the zucchini with crushed black pepper and red pepper flakes to taste.