Tonight we came home from church and immediately started working on the dutch oven duel. For those just tuning in, I had challenged
Mark at
Mark's Black Pot to a "
Dutch Oven Duel". We chose 3 ingredients for each other to work with, a meat, a spice and a fruit, vegetable or starch. I was given fish, dill and potato. I chose for Mark pork, curry and orange. Since my parents were coming over we served dinner at 5:30, and I actually was on time for the dinner bell with them! This is what I came up with for the challenge.
I was busy
cooking a pig yesterday, so I couldn't go to the store myself. Instead I sent my awesome wife to do the shopping for me. She called me during a very dangerous full contact game of "do you know your neighbor" with the young men and young women of our congregation. She wanted to know what kind of fish fillet to get. I had put flounder, because we saw some frozen flounder at the store, but she had gone to a different store, and they didn't have flounder. I said "Just get the cheapest fillet you can find". Dangerous words, right? One might think so, but she came home with some basa. I thought they had just keyed in a misspelling when they labeled it, and it was bass.
Turns out basa is a catfish that swims in Vietnam and Thailand. You learn something new every day, right? Basa is a very flavorful cut, but does not have the fishy taste that turns most people off.
Recipe:
Bottom: 15 coals
Top: 18 coals
12" Standard Dutch Oven
5-6 basa fillets, or other fish fillet
dill
5 large potatoes
1 tb chopped garlic
1 pint heavy cream
1 cup milk
6 tb butter
3/8 cup flour
salt
pepper
olive oil
balsamic vinegar*
1 pound white hard artisan cheese (I used asiago)
Rub the fish fillets with dill, salt and pepper. Braise the fish in a generous amount of oil. *Spill some balsamic vinegar in the pot by mistake, because it looks exactly like the olive oil bottle. Sear both sides then remove and set aside. Add butter and melt. Add garlic and flour, combining to a blonde roux. (a blonde roux is golden in color and does not cook much of the flour gluten.) Remove roux and add cream, 1/2 the milk, generous shakes of dill, salt and pepper. Add spoonfuls of the roux until the cream sauce thickens. I ended up using it all and it turned out perfect. When the sauce thickens, grate about half the cheese stirring often. Add the potatoes and stir with the cream sauce. Add the fish on the top and grate some cheese on top. Replace the lid and cook for 45 minutes to 1 hour. Serve with bread and steamed vegetables.
5 Stars
Bon Appetit!
The Outdoors Start at Your Back Porch!
Well, I had a great time throwing down the gauntlet with Mark, and I look forward to see
his challenge posted up at the Black Pot. If you cook a mean dutch oven, find somebody else who does and have a similar challenge! It will not only help your skill grow, but you can make some great friends in the process!
My parents gave the dish rave reviews and my wife, who hates fish, said it was really tasty! ~Take THAT Mark! ;)
I steamed some mixed vegetables. To steam in a Dutch Oven, just put about 1-2 inches of water in the bottom and add the vegetables with even heat on top and bottom.
I toasted some premade french bread and served it with bruchetta.
