May 11, 2015 Lunch – Que Huong Dinner – Baked Pink Grouper with vegetables, Re-fried Black Beans and Rice

May 11, 2015  Lunch – Que Huong   Dinner – Baked Pink Grouper with vegetables, Re-fried Black Beans and Rice

Rosemary invited me to lunch today.  I suggested Que Huong.  We both ordered No. 55 which includes 2 fried egg rolls and grilled pork on top of a bed of warm boiled noodles with salad and herbs on the bottom of the bowl.  We both loved the dish. Each time  I go to Que Huong, it seems to be a little better than any other Vietnamese restaurant in Albuquerque with small personal touches to the dishes, such as a sweeter fish sauce or a dab of shiracha on pickled diakon threads .  I still think Lan's is the best Vietnamese restaurant in the state. 

After lunch we went to Ta Lin to see if they had fresh Pink Grouper and they did.  So we each bought a stomach piece of approximately 1 1/2 lb.

When I saw Suzette in the garden when I arrived home from a 10 mile bike ride to Montano and back, she was happy to hear we were going to make the aluminum baked fish wraps with pink grouper.  I sliced up 2 to 3 Tbsp. each of onion, tomato, pasilla chili, cilantro leaves, white mushroom, red bell pepper, and a carrot. Then I filleted the fish steak into 2 fillets.  Suzette then mixed the vegetables and placed a layer of vegetables on a piece of aluminum foil and then the fish filet.  Then she placed several slices of butter and a splash of 1 Tbsp. of white wine on each fish filet and then covered the fish with more vegetables and crimped the edges and sealed the aluminum foil packages and baked them in a 350˚ oven for 45 minutes.  We heated a 29 oz. can of re-fried black beans in chicken stock and water and a bit of olive oil.  Suzette picked a small handful of epazote leaves from the indoor crop she is growing, which I chopped up and put into the beans.  

the construction of the dish, vegetables, fish, butter and more vegetables 

When the fish was almost finished baking, I heated ½ cup of rice in the microwave and Suzette fetched two bottles of Modelo lager from the garage and we had a wonderful meal of fish baked in a vegetable sauce with rice and re-fried black beans.  We garnished the beans with sour cream.  Only after the meal did I realize that I had queso fresco Chapala in the fridge.

see the sauce made with the wine, butter, and vegetables and fish juices

The fish with rice and beans (see epazote leaves in beans) 

This piece of fish was better than the tail section piece I bought last week.  Always chose a stomach area piece, if you are given a choice.

Also notice how the process of baking the fish sealed in aluminum with a bit of white wine and butter and vegetables produces a considerable amount of its own delicious sauce.  

Bon Appétit