Stuffed Wolffish with Cauliflower-Coconut-Puree

Have I already told you that we´ve finally managed to book our yearly vacation? No? Jeees. Probably because I already can´t wait until we´re going. We will travel to Thailand this year, 15 days in Decembre, covering Xmas and returning shortly before Change of Years. Woohoo! Street kitchens, be warned, I am coming - and I am willing to try whatever you got on hand. OK, except for roasted duck beak, maybe. But we´ll see. We´ll be spending the first couple of days in Bangkok, then moving on to Koh Samui for the relaxing part of the vacation - so if you´ve got any inside tips on where to go or what to see, please let me know in the comments or via info[at]cookinette[dot]net.

Thinking about the vacation, I was in the mood for more experimental cooking tonight. Asian-style. Of course. I managed to come across a beautiful piece of wolffish. I love this fish because of its compact flesh - and because of its funny german name: "Steinbeißer" (stone biter).


I wasn´t in the mood for pure fish fillet, so I stuffed the wolffish with a peanut creme: peanut butter, kaffir lime leaves, chili and garlic all mixed up with the hand blender. Spread on to half of the fish, folded the other half on top, and pan-seared the whole thing.

To accompany, I made a cauliflower puree - which works just like your plain old mashed potatoes: boil cauliflower and a single potato (for binding), puree with coconut milk, et voilá.
The combo of nutty fish and smooth, creamy puree was great - and even people who usually don´t like cauliflower will eat this puree, trust me.

I have to admit, I should have brought in a bit more color - looking at it now, it does look kind of blank. Next time, I´ll have some broccoli or snow peas on the side.

Recipe for Stuffed Wolffish with Cauliflower-Coconut-Puree


Ingredients

1 fillet of wolffish
salt and pepper
2 tablespoons peanut butter
1/2 chili
1 clove of garlic
3 kaffir lime leaves

1 cauliflower
1 potato
250ml coconut milk
salt and pepper
chili powder


Preparation

1. For the cauliflower puree, clean cauliflower and break into roses. Peel potato and cut into cubes. Bring a large pot with water to a boil. Salt. Add cauliflower and potato, and cook until tender (appr. 20 minutes).
2. Meanwhile, rinse and dry fish. Cut into equally sized pieces. Season with salt and pepper.
3. For the peanut creme, mince garlic. Grind kaffir lime leaves. Combine peanut butter, chili, garlic and kaffir lime leaves. Spread onto half of the fish. Fold remaining half on top. If necessary, bind with kitchen thread.
   
4. Heat a pan with butter oil. Sear fish on each side for two minutes, then reduce heat to medium and cook until tender (appr. 8 minutes).
5. Drain cauliflower and potato. Keep some small neat cauliflower roses for decoration.
6. Heat coconut milk. Puree veggies with coconut milk. Season to taste with salt, pepper and chili powder. Don´t be too cautious with salt and chili, the coconut milk really absorbs a lot of the spices.
7. To serve, dress puree in the middle of the plate, top with wolffish and decorate with the remaining cauliflower roses.

Guten Appetit! Enjoy your meal! Bon Appétit!