Jerk Fish & Shrimp with Gingered Pak Choi and Asparagus

I love flavours of the West Indies, having travelled to Grenada and St Lucia, and none more so than jerk, it’s the sweet and hot kick that livens up any dish. This recipe allows the fish and shrimp to take the jerk seasoning while the ginger is a fresh and warm aromatic that provides the extra zing pak choi needs. I used a dry rub jerk seasoning here, try to pick up a good one such as the Dunns River brand, which is widely available from speciality stores or supermarkets that carry speciality ranges.

Ingredients (serves two, just half everything for one portion): 

• 2 white fish fillets, around 100g each.

• Jerk seasoning, about 3-4 tsps

• Good handful of raw peeled shrimps (king prawns), around 150g

• 6 cherry tomatoes, halved, around 125g

• Asparagus tips, around 150-200g

• 2 pak choi, around 200-250g

• A couple of inches of ginger root, finely chopped

• Half a lemon, juiced.

• A couple of knobs of butter, about 2 tsp.

• A couple of splashes of flavourless cooking oil, 1 or 2 tsps each.

How to:

 

1. Coat the fish and shrimp in a light coating of the jerk seasoning; don't overkill the flavours of the fish. Leave aside.
2. Prepare the pak choi, chopping first in half between the leaves and the bulb; then cut the bulb into 1/4" slices. Slice the leaves a couple of times, set aside.
3. Blanch the asparagus tips in boiling water for 1 minute, remove and set aside.
4. Heat a knob of butter and a splash of the cooking oil in a small sauté pan, When it's hot and the butter is foaming, carefully lay the fish in the oil to begin cooking; check the heat if necessary and reduce to medium heat.
5. In a separate sauté pan heat a splash of the cooking oil and, when hot, drop in the sliced bulb of pak choi, add the chopped ginger and stir fry for approximately 2 minutes.
6. Check your fish and, when it’s turned opaque around through half way up, flip the fillet over. Add the shrimp along with the halved tomatoes, cut side down, and sauté, turning the shrimp, for around 4 minutes until cooked through. Set aside, it can rest for a minute or two in the pan.
7. Finish the pak choi on a high heat and add the leaves and asparagus; stir fry for 1 minute until the leaves just begin to wilt.  Squeeze juice of the quarter lemon over the leaves and give everything a final toss.
8. Plate up, first with the pak choi and asparagus, then top with the fish surround with shrimp and tomatoes. Cut and drop the lemon wedge in for presentation and serve.

Time to Level Up

After focussing on swimming, yoga, body balance and general cardio sessions, I started including weights in my regime last September. I'm really enjoying it and starting to see results, which is, in itself, hugely motivational to take it up to the next level. I want to learn and understand the body science of building muscle through fitness and good eating. This feature from Muscle and Fitness looks like a good read and resource for anyone starting out or, like me, wants to take training up a step.


The UltimateStarter's Guide

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New Year, New Blog.

My online stuff has got messy so it's time for a tidy up. I'll stash interesting tidbits and posts around the subject of fitness, health and good eating on this blog. Welcome! Gaming, tech and communication posts will live over at the new, shiny and similarily clean Rich Observations