Steamed fish

Who doesn't need another fish recipe?! Ingredients: soy sauce, fish (one fish, two fish, red fish, blue fish -- ok it's halibut), some funky mushrooms (or not), limes (these babies are homegrown!), and some booze (I used vermouth, but you could use that demon brew sake that makes you embarass yourself at a friend's wedding reception -- i swear i thought it was rice WINE)

Slice the lime and put it on the fish. The whole thing steams on a plate in a bamboo steamer over a wok. So cool! And you won't get complaints that the house smells like fish. It WILL smell like soggy bamboo, but most people like that.

Pop your mushrooms on top. These look like enoki, but i think they are something else (mushroom dude at the farmer's market had a bunch so how could i resist?!). Then splash on some tamari and some booze. I like the San-J tamrai (soy sauce) because they don't need to fill the bottle with sodium benzoate.

Pop the lid on -- you can stack as many plates as you have steamer baskets. (Loblaws even sells these now -- so great!). Just keep the water in your wok below the point of contact with the steamer.

Have a beer. Fish will steam for 20 mins -- might as well do something useful.

20 minutes later. DON'T try to pick up the plate now-- it is coverd in boozy, saucy water. Instead pick up the steamer basket and use it to drain the sauce off the plate into the sink. (Just hold the tray and gently tilt it until the juice runs off.) Then your fish plates will look like this.

Pick out some nice fishy plates for your nice fishy supper.

And fill them with food! Tomatoes on this side are nice, dressed with salt, pepper, and some balsamic vinegar. Rice is Japanese, garnished with black sesame seeds (not mouse poo) and chile.

And the sources of inspiration? Jeff Smith for the steaming method. Kimiko Barber for the mushrooms on the fish idea (although she cooks it in foil, which is reprehensible) and Washoku for the advice on rice. Peaceable kingdom. Happy eating!