Pescado con Rajas y Crema - A simply delicious Rick Bayless recipe

Even though I can't eat at his restaurants very often, Chef Rick Bayless is quickly becoming one of my favorite chefs.  It's enjoyable reading his tweets everyday and seeing him on various Food Network shows.  I also enjoy breaking out one of his cookbooks, and trying some of the incredible sounding and looking dishes which also allow me to try techniques and flavors that are definitely different than what I typically work with.  The only thing is that usually the recipes are pretty involved and take a while, well at least for the amateur cook.  When I made a mole for the first time (which turned out fantastic), it ended up taking me something like four hours.  So, I usually don't take on a Rick Bayless recipe during the week.  But, in flipping through the cookbook, I found something I figured I could pull off; Pescado con Rajas y Crema.  Not only does it feature halibut, which happens to be fresh and in season right now (one of the perks of living in Seattle), but it looked like it would only take me an hour and a half which just fits into my after work cooking schedule.

Pescado con Rajas y Crema is a pretty simple dish.  It features a quick fried fish with a poblano pepper cream sauce.  To start, I seasoned the halibut with a little bit of salt and the juice of one lime.  I left it to marinate for about an hour.  From there, I turned to the sauce.  Ok, I actually went and watched baseball for half an hour, then turned to the sauce.  I roasted the poblano to remove the skin and bring out a bit of flavor.  While it was roasting, I sliced some Vidalia onion using my new mandoline, which is far and away one of the greatest little tools that I never knew I needed!!  I put the onion in a small sauce pan with a little bit of olive oil, and cooked until it was lightly browned.  Then I added the poblano (after removing the skin and slicing thinly), and some garlic.  After a couple minutes, I poured in the heavy cream and brought it to a simmer to allow it to thicken.

While the sauce was thickening, I pulled the halibut back out, took it out of the lime juice marinade, and patted it dry.  Then I started getting some green beans ready as a nice side vegetable.  The thing is I wasn't paying that much attention to the sauce when I suddenly heard some sizzling coming from the stove.  I looked and it had boiled over.  So I quickly ran over, pulled it off the heat, cleaned it up and returned it to the heat.  This would be an ongoing battle for the next 10 minutes...

Finally, after conceding the battle to the sauce, and turning down the heat, I got the fish ready.  I added a little butter and oil to a skillet, and let that heat until the butter started to brown.  At that point, I quickly dredged the fish in flour, and put it in the oil/butter mixture.  After a minute and a half, I flipped it over, cooked for another minute and a half, then added the sauce.  The whole thing then simmered for a couple more minutes, before I took it off the heat and added it to a plate with some rice.  Then I added a bit of parmesan cheese (that was a total ad lib, but it seemed like it needed it) and some scallions, and it was ready to go!

The flavors were great.  It was a little mild which is what I usually like when cooking for the two of us (if it was just me, I might have gone for a bit spicier pepper like a jalepeno or serrano with some bell pepper).  The cream sauce was rich, but accompanied the fish very well.  I made quick work of mine, and had to fight to urge to polish off Jennifer's leftovers (one of the trick's to staying in shape while eating well is to stop eating).

I can't wait until my next trip to Chicago when I can hit up Topolobampo or Frontera Grill or Xoco, but in the meantime, I'll keep making the delicious dishes in Rick Bayless' cookbook, hoping to do them the justice that they deserve.

For the actual recipe, check out Rick Bayless' cookbook Authentic Mexican.