I have been busy these past few months with my post graduate degree that I was not able to post anything. The weekends became my study days so I can meet the deadlines. However, this week, I am free and I was able to finish this semester earlier than the target date. I decided to give myself a couple of weeks off and here I am blogging again.
Weekends are fish days in our family. We always eat pork, chicken or beef on weekdays and sometimes it just hit us that we just want fish on weekends. When I was a child, I hate fish. I often joke my mom when we have fish on two consecutive days that soon we will grow gills on our neck. Well, as I grew older, I learn to appreciate the tasty flavor of fish, especially when it is accompanied by vegetables. Fried dinaing na isda and vegetable is something that became a comfort food for me. It gives me a break from the scrumptious flavor of pork or chicken. I don’t hate pork or chicken, I love them. However, this is the stage of once life that you learn to appreciate the food your parents love to eat. Yes, my parents love fish and vegetables.
Today, I missed the wonderful taste of grilled tuna jaw, but I want to make something different. Here comes en papillote. A method of cooking where in the fish or meat is wrap in a paper or aluminum foil with herbs and vegetables to keep it moist then bake until cooked. The tuna jaw is my choice of fish as it is so flavorful with even salt and pepper.
I thoroughly wash the tuna jaw. Rub it with generous amount of salt and drizzle it with white vinegar to remove the fish smell. Then, I wash it again with water and let it stand to drain excess water. For the marinate, I simple combined fish sauce, Chinese parsley, chili, garlic, onion, salt, sugar, pepper, mirin and calamansi juice. I mashed them using a mortar and pestle and drizzle it over the tuna jaw. I wrap it in the aluminum foil and added a splash of vodka before totally enclosing it. Then, I bake it in the oven for 30 minutes. Serve it with hot steamed rice and a mixture of light soy sauce, calamansi and chili as dipping sauce.
Ingredient
2 pieces Half Tuna Jaw, cleaned
1/2 cup Chinese Parsley, chopped
4 Tablespoons Fish Sauce, Patis
1 piece Chili, chopped
6 cloves Garlic, chopped
1 piece Onion, chopped
1/2 teaspoon Salt
1/2 teaspoon Sugar
1/2 teaspoon Black Pepper
1 Tablespoon Mirin
2 Tablespoons Calamansi Juice
4 Tablespoons Vodka
Procedure
Preheat oven to 200 degrees Celsius.
Combine Chinese parsley, fish sauce, chili, garlic, onion, salt, sugar, pepper, mirin and calamansi juice in a mortar and pound using a pestle until you form a paste. Place the marinade paste on the tuna jaw.
Place the tuna jaw on a sheet of aluminum foil, one sheet per half piece of tuna jaw. cover with another sheet of aluminum foil and fold each edges several times until sealed. Before completely sealing the aluminum foil, add two tablespoons of vodka then completely seal the aluminum foil. Marinate for 30 minutes. Baked for 30 minutes.
Serve with light soy sauce, calamansi juice and chili as dipping sauce. you can pair it with chilled fresh salsa made of chopped tomatoes, onion and salt.
