The fish was wonderfully flaky in a way that, so far in my life, only haddock has been with itd nice firm texture. The fish had such a large flake, and its texture was so meaty and its flavor so bold, even for a white-fleshed fish, that I was craving more halfway through my first bite! If you have never had haddock and are slightly tired of halibut, cod, flounder, tilapia, and other whitefish, haddock is a great substitute to those fish in other recipes and, depending on the recipe, may end up replacing those others in your standards and favorites. The haddock was rubbed before it was baked in the oven, retaining its flavor and moisture, with a miso-chipotle glaze adapted from several sources with the ingenious addition of the chipotle by my father. He decided that seafood over a pesto pasta craved the use of something with heat, and it did. The combination of the salty miso paste and the spice gave the fish such a new dimension of taste that I really can't describe it better than you neededing to taste it for yourself!! The glaze is a combinaion of miso paste mixed with a drop of sesame oil and sake stirred in until it's a little bit runny and can be spread/drizzled over the fish and topped with sesame seeds. This keeps the fish moist in the oven and right up until service at the table, and really penetrates the fish for not being a marinade. The natural flavor of the fish is heightened by the miso and sake combination, and the chipotle is ground and added to the glaze before it is spread over the fish. Adjust the amount of chipotle to desired heat, and it can be done without the pepper if you desire, but I can't recommend it : P. The whole wheat linguine added a nice firm texture to the dish, since whole wheat pasta really adds to the heartiness of whatever it is with, and the pesto was light and perfectly mingled with the chipotle and the wheatiness of the pasta. The whole dish amazingly tied together East and Mediterranean with the pesto, pasta, chipotle, and miso in this fusion-style dish with flare that truly worked the way that it was intended. The pesto was rather heavy on the garden-fresh basil, tankfully, which really made it aromatic and fresh, especially when drizzled with lemon juice which not only heightened the natural flavor of the seafood as lemon always does but also reinforced the fresh, bright flavor of the pesto. Thus, the pasta was not too heavy that it could not be lifted and mitigated by the amazingly light pesto and fish flavors.
- Haddock and Pesto Pasta - Finished Presentation
Garden-Fresh Pesto
3-4 cups of fresh basil leaves
3/4 cup fresh parsley
1 head of garlic, roasted
juice and zest of 1 large lemon
1/2 cup toasted almonds
1/4 cup freshly grated parmasean reggiano
1/3 cup high-quality olive oil
vegetable stock -- enough to create desired consistency
Directions: Place all ingredients reserving the olive oil and stock into a food processor. Blend until finely chopped and slowly add in olive oil. Continue to add chicken stock until it is the desired consistency of pesto, depending upon the dish. Toight's dish had to be slightly less liquid, since it had to stick to the pasta and retain some of its crunchy/leafy texture.
