Wendell's Onaga with Dill Cream Sauce

Remember the steamed onaga that Wendell made for New Year's Day? A funny thing happened.  When I lifted up the bones to reveal the other half of the fish for my mom, there was no "other half of the fish".  Me and my sister laughed and thought that it musta already got flipped over, but we wondered how it was done without getting the fish all bust up.

We later found out that Wendell had filleted and cut off the other half before steaming the fish and had set it aside. 

The following day, he used the saved portion and made this pan-fried onaga with a cream sauce.  It was really good.  He followed a recipe from Sam Choy's Cooking from the Heart cookbook.



4 onaga fillets
1/2 c. flour, to dust fish
2 tbsp. olive oil
2 tbsp. butter
1 c. shiitake mushrooms, sliced
2 c. heavy cream
1 tbsp. shoyu
2 tbsp. fresh dill, chopped
salt and pepper to taste

Season fish fillets with salt and pepper and dust with flour.

Heat oil and butter in pan. Place fish skin side down and fry 2 1/2 to 3 minutes until golden brown. Turn and fry another 2 or 3 minutes, just until fish turns opaque in the middle.  Remove fish.

Extract all but 2 tbsp. of oil from the pan, add shiitake mushrooms, heavy cream, and shoyu.  Bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer 3 or 4 minutes, or until sauce has been reduced to a nice consistency.  Fold in dill at the very end and adjust seasonings with salt and pepper.