Welcome to One Pot Bangers, Benjamin Kemper’s weekly column, the place you’ll discover our freshest, boldest cooking concepts that require only one pot, skillet, or sheet pan. Busy week? We’ve acquired you lined with these low-effort, high-reward recipes from across the globe.
Who remembers when the epitome of refined eating was a plate of sesame-crusted tuna fanned out round a tall, sculpted salad? That scandalously uncommon heart! These unique (yikes) sesame seeds! The scraggly tuft of mesclun with balsamic French dressing!
Having grown up within the 90s, I positive do. And whereas I can reside with out lots of that decade’s culinary mainstays (*cough* portobello burger), sesame-crusted fish nonetheless makes me really feel fancy inside. Bother is, I seldom see it on menus anymore.
So I’ve been making my very own at dwelling. And guess what? It’s form of a breeze: a fast dredge in sesame seeds, a flash within the pan, et voilà: the home would possibly as effectively be a power-lunch scene from American Psycho. I wager you a spherical of appletinis that each dinner visitor over 30 will ooh and ahh.
Now, as a cook dinner whose poisonous trait is fixing issues that ain’t broke, I couldn’t assist tinkering with the traditional system. Enter swordfish, which I’ve discovered makes a beautiful substitute for tuna: Its milder, sweeter taste lets the aromatic, nutty sesame seeds do extra of the speaking. Bonus: It’s tougher to overcook.
Whereas the sword rests—as with steak, tenting thick cuts of fish with foil after cooking retains them moist—I prefer to stir-fry no matter greens are kicking across the fridge with soy, cilantro, and garlic. (No person appears to overlook the mesclun.) Taking a web page from the 2022 playbook, I then drizzle chili crisp over the entire mess. The ultimate dish could also be a far cry from the ‘90s unique, however let’s simply name it timeless.
Pan-Seared Sesame Swordfish with Blistered Snap Peas and Chili Crisp
We turned a chichi restaurant mainstay right into a one-pan weeknight meal that comes collectively in below half-hour.
Yield: serves 4
Time:
25 minutes
Elements
- 2 lb. swordfish steaks (1 in. thick), pores and skin eliminated
- ¼ cups vegetable oil, divided
- 1 tbsp. kosher salt, divided
- 1 cup white sesame seeds
- 12 oz. snap peas, trimmed (3½ cups)
- 2 tbsp. finely chopped contemporary ginger
- 2 giant garlic cloves, finely chopped
- 1 tbsp. darkish brown sugar or candy soy sauce (kecap manis)
- 1 tbsp. soy sauce
- 2 tsp. finely grated lime zest
- 2 tsp. toasted sesame oil
- 2 tbsp. contemporary lime juice
- Chili crisp, cilantro leaves, and lime wedges, for serving
Directions
- Utilizing paper towels, pat the tunaswordfish dry. To a big zip-top bag, add the tunaswordfish, 1 tablespoon of the oil, and a couple of teaspoons of the salt. Seal the bag and rub gently to coat.
- In a shallow baking dish or pie plate, unfold the sesame seeds in a fair layer. Working in batches, coat the swordfish effectively on each side with the seeds, urgent so that they adhere.
- To a big skillet set over excessive warmth, add 2 tablespoons of the oil. When it’s shimmering and starting to smoke, add the swordfish and cook dinner, turning as soon as and with out transferring the steaks, till the seeds are golden brown on each side and the fish (when pierced with a knife) is sort of opaque within the heart, about 7 minutes whole. Switch to a plate and tent with foil. Wipe out the pan and return it to the range.
- To the empty pan, add the remaining oil and switch the warmth to excessive. When the oil begins to smoke, add the snap peas and stir-fry till beginning to blister, about 3 minutes. Add the ginger and garlic and cook dinner till aromatic, about 30 seconds. Stir within the brown sugar, soy sauce, lime zest, sesame oil, and remaining salt and cook dinner till evenly coated, about 1 minute extra. Stir within the lime juice, then switch to a platter.
- To serve, organize the swordfish over the snap peas, then garnish with lime wedges and cilantro leaves and drizzle with chili crisp.
