Apr. 27 - Grilled Mahi Mahi

Tonight's dinner, grilled mahi mahi with roasted red pepper sauce and cilantro pesto, was beyond phenomenal - I mean, restaurant-quality food served up right here in my kitchen! Kind of gourmet (at least for the boy's and my taste?!) and the best part...we ate it while the kids were in bed for the night :)

The boy is not a big fan of fish - in fact, he really doesn't like it. The texture bugs him, and he didn't eat much (if any) of it growing up; having a farming family, he had a lot of "meat and potatoes" dinners. He will dabble with mahi mahi (that's it though!), so I decided to try to find a recipe he'd like.

I stumbled upon this one from All Recipes and the reviews were very positive. It looked a little lengthy to make, so I did the cilantro pesto and half of the roasted red pepper sauce during the kiddos' naptime and put that aside for later. Once the boy got home, we put Linds and Luke to bed and made dinner together. It was nice being able to chat with each other without constant interruptions, and a double bonus was having some help in the kitchen! If you're a fan of fish, you MUST give this a try - it is absolutely delicious and the boy even said, "wow, this is amazing! Make it again." For him to say "make it again" to a fish dish is huge!

The prep time was about 30 minutes for the cilantro pesto and red pepper sauce (which I had leftovers of and froze...they aren't ingredients I normally keep on hand), and the fish took about 10 or 15 minutes to grill. All in all, not too bad an amount of time! We had grilled asparagus and white rice with it.

Grilled Mahi Mahi w/ Roasted Red Pepper Sauce & Cilantro Pesto
Ingredients
1/2 cup white wine
1 shallot, minced
2 tablespoons shredded Parmesan cheese
2 cloves garlic
1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
1/4 cup packed fresh cilantro leaves
1/8 teaspoon ground black pepper
1 (12 ounce) jar roasted red bell peppers, drained
4 (6 ounce) mahi mahi fillets
salt and ground black pepper to taste
1 tablespoon butter
1/8 teaspoon ground black pepper
1/4 teaspoon salt

Directions

1. Preheat an outdoor grill for medium-high heat.
2. Place the wine and shallot in a saucepan over medium-high heat. Bring the mixture to a boil, then reduce the heat to medium-low and reduce the liquid down by about half, about 4 minutes. Remove from heat and set aside.
3. Place the Parmesan cheese, garlic, and walnuts into a food processor; process until finely chopped. Add the olive oil, cilantro, and 1/8 teaspoon black pepper; process until smooth. Remove the cilantro pesto from the food processor and set aside.
4. Place the red peppers into the food processor, pour in the wine reduction, and process until smooth. Pour the entire mixture back into the saucepan and bring to a boil over medium-high heat. 
5. Reduce the heat to medium and simmer the sauce for 4 minutes. 
6. Meanwhile, season both sides of the mahi mahi fillets with salt and pepper. Cook the mahi mahi on the preheated grill until the fish is golden and flakes easily with a fork, about 4 minutes per side.
7. Whisk the butter, 1/8 teaspoon black pepper, and 1/4 teaspoon salt into the red pepper sauce until smooth. 
8. Spoon the red pepper sauce onto the bottom of the serving plate, arrange the fish on the sauce, and top with the cilantro pesto to serve.