Around the World in 12 Dishes: French Polynesia

2 fillets of Sea Bass

1 shallot, finely diced

1 cup white wine

1 cup water (I used the cooking water from the carrots that I cooked to accompany)

1/2 cup cream

1 vanilla pod, cut in half length ways. Scrape the middle before adding both pod and gooey middle to the sauce as instructed.

Zest of 1 lime

Heat oil in a frying pan. When hot, place your fish skin side down for about 3 minutes, before turning and cooking the other side for the same length of time. (Obviously you will need to check your fish as the thickness of fillet affects the cooking time.)

Put fish to one side to keep warm. Add more oil to the pan and fry the shallot until soft. Add the wine and vanilla pod and reduce by half, then add the cooking water and a pinch of vegetable stock powder and simmer for a couple of minutes.

Finally stir through the cream and the lime zest.

Pour over fish and serve immediately with half a lime.

I should point out that the Girls did not get involved with the frying elements of this dish as I don’t enjoy juggling them both with a live flame, but they did help with all the prep work. They are fairly proficient at chopping and tasting and measuring, especially when we can use cups.

What they found interesting in particular was the Vanilla pod itself- a key ingredient in a lot of Polynesian cuisine. It looked like a twig, yet smelled ‘quite nice’, and made things taste ‘yummy’. Once the vanilla was poured over the fish, there was a reconsideration of that idea. But all this suited DH, who ate seconds!

If you want to join the Around the World fun:

• The only mandatory part is the dish, the rest is all up to you, we just thought it would be fun and more concrete to the kids as to why we are making a unusual dish.
• Cook a dish from French Polynesia: The goal is to explore this country through FOOD and activities if you wish. Make a typical dish (sweet or savoury) from the country with the kids, take photos and have fun!
• Typical dishes: Poisson Cru, Poulet (Chicken) Fafa, Po’e, Pork Curry with Tarua (Taro), .
• Print your passport: Click here to download, comes with space for a photo of the child with the dish. Here is a little cover for it if you wish 
• Color a placemat: Once colored/painted or whatever other way you want to do this, you can laminate it or put it between clear contact paper to use it over and over. Great conversation piece for you and your kids. Click here to download it.
• Make a craft: you can make a country related craft with the kids [optional!]

• Fun fact: Those things that look like mail boxes outside the homes of Tahitian residents are not for mail, but for French bread delivery. Residents get a fresh loaf dropped off twice a day. But they must go to the post office to retrieve their mail!
• Share with us: Our French Polynesia challenge starts on September 2nd and will remain open for a year, so attach a link to your blog to enter the linky party or go to the comment section and post a photo together with what you did together with your child(ren).
• Pinterest: We will add your photos to a “Around the World in 12 Dishes” Pinterest Boards (one for the dishes, one for the crafts)you will be a great source of inspiration for everyone 
• Are you a blogger? Let your fans know about the challenge and grab our cute lil’ button to share it on your blog.

 

<a href=”http://www.glitteringmuffins.com” target=”_blank”><img src=”http://i1145.photobucket.com/albums/o502/theeducatorsspinonit/world.jpg” alt=”Around the world in 12 Dishes” width=”125″ height=”125″ /></a>

 

Please check out our partner blogs and their French Polynesia ideas: Adventures In Mommydom, Creative Family Fun, Domestic Goddesque, Glittering Muffins, Juggling with Kids, Kitchen Counter Chronicles, Mermaids’ Makings, Mom 2 Posh Little Divas, Montessori Tidbits, Mummymummymum, The Educators’ Spin On It and The Usual Mayhem!

 

If you do this, we’d LOVE to see a photo of it. Email it to us or post it on our Facebook page. We’d love to do a Facebook album, a Pinterest board and a page of your creations 

Please link up your French Polynesian dish and/or craft in our linky below, we would love to see it!