Pyra is an excellent, seasoned cook, but she is constantly honing her skill and learning new recipes. One such recipe that Pyra learned is a dish that entered her repertoire during a late-night cooking trial overseen by the Fire Dragon Chefs. These chefs were a group of Tirkins who wanted to rise above the savage stereotype of their species. They focused their efforts on culinary excellence, creating dishes that showed relentless perfectionism, innovation, and intense passion for flavor.
As a result of the aforementioned culinary trial, Pyra learned a recipe for Baked Redfish. For this recipe, seafood gathered from different waters across Alrest, namely Bonito Sailfish, Flying Flounders, Soft Sea Cucumbers, and Beat Shrimp, is baked gently, allowing each element to keep its character while contributing to the whole. Whisper Tomatoes are added not for sharpness, but for warmth and color, softened by heat instead of completely reduced to sauce. A reasonably simple, but flavorful dish that showcases the seafood of Alrest. It’s a dish that is fully Pyra, but shows the influence of those renowned Turkin chefs. They believed these traits to be just as powerful as brute strength, and their discipline yielded recipes that emphasized balance and control, favoring careful technique over excess.
For this interpretation of Pyra’s Baked Redfish, I built the dish around a light umami broth made from kombu and bonito, which forms the base for gently baked seafood. Flounder fillets are layered over cherry tomatoes, onion, and garlic softened in the oven, then finished with paprika and fresh thyme to give the dish its warmth and color. Shrimp and quickly seared scallops are added near the end so each element remains tender, while the broth concentrates just enough to tie everything together without becoming heavy. The result is a restrained baked seafood dish that would fit equally as well on a dinner table in Torigoth or Fonsett or in a nice restaurant in Alba Cavanich.
Ingredients
1 ½ cup water
2 tbsp bonito flakes
1 3 inch piece of kombu
4 flounder fillets
12–16 shrimp, peeled and deveined
8–12 scallops
2 cups cherry tomatoes, halved
1 small onion, thinly sliced
2 cloves garlic, sliced
1–2 tsp olive oil or butter
½ tsp salt, plus additional
¼ tsp black pepper, plus additional
1 tsp paprika
4-6 sprigs fresh thyme
Fresh parsley, chopped, for garnish
Lemon wedges for serving
1 ½ cup water
2 tbsp bonito flakes
1 3 inch piece of kombu
4 flounder fillets
12–16 shrimp, peeled and deveined
8–12 scallops
2 cups cherry tomatoes, halved
1 small onion, thinly sliced
2 cloves garlic, sliced
1–2 tsp olive oil or butter
½ tsp salt, plus additional
¼ tsp black pepper, plus additional
1 tsp paprika
4-6 sprigs fresh thyme
Fresh parsley, chopped, for garnish
Lemon wedges for serving
We begin by preparing the umami broth. Bring 1 ½ cups of water to a gentle simmer over medium heat. Once the water is simmering, remove it from the heat, and add the bonito flakes and kombu. Allow them to steep for 3 to 5 minutes. Once infused, strain the broth into a bowl through a mesh strainer to remove the kombu and bonito flakes, and set the broth aside.
Preheat the oven to 375°F and lightly drizzle olive oil into a shallow casserole or baking dish. Scatter the sliced onion, minced garlic, and halved cherry tomatoes evenly across the dish, then pour in the reserved bonito broth. Season the vegetables and broth with ½ teaspoon salt and ¼ teaspoon black pepper. Bake uncovered for 15 minutes to soften the vegetables and intensify the flavor of the broth.
While the vegetables bake, prepare the flounder and the scallops. Season the flounder fillets with salt and black pepper on both sides, and set them aside. Pat the scallops dry and season lightly with salt. Heat a small amount of oil in a pan over high heat and sear the scallops for 1–2 minutes per side until golden brown. Remove them from the pan and set them aside.
After the initial bake, remove the dish from the oven and gently place the flounder fillets on top of the tomato and aromatic mixture. Sprinkle with paprika and tuck sprigs of fresh thyme among the fillets. Return the dish to the oven and bake for 10 minutes.
Next, remove the baking dish from the oven one more time, and nestle the seared scallops and raw shrimp around the flounder in the broth. Continue baking for 5–7 minutes, until the scallops are just opaque and the shrimp are pink and tender.
Once the seafood is fully cooked, remove the baking dish from the oven. Remove the thyme sprigs and discard them. Finish the dish with a generous sprinkle of fresh parsley.
Once cooked, remove the dish from the oven and discard the thyme sprigs. Finish with a generous sprinkle of fresh parsley.
To serve, place one of the flounder filets on a plate and arrange a few shrimp and scallops around it. Top the fish with some of the tomatoes and onions, spoon some of the broth atop the seafood, and garnish with additional parsley. Serve with a lemon wedge. Enjoy!