Double Sizzling Ginger Snapper

The Ingredients (for two people):

• 1 whole opakapaka (Hawaiian pink snapper), or any snapper-like ocean fish, weighing approximately 650 g (or 1½ lb)
• 70 g (or a 3-inch piece) of fresh, young ginger
• 70 g (or 3 large) scallions
• 50 ml (or 3½ tablespoons) of cooking sherry
• 60 ml (or 4 tablespoons) of olive oil
• 90 ml (or 6 tablespoons) of soy sauce

The Method:

1. Clean and scale the fish if this was not done by the fishmonger.
2. Score the skin of the fish on both sides with bold diagonal slashes.
3. Cut half of the ginger, and the pale parts of the scallions, into fine julienne strips.
4. Finely chop or press the rest of the ginger.
5. Finely chop the darker green parts of the scallions into tiny rounds.
6. Prepare a cooking pot for steaming the fish whole. This can be done in a large steamer or a wide, shallow skillet or a wok. 
1. Pour water into the bottom of the pot to a depth of about 5 cm (or 2 in).
2. Place the fish in a bowl or deep platter that is smaller than the pot. 



I use a large skillet in a serving platter that is held above
water level by  a wide soup bowl. This fish was a bit too
large for the platter, so I folded its tail under.

3. Place the bowl into the pot so that it will cook entirely in the steam. 
7. Sprinkle the chopped and minced ginger over the fish.
8. Sprinkle the chopped rounds of scallion over the fish.
9. Pour the sherry over the fish.
10. Heat the water in the pot to boiling, turn down the heat to simmer and cover the pot with a close-fitting lid.
11. Steam the fish for 12 to 15 minutes, until the flesh is opaque but still moist.
    
12. About 10 minutes into the steaming time, heat the olive oil in a small pan to almost smoking.
13. Carefully place the julienned ginger into the oil with a wooden spatula (this is the first sizzling) and stir the strips until a few begin to turn color.
14. Immediately add the julienned scallions and continue to stir until they begin to turn color. (It is best to reach this point just as the fish has finished steaming.)
15. Remove the lid from the steamer and gently and carefully (this is the second sizzling) pour off the hot olive oil along the full length of the fish, leaving ginger and scallions in the pan.
16. Pour the soy sauce onto the fish in the same manner and distribution as for the olive oil.
17. Distribute the crisped ginger and scallions over the fish.
18. Serve the fish in its cooking dish.