Oh Lordy. The construction of the new garage/studio is going to be the death of me. It has been more than a year since our contractor told us he was ready to start, and 10 months since the plans were approved by the City. “How long will it take?” I asked, naively. “Oh, not more than 6 weeks” he said. “Great”, I said… “It needs to be finished for our annual summer party the third weekend of August”.
“No problem”.
…
It’s a bold claim, I know. The best? What makes this recipe the best? I’m not a huge fan of fish…
Note: I know I keep telling you about things I’m not a huge fan of. I really really don’t like chicken breasts (dry and tasteless), I don’t like all fish (some of it can be very dry, but that is sometimes rooted in bad preparation… fish is easily overcooked), and I can live without legumes (but I eat them anyway because they’re good for me). Oh, and not a huge fan of kale except for one salad which I will tell you about someday. But truly, other than that, I’ll eat almost anything. Pass the bone marrow, please!
Aaaaanywaaaay, as I was saying, I’m not a huge fan of fish but this is my absolute favourite way to cook white fish. It’s aromatic, zesty, fresh, unusual, and easy. All good reasons to call it the best. The original recipe was first published in Madhur Jaffrey’s cookbook An Invitation to Indian Cooking circa 1973. Food & Wine published it in 1980 and then again in 1998 as part of their Best 20 Recipes Of All Time collection.
That’s where I picked up on it and have been making it ever since, although over the years it has morphed into something healthier (such as omitting the butter) and easier (using store bought coconut instead of grating my own fresh coconut!!). Ms. Jaffrey recommends using halibut. I like using (sustainably caught) sea bass, but any white fish would be delicious. As with most of my recipes, this serves 2, but can easily be doubled or tripled.
I love Indian food and one of my favourite places to eat it is Vij’s. The restaurant does not take reservations and unless you are there when they open, the wait for a table can be 1 1/2 to 2 hours! So you can imagine how happy I was when my favourite dish was included in their first cookbook http://www.vijs.ca/vijs-cookbooks/. I have altered the original recipe to feed 2 people.
When I first started making this recipe a number of years ago, I had hard time finding fenugreek leaves. If you can’t find them, substitute curry powder. Not the same thing but most curry powders contain fenugreek and I just happen to like the substitution. As well, if I don’t have a bottle of sweet white wine open, I have been known to use mirin or honteri sweet seasoning. Sometimes you just need to go with the flow. :)
“SALAD AGAIN?!?!” you’re asking? Yes, salad again. Every forking night until I lose these few extra pounds. Luckily, this is another one of my favourite salads and it’s hearty enough that you can add a small piece of protein and enjoy it as a meal (last night it was salmon). One of the main ingredients is pomegranate, which I have loved ever since I can remember. I used to sit on the sofa for hours reading a book and eating each aril (seed) separately, sucking the juice off and throwing out the seed in the centre. Why did I do that? Those seeds are crunchy and delicious, and they are chock-a-block full of vitamins, minerals, and fibre. This is a great way to make use of them. This large salad generously feeds 2 as a main, or 4-6 as a side.
I was going to post about the most delicious chicken pot pies I have ever tasted.
See, don’t those look good?!?!
But I have spent much of this morning looking for my recipe notes and cannot find them! I know I used chicken thighs (of course) and an amazing pastry that had sour cream in it… sigh.
So maybe I should post about the Christmas Eve prime rib roast with a mustard herb butter that Husband said was the best he’d ever tasted?! Do you think I can find a single picture of that meal? Nope.
So, third time’s a charm? You bet it is, because I want to tell you about a crazy decadent butter-basted prime rib “steak” I have made no fewer than 3 times in the past couple months (don’t judge). Based on a recipe for rib eye steaks, I adapted it slightly for a single bone prime rib, seared on the stovetop, basted with butter and herbs, then finished in the oven. This is not one for the calorie-counters. Just treat yourself and move on. :)
Ok, let’s be honest. This is not the type of recipe I planned to post when I dreamed of having a food blog. First, I’m still trying to love my slow cooker; b) I am in the middle of trying to dump my Christmas weight; and 3… well, there is no 3 except that I have made this 3 times in the past few weeks and both Husband and I really really like it. Seriously. It’s healthy enough to eat post-Christmas but I have not stooped to using that dry, tasteless protein known as the (dreaded) chicken breast. My version uses the ever-so-much-more-luscious chicken thighs (you know what I’m talking about) and still comes in at under 300 calories per serving. It also has a lovely bright zesty topping. Cha-ching!
Ok, this is much more than just chicken with rice. It’s aromatic, it’s crispy, it’s exotic! It’s Ottolenghi… another favourite chef. I’m not a fan of chicken. I avoided both eating and cooking it for years… too many dinners of hard, tasteless, overcooked chicken breasts smothered in BBQ sauce… like, really?!?! I just started cooking chicken again a couple years ago, but only whole chickens (where I hoard the dark meat for myself) or thighs. Thighs are the perfect solution to dry chicken. When not overcooked, the meat is moist, silky, and tastes more chicken-y than any chicken breast I’ve ever eaten.
I like to cook with beer. Many times it’s in my hand but sometimes it even makes it into the food! Last winter my husband and I went to Maui (an opportunity for me to spend some time with my mom and dad, who met us there, and a chance for him to ride his road bike every day). On our last evening we had dinner at Mama’s Fish House where my dad ordered short ribs. He loved them so I decided to try cooking them at home.
This recipe is slightly altered from one in the Smitten Kitchen cookbook by Deb Perelman (who I think is a goddess, BTW). You can read about her book here http://smittenkitchen.com/book/. I served this with potatoes boiled with a couple smashed cloves of garlic, then roughly mashed with melted butter mixed with prepared horseradish, and roasted broccoli with toasted pumpkin seeds and a squeeze of lemon. Serves 4.
This is my first blog post! I’m so excited… yay me! Because we have been building a “garage” (bike studio for Husband) in our backyard for the past year (don’t even). And because in the course of building this “garage”, they have dug up my ENTIRE backyard (yup, all of it). And because I have been living with mud and debris for 6 months (I can’t even), I am dreaming of summer when this fiasco will (supposedly) be over. And because I am dreaming of lying on my lounger in my newly landscaped yard, with the sun dappling through the trees, cold beer in hand, I want to share with you one of my absolute favourite summer dinner salads.
I know it’s a bit early in the season but maybe it will get you dreaming of summer as well. Ahhhhh…
I fell in love with the idea of panzanella salad when I started growing my own tomatoes (thank you, dad) but the actual dish never quite lived up to my expectation. I wanted the vegetables to have more depth and sweetness. I wanted it crunchier. And I wanted protein to turn it into a main course that would satisfy both myself and said Husband.