New Years Brunch Part Two

My plan was to serve a nice simple nicoise salad. I was going to use the President Choice frozen tuna, grilling it for the salad. I should have realized that something was wrong when i couldn't find frozen tuna. I contemplated tinned tuna, and i really love it, but since it was new years brunch i thought it wouldn't be fancy enough.



I paced the frozen fish aisle, as my No Frills doesn't really have fresh fish - well they do, but i'm kinda hesitant, plus its usually just talapia. I finally decided on cod- not that it was suitable, its a little to mild, but i had cooked it before and knew what kind of quality i was getting.



This should have been a sign....



I wanted to enjoy my new years, and instead of doing a lot of prep, i cleaned and then just relaxed. I then figured i could at least hard boil the eggs for the nicoise. Well i was folding napkins, totally lost track of time and forgot about the eggs. I took them off and chilled them and hoped for the best.



Guess what happened: they were woefully undercooked and i had to redo them! The problem with that was, i had intended on doing an egg dish and i was running out. Fine, no egg dish.

Blanched green beans, tomatoes and potatoes




Cod

(and ingredients for the final dish)

I was kinda flustered, so i didn't take a close up of this one. It was actually very pretty. I was kinda obsessed with the symmetry. You can kinda see it in the top right corner.

John Carpenter and Cod

Sometimes i remember why Thursday is my favorite day of the week. This was one of those nights, and one of those meals that capped a pretty long four day week at school. This was an evening dedicated to fish and John Carpenter - plus it worked with fish week!

I've made this fish dish before, but i did it with basa. I didn't see any fresh, but cod was on sale so i figured that would work too.

Here is the cod in corn starch and sake. The sauce is a simple soy sauce blend also with corn starch.

I also made eric my new favorite rapini dish, since i just can't get enough of it.

Rice, rapini, cod and wine. Sounds good to me.

Miso Steamed Cod and Veggies

Since i've been only studying and not really working out i've noticed that a lot of my clothes are not fitting as well as they should be. This of course lead initially to a freak out, and i decided to do some healthy cooking! I've never really steamed fish, i always thought it would be very bland, but then i thought - maybe i can steam it with a broth, that would give it some flavour.

On my new (and no doubt brief) quest for healthiness i also made enough for lunch.

Sauce ingredients

So i knew that you could steam things with your fish, and essentially make a one pot meal - i thought i would add bok choy, green beans and broccoli to my fish dish. All good for you, and i thought they would go with the cod i had.

As for the broth i made on based on some organic miso cubes i had and added a little soy sauce, sake, rice vinegar, fish sauce and sugar. I lined the base of the bamboo steamer with the large leaves of the bok choy to prevent them from sticking. I layered it with the tougher bits on the bottom, then added a couple pieces of cod.

Out of the steam.

This dish really only took a couple of minutes, and it was quite good. I put the veggies on the plate first, then a piece of fish, i added a tsp of the cooking liquid, a couple drops of sesame oil and some chopped green onions. I served it with soy sauce and hot sauce on the side.

Cod from Curry Twist

I am actually up at the cottage right now, so hopefully i've finally got this scheduled blog entries things figured out you will be basking in one of my lazy meals from my favorite - Curry Twist.

The owner who is a really sweet guy will sometimes make me something special - i always feel embarassed to ask, so i don't do it everytime, but this time i asked and he had some cod. I like cod a lot and hadn't had any in a while so i was game. He also makes it a little extra spicy for me.

Dinner:
Two nan, Goan Fish and a baco noir.

Cod with Roasted Pinapple Salsa

My first stab at a fruit salsa with fish went pretty well, so i thought i would try the same thing up at the cottage. Up in Haliburton i was looking at the frozen fish, and President's Choice had cod fillets on sale. I really like cod, but i didn't think it could stand up to the bbq being as light a fish as it was, then i realized i didn't have to cook it over direct heat, and thought i would try something a little more innovative. (for me at least)

Now that i had the fish sorted out i needed to decide on something for the salsa. I had recently made a roasted pineapple salsa for the fish tacos, and thought it would be a nice topping for the fish. I roasted the pineapple and some red and orange peppers for the salsa. I also added some more traditional salsa ingredients such as tomatoes, onions, garlic, avocados and cumin.

As you may realize i always like to have some bruschetta like dish with my meals so i used some of the roasted peppers and topped crostini that i had spread with herbed goat cheese for a little treat. The other ones i made were a mixture of chopped tomato and extra old white cheddar.

I defrosted the fish in the sink in cold water - which was actually a lot quicker than i had anticipated. To cook the fish i lightly oiled some aluminum foil and seasoned the fish with simple salt and pepper. I also put a small amount of butter to make the dish a bit richer. I folded the foil over the fish and made little packets, sealing the edges by crimpling them. I put the packages on the grill and they cooked really quickly.

For the rest of the meal i had asparagus, roasted mini potatoes and a salad of mixed greens, Ontario strawberries, red onions and goat cheese with a balsamic dressing.

Dinner for One

You may have figured out that i love to cook, the problem is that its kinda tough/repetitive to do it for one. Most importantly there is no one to do the dishes/clean up while you watch. (i'm better at making messes rather than cleaning them). I struggle in particular with dinner, its so easy not to bother.

On occasion i do make the effort and treat myself to a nice homemade solo meal. It usually involves me picking up a piece of fish on my way home from work, usually halibut or cod. I know a lot of people are so "over" black cod, but i'm new to it and i still enjoy its texture and buttery flavor. Foxley on Ossington has this amazing black cod and bok choy dish that i have fiddled with. The restaurant version is more of a wine, butter broth, for mine i used green curry and coconut milk and added broccoli to the bok choy. (both of which are excellent sources of calcium)

Sometimes i will whip together a quick cream sauce for linguine, usually with mushrooms and shallots. I have a lot of trouble keeping pasta portions down, and i end up throwing a bunch out. I also try and use this spicy black bean sauce i got at T&T in mississauga, i really like it with bitter greens like rapini. T&T is one of those places that makes me really excited about cooking- the vegetables are incredible and there are so many exotic sauces/ingredients.

Of course there are also days when i get home, and can't be bothered to make anything and i'll end up eating popcorn or getting takeway from Curry Twist in the Junction. (yeah, i'm serious about the popcorn thing - i eat it with butter and sriracha)

Above:

Black cod with bok choy, peas and brocoli in a curry
Stir fry with baked tofu, shrimp and black bean sauce
Halibut also in black bean sauce with sauteed rapini and spinach and couscous
Lazy quick pasta
Okra and purple eggplant with nan from Curry Twist