With a little help from some pepper

Today my fishmonger said, "Well, if you've had the bass, it's been a while, so why don't you have that this week?" Sure. I bought both the fillets she had left and cooked one with a little butter in the skillet, with olive oil, black pepper, and salt on the fish itself on both sides. Maybe I'm just hungry, or maybe it's just tasty: either way, I'm contemplating getting the other fillet out of the fridge and cooking it too.

It's no longer heirloom tomato season :( but I have sugar snap peas I bought at the supermarket a few days ago. I tossed those in the oil-pepper mixture remaining in the skillet after the fish. I added a little ground ancho to add another dimension to the vegetables, which was absolutely the right choice. So good. Read More......

What's the Chinese for sustainably fished?

It was pouring when I got out of my appointment in Chinatown on Saturday, so I decided to skip my usual farmer's market outing. There are many food stores between the subway and my appointment, so I stopped in to buy my favorite dried plums. I also stopped at the fish store. I could've bought tuna or salmon fillets, but I would've felt ridiculous asking if they were sustainably fished. There were some small silver fish and Bottom Feeders generally recommends eating fish low on the food chain, but I had no idea what kind they were or how to cook them. One of the guys there asked, in reasonable English, "Can I help you?" I asked, "What kind of fish are those small ones?" "Small fish." *head slap forehead*

I think I'll stick to my usual fishmonger, thanks. Read More......

I think we have a winner

"What's good this week?"
"We don't usually have the mahi mahi and you haven't had that one yet."

The fishmonger remembered me! And she was right, I hadn't had the mahi mahi and according to Seafood Watch, it's a good fish to eat.

It also tastes good. I pan fried it with a little pepper and olive oil, just a few minutes on each side. It went perfectly with the tabbouleh my mother left behind yesterday. The combination of flavors reminded me of fish tacos, which are one of my favorite foods, except healthier and more interesting. I think this will have to go into the rotation. Read More......

When Farmer's Markets Strike

On the one hand, I just spent $50 on food and came home with pretty much one grocery bag. On the other hand, it's all fresh and yummy and local.

Personally, I blame the Missoula farmer's market. When a local friend suggested it as A Thing To Do in her town, I was dubious, but went anyhow. It was enormous, with an entire section devoted to produce and a different area devoted to prepared goods. Even with nowhere to cook, I bought huckleberries and heirloom tomatoes, quiche and chocolate and a roll. I finished the huckleberries with granola and a glass of milk at Mammoth Hot Springs (visitor center) in Yellowstone; I couldn't wait with the tomatoes and ate them immediately at the market.

The tomatoes were again my downfall at today's market: this is the first time I've seen them sold at Lincoln Center. Once I decided to buy 2lb of tomatoes, the rest was downhill. I bought swiss chard, round zucchini, turkey sausage, and macoun apples. I love how enthusiastically the fishmongers made suggestions for the flounder I'm currently eating. The acidity of my enormous tomato perfectly sets off the flakiness of the fish, and I'm looking forward to rosemary bread and farmer's cheese for dessert. Read More......

Getting My Green On

I know I'm going to hell for this, but I'd never actually been to my local green market until today - and I only went today bc I passed it on my way to Bed, Bath & Beyond for a new nonstick pan.

It was awesome. There were two vendors selling baked goods, one selling turkey, one selling pork, and one selling cheese. I was tempted to buy an herb plant, but couldn't decide if I'd really use enough rosemary to make it worthwhile, or if the basil plant was big enough.

The cheesemonger had cheese-glazed croissants and a variety of rustic breads. I bought a "medieval alpine" cheese, a cranberry walnut loaf, and a croissant. Next time I'll try the whole wheat croissant.

I couldn't decide between the various fish, so I let the fishmonger pick. I broiled the sea bass in the oven with a little white wine, olive oil, and butter while I steamed asparagus on the stove. The fish with the slight olive oil flavor is so delicious, I almost ate it between the kitchen and the dining table. I'm vaguely tempted to go back right now and buy some more, but tomorrow I get to have the beet pasta with pork chops. Mmm... Read More......

The Anti-Brown Bag

I've been having a bad week, and yesterday was particularly bad, until I thought to call my friend Patrick for lunch. Despite the recession, Bar Americain was packed and could not accommodate us for an hour, but his favorite restaurant, Redeye Grill, had a table available.

I wasn't all that hungry: I mostly needed to be taken care of, and some good company. Ever since reading Taras Grescoe's Bottomfeeders, I've been trying to eat more oysters, but I don't know much about them, so I let Patrick pick. I got 3 each of the Blue Island and Pearl Point oysters. The former were large and salty, and tasted particularly good with a teensy dab of cocktail sauce; the latter were creamy, as if they were covered in a thick white sauce, and were even better with a little lemon.

Patrick's also great at picking wine, so I didn't bother looking at the list. He chose a pinot noir and we had a long discussion of why that would taste good. In a wine tasting class, I learned that proper pinot noir should taste like wet carpet, so I've avoided it since. Patrick pointed out that it tastes good with food and then glared at me when I commented that oysters taste like wet carpet too.

He had diver scallops. I protested loudly that I don't like scallops when he put one on my plate and he laughed when I went from complaining to nom nom-ing.

After the Esca experience, I wanted to get the goat cheese panna cotta, but it wasn't available ala carte. Instead we had white chocolate mousse in a milk chocolate bag, which was rich and sinful and sent me back to work in a cheery if indulgent mood. Read More......

RW Winter 2009

This was a very low-key Restaurant Week for me. Early in the week, my parents and I had theater tickets, so we ate at Blue Fin. I was somehow less impressed this time: my mother's tuna and fluke chirashi was an interesting presentation, but nothing to come back for, and her wild striped bass amounted to fish with tasty mush. I had a craving for oysters, so I had their "east & west" selection, of which I enjoyed the east. The crispy skin salmon also amounted to fish with tasty mush; I ordered it specifically because I wanted to try their brussel sprouts, but can't remember it, which probably says it all. This was the meal that made me realize I'd rather eat my own home cooking than go out, at least some of the time.

I've already mentioned how Esca fixed that misconception.

In years past, I've never been able to get a reservation for Asiate for RW, but when we went on Friday, it was half empty. The service was good and the views magnificent, but the food was adequate for the environment. The first taste of the chestnut puree? soup? made me gasp, it was so delicious, but there were so many mushrooms and the duck confit somehow didn't integrate well. My companion had the tuna tartar starter, which seemed to involve a salad, which he left. We both had the beef tenderloin - does it always come with two different cuts of meat, prepared differently? I chose the creme caramel for dessert, mostly because it came with citrus and I was curious how that would work, but I think my uncle's flan is better. I was jealous of my companion's raspberry chocolate cake, but I'm not convinced it was much better. I was initially excited to hear they are continuing the RW menu for the rest of the year, but I'm not inclined to go back, unless circumstances bring me to the neighborhood. Read More......

Cast Iron Seared Tuna

Happy belated New Year to all my loyal readers! I won't say my New Year's resolution is to update more often, but given that one of my resolutions does involve staying home and studying, it's inevitable there'll more cooking in there too.

I had an errand to run on the east side last evening and on my way home, I walked through 41st between Madison and Fifth. For those of you who don't know, there's a whole block of stores catering to Japanese expat office workers, including a sushi restaurant, a bookstore, a bakery, and a grocery. The last carries sushi-grade fish, labeled in Japanese and with the recent cold-snap, I wasn't particularly worried about it going bad before I got home.

I had a bag of snap peas from FreshDirect packaged so cooking is as simple as making popcorn - 2:30-3:00 in the microwave and voila! While that was nuking, I set my new cast iron skillet on the stove with a little olive oil. I rubbed the maguro (tuna) with a little olive oil and sprinkled some salt and pepper. I couldn't find my sesame seeds, so I'd have to do without. By then, the skillet was hot, so I added the fish, 1-2 mins on each side. I poured the snap peas in a bowl and added the tuna on top. I added some leftover aromatic white wine to the skillet to clean up the last bits of pepper and fish, reduced it slightly, and poured it over the lot. Breakfast! Read More......