Halibut and Spicy Yogurt Sauce

Since I've started blogging regularly again the past couple of months, though with little increase in readers, I began thinking about why I started blogging in the first place. Honestly, it wasn't for the food blogging community (that was an added bonus!); it began purely as a way for me to keep track of the food I was making--kind of a 21st-century collection of recipe index cards. See, I was living in Paris and, for the first time, solely responsible for what I (and, usually, the Boy) were eating. This meant not only was I cooking regularly, but I was also encountering new ingredients and preparations every day. Not to mention that I was learning about meal planning and attempting to keep us healthy at the same time. So it came as a pleasant surprise that I was creating so many delicious recipes. And, late one night while the Boy was with his family in China, I wrote my very first post. Believe it or not, that was over 4 years ago!
All of this is to say that, now I've re-entered the blogging world, I've noticed a significant in my cooking and my comfort in the kitchen, developing and adapting recipes. So, reviewing some of my earliest posts while deciding what to make for dinner tonight, I stumbled upon my third post: filet de mulet et sauce piquante de yaourt. I decided to tweak it and remake it (adding some fronds from my leftover fennel) and was thrilled by how well it came out. Served alongside a leafy green salad for two, this was a light and easy summer meal. Enjoy!
Halibut and Spicy Yogurt Sauce
Halibut:

• 4 tablespoons olive oil
• 2 bay leaves
• fennel leaves from 2 sprigs
• 1 pound halibut, filleted
• dash kosher salt
• 1/4 teaspoon fish spice blend
• 1/2 teaspoon black pepper, ground
• about 8 cups water, or as needed

Preheat oven to 350 F. Coat bottom of a glass baking pan with 2 tablespoons olive oil. Place 1 bay leaf and 1 fennel leaf on each side of pan. Rub halibut with salt, fish spice blend and pepper. Cut into 2 fillets and place each one on top of bay leaf and fennel. Cover with water, until fish is completely submerged. Cook 12 minutes.
Meanwhile, make the Sauce:

• 1 tablespoon mustard, prepared, the spicier the better!
• 4 teaspoons orange juice
• 1 teaspoon capers
• fennel leaves from 3 sprigs
• 2 cloves fresh garlic, sliced (from my CSA!)
• 3-5 tablespoons yogurt

In a small bowl, stir together sauce ingredients until sauce is all 1 color. Once fish is cooked, serve with sauce spooned over. Serves 2.
Links to other halibut noshes:

• Grilled Halibut with Garlic Cilantro Sauce from Kalyn's Kitchen
• Steamed Halibut, Roasted Porcini Mushrooms, Pickled Sea Beans, Lemongrass Sauce from wrightfood
• Halibut with Lemon, Butter, Caper and Dill Sauce from Closet Cooking
• Halibut Mousseline with Salmon from Il Forno

IMBB #19: Vegan Feast

Sam, from Becks & Posh, is hosting this month's IMBB and the theme is to make something Vegan! Now, I'm a carnivore so I was a little nervous about this theme. A whole vegan meal? The simplest thing would be to make a salad, but a salad without meat or cheese just seemed rather boring to me. Finally, I decided to forget about it completely. I've been pretty bad about blogging lately, and a show I'm working on began tech yesterday, so I certainly have enough excuses. But then today tech ended early, one of the ladies I live with was feeling ill and I really needed to buy groceries. So I decided to make us a vegan feast with two dishes: A Tofu and Tomato Stir-fry and a Cherry Tomato Salad with Rice Wine Vinaigrette. While shopping, I was very careful to read all the ingredients and buy only Vegan-allowed foods. The result? A simple and healthy dinner, but not one I would eat every night. So thanks, Sam, for opening my eyes to what a nice change this can be, but I think in general I prefer a steak.

Cherry Tomato Salad

40 Cherry Tomatoes, halved
Green and Black Olives, pitted
2 Scallions, minced
Salt and Cracked Black Pepper, to taste

Combine all ingredients in a bowl and drizzle with a little Rice Wine Vinaigrette. Toss and serve.

Rice Wine Vinaigrette

1/3 cup Canola Oil
1/3 cup Rice Wine Vinegar
3 cloves Garlic, minced

Whisk together until well-combined. Perfect drizzled delicate vegetables, cooked or raw.

Tofu and Tomatoes

Canola Oil to grease pan
1 Plum Tomato, diced
5 cloves Garlic, minced
2-3 teaspoons Olive Oil
2 packs Extra-Firm Tofu, cubed
Trader Joe's 21-Seasoning Salute (or favorite spice blend)
1 tablespoon Soy Sauce
Salt and Cracked Black Pepper, to taste

Grease pan with Canola Oil. Saute Tomato and Garlic until Garlic is fully cooked and Tomato is soft. Remove from pan and reserve. Add Olive Oil to pan. Heat, then add Tofu Cubes. Saute until Tofu begins to color. Add 21-Seasoning Salute. Return Tomato mixture to pan. Add Soy Sauce and move tofu bits around so everything is well combined. Add Salt and Cracked Black Pepper to taste. Serve.

recipe and IMBB # 19 + Vegan

Quesadillas d'aioli, tomates et mozzarella

Three beauties of one gender.
Put eggs in the blender--
Too much oil, we need a mender!
You can add another yolk,
You can make a joke.
You can sip a glass of Coke
Or call your folks
And give a poke.
Add some tomatoes and some cheese
And broil it in the oven, please.

And voila my Doctor Seuss parody which the crazy Cook Sister! requested for this month's EoMEoTE. Unfortunately, we didn't find a mender for my liquidy aioli, so we drizzled it on our tortillas instead of smearing it on like mayonnaise. They were still delicious!

Next time, I would use one lemon, instead of two and considerably less olive oil. I have included the recipe I believe would work perfectly.

Quesadillas d'aioli, tomates et mozzarella

Aioli

3 Egg Yolks
1 cup Olive Oil
Juice of 1 Lemon
4 cloves Garlic, peeled
Salt and Cracked Black Pepper

Beat Egg Yolks in blender. If possible, depending on your blender, add Olive Oil while blender is on. If not, add it slowly, combining it and the Egg Yolks fully before adding more. When thick, add Lemon Juice and Garlic. Beat again, until Garlic is finely chopped. Season to taste with Salt and Pepper.

Quesadillas d'aioli, tomates et mozarella

8 Whole Wheat Tortillas
Aioli
4 Roma Tomatoes, chopped
Generous amount Mozarella, broken into 20 hunks
Salt and Cracked Black Pepper

Pre-heat broiler. Spread 4 Tortillas with Aioli. Place Tomatoes on top, spreading around evenly. Add 5 pieces of Mozzarella to each Tortilla. Add Salt and Pepper to taste. Top each with another Tortilla. Broil for 5 minutes, or until cheese is melted. Serve warm.

recipe + EoMEoTE + Vegetarian

Belated IMBB: Fried Eggplant with Avgolemono Sauce

I will not miss another blogging event. I will not miss another blogging event. My excuse? I moved. Again. This time to sunny Southern California and I won't be leaving, except to go to New York, until May. So this is the last time I can use that excuse for almost a year. Period.

The worst part is, I participated in At Our Table's IMBB (Summer's Flying, Let's Get Frying!) in San Francisco! Or, at least, I made a dish for it. It was ridiculously simple and quite good. I had read about using the Greek soup, Avgolemono, as a sauce for vegetables all over the internet and I was anxious to try it out myself. So I fried some eggplant and poured it on. It was creamy, refreshing and delicious. I'm sure the sauce would be just as good with other foods as well, such as artichokes or even chicken breasts.

Fried Eggplant with Avgolemono Sauce

Avgolemono Sauce

1 cup Chicken Stock
2/3 tablespoon Cornflour
Water
3 Eggs
Juice of 1 Lemon

In a saucepan, bring Chicken Stock to a boil. Mix Cornflour in a cup with just enough Water to make it smooth. Add to Stock, stirring as it thickens.

In a bowl, beat Eggs until fluffy and mixture is all one color.

Add the Lemon Juice and boiling Chicken Stock. Pour this mixture back into the saucepan and cook over low heat, stirring constantly. Be sure it does not boil.

Prepare the Eggplant:

Fried Eggplant

1 Egg, beaten
Salt and Black Pepper
Oil for frying
1 Eggplant, sliced

Mix Egg in a bowl with Salt and Black Pepper to taste. Heat Oil in frying pan over high heat. Dip Eggplant slices in Egg mixture and fry in Oil until crispy.

To Assemble:

Place Fried Eggplant on plate and drizzle with Avgolemono Sauce.

Serves 2 as a side dish.

Update: Check out Linda's fabulous Round-up!

IMBB #18 + Vegetarian + Recipe

Cannette rotie aux fraises et rhubarbe

Because of moving and traveling, my entry for Blog Appetit is late. Also, because Blog Appetit is a French blogging event, this entry will be in French. If you don’t speak French and want the recipe anyway, I'll e-mail or post the translation.

Quand j'ai vu que le theme de ce Blog Appetit etait fraises et rhubarbe, j'etais un peu decue. Je ne suis pas tres forte avec les desserts et cette combinaison me semblait etre vraiment parfait pour un dessert. Neanmoins, j'ai reflechi et j'ai cree cette sauce des fraises et de la rhubarbe pour une cannette rotie. C'etait vraiment delicieux !

Cannette Rotie aux fraises et rhubarbe

Cannette

1 Cannette entiere
2 gousses d'Ail + 2 gousses d'Ail
1 tige de Basilique + feuilles d'une autre
Sel et Poivre Noir
1 brin Romarin + feuilles d'un autre
6 + 6 brins Thym
250 g Pommes de Terre, coupees en des

Faire chauffer le four au 180 C. Vider la Cannette et la nettoyer. Avec vos doigts, arracher autant du gras que vous pouviez. Creer un espace entre la peau et la viande. Ecraser ensemble 2 gousses d'Ail, feuilles d'une tige de Basilique, Sel, Poivre Noir, feuilles d'un brin de Romarin et feuilles de 6 brins de Thym. Mettre ce melange dans l'espace cree entre la peau et la viande de la Cannette. Mettre le reste des Herbes, Sel, Poivre et 2 gousses d'Ail dans le creux [cavity] de la Cannette. Mettre la Cannette dans un plat de verre qui va dans le four. Le plat doit etre assez large pour la Cannette et les Pommes de Terre. Mettre la Cannette dans le four pour 1 heure.

Apres 1 heure, mettre les Pommes de Terre dans le plat avec la Cannette et cuisiner le tout pour encore 30 minutes, jusqu'a ce que le jus de la Cannette soit presque clair.

Quand la Cannette cuisine, faire la sauce :

Sauce
1 Oignon, coupe en des
4 Clous de Girofle
2 gousses d'Ail
10 Baies Roses
1 brin Romarin Sel
1 + 1/2 tasses Jus de Fraises
2 tiges Rhubarbe, coupees en morceaux
1 barquette Fraises, coupes en moitie

Mettre l'Oignon, les Clous de Girofle, les Gousses d'Ail, les Baies Roses, le Romarin, le Sel, 1 tasse du Jus de Fraises et le Rhubarbe dans une casserole au feu moyen. Le mijoter pour environ 20 minutes, jusqu'a ce que le Rhubarbe soit tendre. Ajouter la 1/2 tasse de Jus de Fraises et les Fraises et laisser le tout mijoter pour encore 5 minutes. Si vous voulez que la sauce soit plus epaisse, la mettre dans un Cuisinart [blender en anglais].

Pour servir :

Mettre la sauce au-dessous de la Cannette. Enjoy !

Cabillaud aux tomates, rhubarbe et oranges

Cabillaud aux tomates, rhubarbe et oranges, avec pommes de terre nouvelles.

Sorry for the extended silence; my folks came out here for Passover, so most of the eating has been with them, which, while it was fantastic, I didn't end up posting. Also, it's still Passover, which means lots of dietary requirements, so I was having trouble coming up with exciting Kosher for Passover meals.

I also missed the orange-themed IMBB because of my visitors, but I decided to play around anyway. Sadly, this turned out more red than orange, so keep an eye out for more orange-colored food.

The sauce should be sweet-and-sour, a very Jewish flavor combination in my opinion. I like my sweet-and-sour sauces more sour than sweet, so feel free to increase the honey and decrease the lime juice.

Cabillaud aux tomates, rhubarbe et oranges

Sauce

3 Oranges
2 tbsp Olive Oil
2 finely chopped Onions
1 1/2 tsp ground ginger
1 tsp + 2 tsp Thyme Honey
Salt and Black Pepper
4 stalks Rhubarb, poisonous leaves cut off as well as white bottom of the stalk, fibrous strings removed with a vegetable peeler
1 cup 100% Orange juice
Cinnamon to taste
1 can peeled plum Tomatoes, quartered and 1/2 cup liquid
Juice of 3/4 Lime

Using a vegetable peeler, take a long strip of zest from one of the Oranges. Place it in a small saucepan covered in cold water and bring to a boil. Drain and pat dry, then mince finely. Peel 2 Oranges, including white surrounding the flesh. Chop, removing all seeds. Set minced zest and chunks of Orange aside.

In a skillet, heat Olive oil over medium heat. Add Onions and cook, stirring every so often, for 5 minutes. Add orange zest, Ginger, 1 tsp Honey, Salt and Pepper. Continue cooking over low heat, stirring, for 15-20 minutes.

Meanwhile, start on the Rhubarb. Cut the stalks into chunks and place them in a pot. Add 1/2 cup of the Orange juice, 2 tsp Honey, Cinnamon and Salt to taste. Bring to a boil, then simmer at medium-low heat, stirring occasionally, for 6 minutes.

Once the onions are soft and sweet, add remaining 1/2 cup Orange juice and boil for 3 minutes, scraping down the sides to prevent burning. Stir in Tomatoes and juice and turn heat up to medium-high and cook about 10 minutes. Add Rhubarb mixture and cook over medium heat for 5 minutes. Add orange chunks and simmer over low or medium-low heat for 5 minutes. Add Lime juice and Salt and Pepper to taste.

Let sauce cool to room temperature, then place in fridge for at least 1 hour and up to 12.

Fish

4 fillets Cod
Water
Salt and Pepper

Pre-heat oven to 180 C (350 F). Place Cod in glass baking dish and cover with Water. Add Salt and Pepper. Cook about 9 minutes, until fish flakes easily.

Cover Cod in sauce and decorate with wedges of remaining Orange. Serve room temperature or even chilled.

Housewarming Puttanesca

Last Saturday night, the Boy and I finally threw our belated housewarming party. We invited my crazy acting school friends and Jess from college came in for the weekend from Cambridge where she's studying. As usual, we made way too much food, but it was fun and everyone likes left-overs.

Normally at my friends' parties, everyone brings a little something and the host makes something like a quiche (or several) and cuts them up in little pieces. Or else we have an International party, which means everyone makes something from there country. In the past, I've done Chopped Eggs and Onions (Jewish) and Mac and Cheese (American), but neither of those choices appealed to me. And I'm scared of making Chinese food for the Boy. So on to our adopted culture--Italian.

After poring over recipes and decided I should probably do something vegetarian-friendly (though not technically vegetarian), I decided on a Puttanesca sauce, borrowing the recipe from Jen at Roast Chicken Reasoning.

The puttanesca was great, spicier than I usually make it, and even permitted me to make a trip to the awesome spice store to buy chilies. Kym the Canadian brought smoked salmon and oysters and with several bottles of wine and one of bubbly, we had a delightful dinner.

Puttanesca
Adapted from Roast Chicken Reasoning.

We had a ton of pasta left over, so I would say this serves about 8 people. I recommend it over spaghetti.

1/2 Olive Oil
8 cloves Garlic, smashed + 6 cloves Garlic, finely chopped
1 teaspoon dry Cayenne Peppers
4 cans Diced Tomatoes
100 g Black Olives, sliced
4 heaping teaspoons Capers
1 bunch Curly Parsley
2 canned Sardine fillets
1 handful Celery greens

Heat the oil over high heat in a frying pan. When it is hot enough that it sizzles when some water is flicked in, add the smashed Garlic. Fry them until golden and crunchy but not burnt.

Remove the garlic "chips" and save them. Add the Peppers and chopped Garlic. Fry for 2 minutes. Add the cans of Tomatoes, lower heat to medium-high and let come to a boil.

Gently stir in the Sardines, Olives, Capers and Parsley. Allow the sauce to reduce and thicken, cooking it for about 35 minutes over medium heat.

Add the Celery Greens and salt to taste. Spoon it onto freshly made spaghetti. Add parmesan cheese as desired.

Bar hollandaise

First off, this is a post about fish (bass, to be more specific), not about a bar. Just wanted to get that clear. Wednesdays are the day I have to go down to the 14e, right next to a giant, gorgeous fish store. So, even though the Boy had said he refused to have fish after eating it almost exclusively in China, I took him with me and he was so bowled over by the beautiful whole bass lying in wait on ice that he agreed it would be a suitable meal, provided I didn't cook it with soy sauce and ginger. Since I have neither of those two ingredients in the house, it was a very easy promise to make.

We picked out a bass and asked the fishmonger to cut it up into two big fillets for us, skin on, as the whole fish would have been too big for our oven! I decided to cook it similar to how I had the Mullet, but without a spicy sauce and this time I also used up some of my giant stalk of celery, greens and all. I made a simple Hollandaise sauce to go with it and we had a package of miniature cheese ravioli, covered in grated gruyere, a baguette and a dry white wine.

Bar

2 fillets Bass
2 stalks Celery, sliced
Celery greens
2 Onions, sliced
1 stalk Parsley
1 Clove
2 tablespoons Red Wine Vinegar
Salt and Pepper
3 tablespoons Olive Oil
Water

Pre-heat oven to 180 C (350 F). Spread Celery stalks, Greens, Parsley and Onions over the bottom of an oven-proof glass pan. Add Clove, 1 tablespoon Vinegar, Salt, Pepper and 1 tablespoon Olive oil. Place Fillets, skin side down, on top. Pour Vinegar and Olive Oil over each one. Pour Water on top, until fish is completely covered. Put it all in the oven for about 12 minutes, until fish flakes easily with a fork.

While it cooks, make the sauce:

Sauce Hollandaise

2 Egg Yolks
Salt
2 teaspoons Water + pot of Boiling water
150 grams Butter

Boil a pot of Water. Put Egg Yolks, Salt and 2 teaspoons water in a bowl and rest it in the pot of boiling water. Beat the mixture with a fork or wisk, being careful it does not fall into the pot. When the eggs begin to solidify, add the butter. Serve warm.

Filet de mulet et sauce piquante au yaourt

What do you do when you have one container left of the best yogurt in the world, left over from the Salon d'Agriculture? Make a delightful yogurt sauce out of it to pour on top of the fish fillet you bought at the really sweet fishmonger down the block. After all the meat I've been having, fish sure seemed like the perfect idea. It even gave me an excuse to use both the good olive oil my mom bought us in January and the delightfully spicy mustard I bought at Place Monge when we were living down in the fifth.

I've been reading about cooking fish in a court-bouillon, so I wanted to try it out. But my only big pot is in the fridge with the left-over veal shanks. So I decided I'd have to settle with baking it in the oven. Then, just before I put it in, I had a startling revelation--why not just add water to the fish in the pan and do something like poach it? Well, that's what I did and it turned out very nice smothered in my sauce.

To make the sauce, I gently reworked a sauce for smoked salmon croquettes from The Gefilte Variations, my mom's cookbook. (Sorry for the shameless plug.) I was thinking of making a fish like breme (I believe it's bream in English though I'm not sure) or perch, but the fishmonger didn't have any. So he convinced me to go home with a red mullet fillet. With this meal, I also finally managed to make a dinner for just me, without left-overs and with very little clean-up. So, here goes. Just figure one fillet per person and as much sauce as you want. I have a little extra sauce, so if The Boy were home he could have had fish and sauce too, but there's not enough that it's worth saving (if that's any sort of guide).

Filet de mulet et sauce piquante au yaourt

2 tablespoons Olive Oil
1 sprig Bay Leaf
1 sprig Dill
1 fillet Red Mullet
Salt and Pepper
about 4 cups Water

Pre-heat oven to 180 C (350 F). Put one tablespoon of good Olive Oil in a glass pan, along with a sprig of Bay Leaf and a Sprig of Dill. Rub Salt and Pepper on the Fillet. Place it on top of the Bay Leaf sprig and drizzle another tablespoon of Olive Oil on top. Then add about 4 cups of Water, until the Fillet is completely covered. Put the Fish in the oven for about 12 minutes.

While it's cooking, make the Sauce:

1 tablespoon Mustard, preferably quite spicy
4 teaspoons Citrus Juice (I used an orange/grapefruit/clementine blend)
1-2 teaspoons Capers, drained
3 sprigs Dill, torn into small pieces
2 Garlic Cloves, sliced
3-5 tablespoons Plain Yogurt

In a small bowl, stir all ingredients together until completely combined.

When the Fish is ready (it will no longer be pink), take it out of the oven, move it to a plate and spoon as much Sauce as you want on top. For an easy vegetable, dip raw carrots or celery in the left-over sauce. That's it! Easy, no?

Update: I made a new variation!