Tuesday Fish Night

For my recent birthday I received two really cool seafood books: Fish Without a Doubt, by Rick Moonen (of Top Chef Masters fame) and Roy Finamore, and For Cod and Country, by Barton Seaver, a seafood chef and sustainable fishing expert.  Both these books are by chefs who love fish and contain great looking recipes.  Importantly, they also both are very involved in spreading the word about responsible and sustainable fishing practices, so that we can continue to enjoy the sea's bounty for generations to come.  Leafing through these gifts the past week inspired me to go buy some fish last night and cook up a captain's feast for CW and myself.

I hit Whole Foods after work because they tend to have a large selection of fresh fish, with certificates of sustainability and origin.  Wanting a fleshy white fish like Halibut, I experienced some sticker shock when the wild halibut was $24.99/lb.!  Kind of steep.  Then I saw the Turbot in the case at $11.99/lb.  Turbot has been popping up on a lot of menus lately and is listed as a sustainable species.  The fish monger said that the consistency was similar to that of halibut, so I grabbed a pound and was on my way.

The fish issue being settled, I needed to buy some stuff to go with it.  I had no recipes with me and my phone battery was dead, so it was all up to my imagination.  The produce section had heaps of beautiful looking heirloom tomatoes.  It is towards the end of local tomato season here in San Diego, and I decided to get some fresh tomatoes.  Then I saw basil bunches and the plan revealed itself in my mind.  I would make a puree of yellow tomato and basil to dress a simply seared fish, and serve it with some roasted broccolini.  I also grabbed a second, red, heirloom tomato to toss with some salad greens left over from the day before.

The one tough thing about the turbot was that the fillet came skin-on.  I could have easily cooked it this way and just crisped up the skin, but CW prefers to not eat the skin, so I set about skinning the fish first.  This proved a slow task, and is indeed a skill I need to read up on and practice.  Having gotten the skin off, I simply rubbed the fish on both sides with kosher salt and heated some canola oil over medium-high heat in a skillet.

Roasted Broccolini

Meanwhile, the broccolini was tossed with olive oil, salt and a clove of grated garlic and thrown in the oven at 375 degrees.  While my sear pan was heating, I chopped the yellow tomato and put it in a blender with a handful of basil leaves, a drop of olive oil, a clove of garlic, and a pinch of kosher salt.  This I pulsed until "lumpy-smooth" and set it aside to use both as a salad dressing and sauce for the fish.

The salad was simple - tossed chunks of the red heirloom tomato with salad greens, then the above sauce over the top with some ground pepper.  It was quite delicious, but a little wet from all of the tomato's juices.

Mixed Greens and Tomato Salad

The turbot was seared on either side until starting to brown and get crispy, then it was plated with the broccolini and the yellow tomato-basil sauce drizzled on top!

Searing Turbot!

 

As Served to CW

All in all this was a very simple meal to prepare, although I did manage to make a big mess of the kitchen and use about 5 bowls, 2 knives, 4 plates, a sear pan and 2 cutting boards in the process.  Such is the life of an amateur chef - the dishes inevitably await after the feast. 

But, for the most part, doing the dishes is well worth the satisfaction of having made oneself a tasty dinner at home.  Tonight will be less messy though, as I plan to use my left-over tomato basil sauce with some pasta and chickpeas (which are also left-over!).

Oh, how could I forget the wine!  We shared a bottle of a Beringer 2008 Alluvium Blanc.  This was a really good bottle, with a nice clean palate and smooth finish.  Plus we had gotten it on sale!  L'Chaim!

Portland Eats! Day One

So I don't know what happened to my last post about Mistral in Boston.  It was up on our blog successfully for a few days and then suddenly half of it vanished from existence, and it was preventing the other entries from being displayed, so I took it down until I have the chance to correct the issue.   That aside, I have a very full entry planned for today!

CW and I spent the past few days vacationing in Portland, Oregon.  Friends of mine had been there last year and raved about the area's natural beauty, wine, and, of course, food.  We had been looking forward to this trip after a busy summer and it did not disappoint. We had four full days of waterfalls, mountain drives, beautiful wine country (with PLENTY of tasty pours), great local beers, and innovative yet reasonably priced food.

Arriving early Thursday morning, we got our rental car and headed straight out along the Columbia River east of Portland.  Our plan was to drive the Mt. Hood Loop, seeing the waterfalls along the Columbia River and also the famous Timberline Lodge, the exterior of which was used in The Shining.  Exhausted from an early flight, but motivated by the adventure, we drove along the historic part of the Columbia River Highway to see several waterfalls, including Latourell Falls, and Multnomah Falls, pictured below.

Multnomah Falls

Latourell Falls

By the time we reached Multnomah we were starving and grabbed lunch at the Multnomah Falls Lodge.  We each got the soup du jour (minestrone) and split a turkey sandwich with green apples, melted cheese and basil mayo.  Solid sandwich with the apples' sweetness pairing well with the salty melted cheese.  I paired this with my first Oregon brew of the trip: the Double Mountain IRA (for India Red Ale).  It was hoppy and bitter upfront, but with some nice warmth at the finish.  I would later enjoy the Double Mountain Vaporizer pale ale at the hotel bar, which was one of my favorite beers of the trip!

After lunch we enjoyed the view of the falls for a bit before hitting the road and driving south to loop around Mount Hood and visit the Timberline Lodge.  It is a very nice drive, with some sudden and stunning views as the mountain comes in and out of view. 

The lodge itself transports one back to a different time, with its massive wood interior and old ski and mountaineering equipment adorning the walls.  After exploring the lobby a bit we headed to the third floor Ram's Head Bar, which offers great views Mt. Hood, and, equally importantly, a full bar menu.  Obviously, after a turkey sandwich and 90 more minutes of driving, CW and I were Jonesin' for a sipper.  CW went with a "Bee's Knees" cocktail (garnished with fragrant rosemary), while I stuck to locally brewed beer, with a Cloud Cap Amber Ale by the Mt. Hood brewery.  Best thing about these drinks.... we got them to go and were free to stroll around the trails on the up-mountain side of the lodge, where we were treated to amazing views of the peak while surrounded by colorful wildflowers and frolicking chipmunks!

Homemade Pretzel Bread at Gruner

After we'd had our fill of scenery it was time to drive back to Portland and finally check into our hotel and get ready for our first dinner of the trip.  We settled into our room, showered up, and headed out to Gruner, located in Southeast Portland, in downtown.   We chose this place not only for its reviews (which are stellar), but also for its unique cuisine.  The place specializes in Alpine cuisine, which should not be taken as Swiss or Austrian fare.  Rather, the food here is influenced by all nations around the Alps in Europe.  The wine list was particularly diverse, and did include a lot of interesting varietals from Austria, Germany, and Italy.  I started with a wine called Muller Thurgau, a grape I had never heard of.  This particular bottle was Italian, and it has a crisp light body, but a smooth finish.  Definitely a dry wine, but with plenty of floral aroma and flavor.  It paired well with our first courses of crisp polenta croquettes with raclettee cheese and the beautiful and extremely innovative shaved radish salad with pumpkin seed oil, dill, chives, chervil, thyme and pumpkin seeds.

Polenta Croquettes

Radish Salad

For a main course I got the grilled trout with corn ragout, tarragon, crayfish sauce and crispy speck, with CW went with the spatzle with chanterelles, wild mushrooms, chives and a white wine cream sauce.  Both dishes were amazingly tasty.  The spatzle was rich in flavor without being heavy in texture, and the mushrooms added lots of earthy goodness.  My trout was perfectly moist and the speck added just the right amount of salty foil to the smooth crayfish sauce.   The side of corn was incredible - sweet fresh corn with the great herb tarragon lending such freshness.  Suffice to say that we were both very pleased with our meals.

Grilled Trout

Spatzle with Chanterelles

After such a feast, CW and I were too full for dessert.  And after our long day of travel, we were too exhausted to consider going out for more drinks... the horror!  We retired for the night to recharge for the next day's journey to the Williamette Valley wine country.

Relaxed Weekend Meals: Saturday

Oh to be behind.  Yes it is currently Monday August 29th, and I am still writing about the weekend of August 14th and our relaxing meals at home.  I never realized or appreciated how hard it is for people to blog every day.  With a full time job, for me it is impossible.  Of course, being a very new blog, with very few views thus far, my absence surely did not disappoint too many.

To refresh, the weekend of August 14-15 was set aside as relaxation time.  CW and I were to spend lots of time together, doing as little as possible.  We got off to a good start with massages at The Hidden Spa in Ocean Beach, San Diego.  The Hidden Spa is a very reliably good place for a massage in San Diego.  While not dirt cheap, the prices are reasonable and the quality of the staff excellent.  Every massage I have gotten there has been extremely relaxing.  Post massage, it was 12:30 and we were starving.  Still basking in the lazy haze of post-massage trance, we headed across the street to Pizza Port.  I had never been to this restaurant before, but had always heard really good things about the beer selection.  The beer menu is large, with roughly 30 beers on tap, a third of which are brewed on site.  Being lunchtime I wanted to start with a light refreshing brew and chose a wheat ale called Witch's Wit, which I learned later is actually produced by the Lost Abbey brewery here in San Diego county (it's in San Marcos).  It was light in color and body, with a great wheat taste.  Just super refreshing.  For round two I chose the house brewed Newbreak Pale Ale, which was naturally hoppier and a bit heavier.  It was a good complement to the pizza - yes I'll get to that!  Below are the two beers, with the Witch's Wit on the left:

For lunch CW and I split the Garlic Veggie Pizza on a wholegrain crust.  A small pie has 6 slices and was plenty for the two of us (and I was very hungry).  Loaded with garlic, it also had spinach, tomatoes, mushrooms, feta, and mozzarella.  While not a completely traditional pizza, it was delicious.

Now, I very rarely have pizza that I do not like.  I love pizza - all styles.  Being from New York originally, I have run across a fair number of NY pizza snobs, who shun any pie that is not in the traditional Neapolitan or Sicilian style that they grew up eating in the NY area.  Well, I think such an opinion is extremely limiting, and such people will probably go through life never eating lots of other good pizzas.  This is not to say that there isn't bad pizza out there; dough can be the wrong consistency, sauces and cheeses can be of poor quality, it can be burnt... the list of potential problems is endless.  All I want to say is that there is so much good pizza to be had, and I urge anyone out there with a narrow view of what pizza should look/taste like to open your mind to the experience of something different.

The rest of Saturday was spent resting and planning dinner.  If I recall correctly we went straight from lunch to the market to get ingredients for dinner!  Told you we like food.  CW had a hankering for a curry dish and found a recipe for a spinach, red lentil and bean curry.  Despite the long ingredient list, this was a very simple dish to put together, and the result was quite tasty, and very healthy.  Between the lentils and beans there is a ton of protein, and the fresh tomatoes and spinach add vitamins and great color (OK so color isn't a nutrient but it makes the photos better).  Here are some pics:

Chopped Onion an Garlic Cloves

Diced Tomato and Cilantro

Spinach and Yogurt/Spice Mixture

Mixing in Tomato and Cilantro

Mixed Lentils and Beans

Lentils added in

Stirred and Simmered to Meld Flavors

 

Finished Curry

The curry turned out very well.  It was flavorful without being too spicy.  It was a great dish for leftovers too.  Later in the week we spread it on tortillas with some sprinkled cheese for easy and delicious midweek meal.

A weekend entry wouldn't be complete without a sipper!  For this evening we wanted to utilize some creme de cocoa that we'd recently picked up.  I have had some cocktails combining flavors of orange and chocolate, so put together a cocktail with bourbon, creme de cocoa, fresh orange juice, and lemon juice.  It doesn't have a name but here it is (makes 2 drinks):








4 oz. Bourbon
1.5 oz. Creme de Cocoa
Juice of one Lemon
Juice of one Orange

Shake above with ice.  Strain over ice and enjoy!

It was delicious... just the right hint of sweet chocolate to balance the citrus and bourbon.


That's all for now.  Enjoy!