falling for fish

Oh, fish. What have I said about fish so far? Why haven't I gotten into cooking it before now?

I used to be scared of it. I have always found it delicious. Sometimes it is embarrassing. As a chef it has been for me a challenge. But it is definitely a food that inspires great conversation. There are certain people who feel very strongly about it. As a kid I remember loving my mom's tuna sandwiches. But the girls at school would tease kids who brought tuna, what with the fish breath that followed throughout the afternoon well into second recess. It's such a delicate thing. Sushi chefs have an almost spiritual relationship with fish.

Here's a great TEDtalk from a very intelligent and well spoken chef and author, Dan Barber. It's all about his take on the factory farming of fish and ways that farmed fish can be done more ethically and sustainably.

My dad makes great fish. Mostly cedar plank salmon on the barbecue. My mom specializes in fried sole. It's tasty but when she cooks it the whole house smells to high heaven and I end up days later still detecting a redolence that could only have its origins in the crumbly white fish I had eaten earlier that week. Both my parents taught me to always soak the fish in milk before I begin cooking with it. It takes away some of the old fishy smell and texture and revives it before a being rinsed under cold water and dried with paper towel.

I still use that trick and have found that if J spots some nice fish at the store and I don't have time to cook it, I can put it in the freezer, let it thaw in cool water for a while and the milk will do the rest.

Last month J found a lovely piece of salmon that was large enough for both of us with rice, cooked bok choi, and butterleaf lettuce and mozzarella salad. I did the salmon up in little breaded morsels, flash fried then glazed in a french mustard and herbs sauce. Before that it was those incredible pan seared scallops.

This week J thought his luck was repeating as he found a lovely piece of salmon at the store again. It turns out that what he found was actually steelhead trout. I cooked it crispy this time, instead of gooey, choosing a crust of crushed nuts as the source of crunch and fried goodness.

Pistachio-Crusted Steelhead Trout

Prep a portion of fish as above in pan with milk high enough to cover most of the fish.

In another pie plate or deep dish prepare a half a cup of flour with a good sprinkle of kosher salt, and maybe a half tablespoon of lemon pepper. Stir together with a large fork.

After the fish has been left soaking in milk for 30 minutes (or up to 2 hours, covered and refrigerated), rinse under cool water and pat dry.

Place fish in flour bed and press firmly before turning over and repeating.

In another dish crack and beat 1 egg. Use a second if preparing for more than 2 people. Lift fish from flour, shaking off excess, and dip both sides in egg mixture.

This is the moment where I thank the kind men at Akhavan for selling me shelled pistachios so cheaply. I went to the jar on my counter, took out a handful of pistachios, maybe a scant half cup. I didn't want to waste any. Using J's amazing magic bullet I crushed up the pistachios in a buzz or two and dumped them out into another deep dish. Shake the dish back and forth to ensure an even layer of crushed nuts on the bottom of the dish.

Life the fish out of the egg pan and wait for the excess to drip off. Transfer the fish onto the bed of pistachios and press down firmly, careful not to damage the flesh of the fish as you do so. I gathered up all the stray bits of pistachio and crumbled them over the uncoated side and then flipped each piece over to ensure an even coating on both sides.

In a medium nonstick pan heat 2 tablespoons of vegetable oil over medium-high heat. When the oil moves around the whole pan easily and is starting to shimmer, carefully place each piece of fish into the pan. Shuffle the pan back and forth to ensure the oil is encircling the fish.

Watch the sides of each piece in the pan. As the fish begins to cook the flesh changes colour and texture, usually about 5 minutes. When the fish is changed a little more than halfway through, flip it over. Continue cooking for half the time that it took the first side to cook, about 2 min. You may need to turn down the heat at bits of coating from the fish come off and start to burn. Transfer to a plate with doubled up paper towel on bottom.

*Remember to pour off your leftover cooking oil into a dirty dish or jar and dispose of it in the garbage once it is cooled. Never pour cooking oil down the sink.*

Serving suggestions:
Prepare rice before you start working on the fish. I tossed some zucchini sticks in a marinade of maple syrup, ground sage, fresh ground pepper, and olive oil. Other vegetable ideas - grilled stuffed portobello mushrooms, roasted butternut squash, steamed broccoli with cheese sauce, asparagus, Greek salad, corn niblets, mashed sweet potatoes.

giving thanks for this time of year

I have so much to be thankful for.

I have people to love who love me. We share interests, exchange ideas, help to make each other better, and hold the memories to a lifetime together. These people also happen to give and enjoy good wine. I am certainly thankful to friends who bring over nice wine when they come for dinner (or anytime for that matter).

I am supported in my choices by this same network of love and trust and it seems to continue to grow and strengthen as I get older and have more interesting impulses, ideas, and things to say. I hope they know that I thank them every day for this ongoing support.

I am extremely thankful that I live in a place that has clean water and air and my food is relatively safe to eat. I am not, for example spending my Thanksgiving exposed or in limited shelter, escaping from a deluge of red poison. I send my prayers to anyone who is not warm and being made welcome at someone's table this weekend.

And, of course, I am thankful for the food that I get to cook and eat - let me not forget to acknowledge my thanks to the people who have grown and cared for the food that I try to prepare as artfully as I may. I am also thankful to have friends and family to cook for and eat with, which is a joy to me always.

On Saturday I hosted my very first Thanksgiving meal since returning to the prairies. It was actually the first real sit-down dinner party (and I think probably the largest of it's kind) that I've ever hosted here. I will not take full credit for the success of the evening. My sister, Sarah, and the every constant and culinarily inclined Joey were the secrets in the sauce. Thanks to all of my friends and readers who came over. You're the best. Seriously. Someone compared the first few moments of the meal to that scene in Chocolat with Juliette Binoche - you know, the one where everyone suddenly starts eating silently and in slow motion and then they all break out into laughter. It was, admittedly, reminiscent of that scene.

Thanks to Marius and Four Whistle Farms for cutting me a beautiful leg of lamb. Weighing at almost 6 pounds it was enough to feed the fourteen of us and then some. I made slits in the meat just under the fat and inserted fresh organic garlic from Peas on Earth farm and big rosemary leaves from our own garden plants. Then I applied a rub made from grainy mustard, extra virgin olive oil, copped garlic, garden rosemary and oregano, kosher salt, fresh ground pepper, and a splash of maple syrup. I was actually quite rushed to prepare all of this in the 45 minutes between leaving the market and having to get back in the car to run to work for my 3-hour Saturday afternoon shift. So I know that this can be done quite quickly. I placed the meat in a roasting pan under 4 red onion halves, wrapped the dish tightly in plastic wrap, and refrigerated it for about 4 hours.

My other major cooking triumph that night was the vegetarian shepherd's pie. I got the idea when I was on the bike at the gym (watching food tv, of course). Hrm, side note, must get back to the gym after this weekend....
Chuck Hughes hosts the show Chuck's Day Off. I've never seen him before but I certainly approve of the butter, cream, and chevre that are used in the mashed potato part of the recipe. Switching lentil for ground beef is easy and super cheap and healthy. Lots of fresh wild mushrooms from the downtown market really gave the dish its character and texture. I roasted the spaghetti squash and garlic the night before to save time. It was possibly my favourite part of dinner and I still had tons to send home with friends and for my own leftover supply.

Joey made mashed yams with a maple candied walnut top. There was none left at the end of the night. And he made as much of it as I made of the shepherd's pie. Sarah and her boyfriend brought wine and made an arugula salad with dried currants. So many friends brought cheese - proof, if ever I needed some, that they love me.

Oh yes, and there were incredible devil's food cupcakes that Joey's friend made. Apparently she got the recipe from Joy of Cooking. They were so good and I got so many compliments about them I am planning on making sure she starts working at a bakery very soon. Has anyone seen help wanted signs at any nice little bakeries in town?

Other dessert items included a late night apple upside-down cake that I cranked out with roasting, cleaning, setting, and generally stressing the night before. There was also the requisite pumpkin pie, and other super sweet cakes and goodies.

If you were there, tell me what your favourite dish was. Or tell me what you’re thankful for. If you weren’t there, tell me what you had at your Thanksgiving this weekend. Or what of this harvest you may be thankful to receive this year.

yahoo! spring is coming.

Can't you feel it? I think it was something about the air and the sun this morning. OR the crackly ice on the edge of the sidewalk. Aslan is on the move...
Anyway, I'm feeling much better.

Just so you know how much better, let me put it this way. I am not well enough to cook an entire dinner for everyone tonight. With family in town and this being the first Friday night we've all been able to spend together in so long, my mom woke up early this morning before work and prepared enough roast chicken and potatoes to feed a small band of resistance fighters. It's almost Passover, I'll have to really test myself to cook and bake for that monumental family meal.

Tonight I am just in charge of putting the chicken in the oven, heating up the soup, making the noodles, and some sort of vegetable side that is up to me.
So what to do for the vegetables? There is some lettuce that my mom prepped that I can do what I want with. I think I'll do a variation on my hearty spinach salad. Crispy turkey bacon crumbled with shredded carrots, sliced cremini mushrooms, and hard-boiled eggs. Last week the very kind egg sellers at SunWorks Farm gave me an extra dozen eggs just to tell me they appreciate me. That was very nice of them. Our Saturday visits are becoming a highlight of my week. When I want to make new friends, or welcome back old ones, I like cooking my very favourite or most promising new recipes.

So I think I will also make a little bread pudding from the Challah I have left over from last Friday. I have some more Pink Lady apples from the market and a bit of Quail's Gate 2007 Optima Late Harvest, VQA. Somewhere in there is a very good little dessert I can work on while a putter away and the weekly tasks of soup, chicken, noodles, and so on.
But there remain many interesting vegetables on the counter and in the vegetable drawer. I look longingly at them day after day. Buttercup squash, fennel, today is your day. Some sort of puree, I think.

Wish me luck. Dinner is served in less than 2 hours...

down with cheeseburgers!

As you may recall, I have a rather feeble, albeit feisty, grandmother. For the past week she's been in hospital, as multiple doctors and medical stakeholders determine whether there is anything they can really do to help her. She's a trooper, and with only a few outbursts, has taken this entire experience in stride. It's us that are a mess. My aunt and uncle and cousin and my parents, sister, and me have been with her almost constantly. Spending so much time in hospital, one scarcely has time to put together any decent meal at home. Mostly we've been subsisting on melted cheese on toast and Chinese leftovers. These are some of my favourite foods, so other than the lack of leafy green vegetables, I take no real issue there.

The problem isn't what we eat at home. The problem is what is on offer at the hospital. I am sorry, but a burger chain, really? Yes, Tim Horton's is available some times, but more often than not, the only open vendor is the hospital run White Spot. Now don't get me wrong, I love burgers as much as the next red-blooded, meat-eating gal. But to see patients and their family members sullenly gumming down soggy, tired, alarmingly delicious patties is unacceptable. Can't we demand better? Isn't there something in a code somewhere that states that people who are in an institution to try to recover their health and heal their wounds ought to be provided with sustenance that nourishes and sets an example on how to go about feeding oneself outside of the institution? It seems completely wrong. Moreover, it seems like it is part of a greater conspiracy to keep the North American population debilitated my obesity and riddled with heart disease. The status quo is unacceptable.

Rant over.

Now, given that I've been spending what little free time I have at the hospital, it follows that I have not had a chance to do any cooking for quite some time. So on Saturday, I treated myself to an hour or so at one of my favourite places - the Strathcona Farmer's Market - and wandered up and down the aisles looking for inspiration. I didn't make it to the market until nearly the end of the day, so vendors were sweetly giving away their wares, just so that they wouldn't go to waste. A lovely Norwegian man with a big, white beard gave me twice as many leeks. I had a pound of potatoes already at home from the nice little Chinese ladies that grow organic veggies at the corner stall with the banner Peas on Earth.

After filling up my bag with other delightful treasures (a pot of irises and a couple bunches of tulips - one for my house, one for my Baba's hospital room) I returned home with renewed resolve to stay in the kitchen until I felt a bit better. Cooking is, for me, a cathartic expression of whatever I feel inside me. And, since for the past week I've been feeling a great big ball of half-digested cheeseburger inside me, I decided to chop, sauté, and boil a big healthful simmering pot of potato leek soup. I found a simple recipe on epicurious.com and went to town. With my music playing and the space all to myself I felt more at home and more comforted than I had done in a long time.

Even better - I had something tangible to show for my time. My soup was finished without much mess and will enough to take a large container of it over to my aunt and uncle's house. They too have been suffering from the hospital burger sickness. What's more, I did it all with locally grown produce that was tended to with love and care that seemed to infuse every spoonful. I hope my Baba gets out of the hospital soon. I'd very much like to take her to the market. Late in the afternoon is a good time to go. And the vendors would clamour to offer her their delicious wares. She's too precious to let pass by without offering her something. If only she were well enough for a bowl of my soup... imagine the healing that would bring.