Fish and Fruit? You Whack?!

Really now, the meal was much more appetizing than this picture would suggest. Remember the poor zested grapefruit from that tasty yogurt cake? I couldn't leave the poor thing in its zest-less misery, so I had to run its skin through a mandoline until thinly sliced and then proceed to eat its flesh. It's just that I am George and the poor fruit is Lennie; it was better that way for everyone.

And what else can one do with thinly sliced citrus skin but candy it up? My original plan was to make risotto with it, but we had just finished a rather heavy risotto dinner made with the fat skimmed off of a very beef-heavey pot of chili. I wanted something lighter that would compliment the citrus flavor. Fish came to mind, particularly the fish fillets that I spotted in the freezer.

I am a huge seafood lover and eat it as often as I can afford to. The fish I ate growing up and later learned to prepare for myself were mostly whole steamed fish and I've never so much as entertain the idea of purchasing frozen fish fillets. The whole concept is foreign to me and the first time I ever cooked with it was probably the aforementioned fish candy. But I can never say no to free food, and we are left with a bountiful amount of frozen and canned food from the owner of the house.

Actually, the fish was delicious. I was a little skeptical of the recipe when I first conceived of it, but it definitely turned out better than I though it would. The key is to really slice that grapefruit skin thin and the triple blanching to get rid of the bitterness. More fresh parsley leaves wouldn't hurt either. The grapefruit and parsley flavor blended surprisingly well together and is very refreshing. We ate it with William's infamous mashed potatoes (which has more of whatever he can get his hands on than potatoes) and it was delicious. Next time I will bake it with a layer of homemade breadcrumbs on top for a crispy contrast to the texture of the fish.

BAKED FISH WITH PARSLEY AND CANDIED GRAPEFRUIT SKIN

• 1 lb. frozen Pollock fillets, thawed (I imagine other white fish fillets will also work)
• 1/2 cup Italian parsley leaves, packed (or about 1 cup loose leaves)
  
• 2 large cloves of garlic (or to taste)
• salt and freshly ground pepper to taste
• olive oil
• peel of 1 medium grapefruit, thinly sliced
• 4 tablespoons brown sugar, packed

Using a mandoline or really fine knife skills, trim the peel off the grapefruit and slice as thinly as possible. I used a mandoline and sliced the whole grapefruit on all four sides until all of the skin is off, with some of the flesh still attached, which is alright.

Blanche the grapefruit skin three times by bring to boil about 3 cups of water, dropping the skin in, and drain when mixture reaches boiling again. Repeat 2 more times. (This gets rid of the bitterness, as you can verify through taste test after each blanching.

After grapefruit skin has cooled, transfer to a bowl and mix in 4 tablespoons of packed brown sugar. Leave out overnight.

Combine parsley leaves, garlic cloves, about 1 tablespoon of olive oil, and salt and freshly ground pepper (1 teaspoon each or to taste) in a food processor and chop until well blended into a paste, adding more oil as necessary. (You can also do this in a mortar and pestle or hand chop it finely)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit and lightly grease a baking dish large enough to hold all the fish fillets in one layer.

In the meantime, squeeze out the excess water in the fish, one piece at a time and arrange on the greased baking dish, take care to not over crowd.

Spread the parsley paste evenly over the fish fillets. Top off with the candied grapefruit peel. Bake uncovered for about 20 minutes.

Zesty Yogurt Cake

Maybe it's out of boredom, or maybe it's this never ending winter, or more likely it's the sugar rush, but we've had cookies and/or cake every night since we've been in Quebec. We walked (yet another two hours) into town for groceries today and came back equipped with vegetables, fruits, butter and eggs. I believe that every home cook secretly enjoys some of the more repetitive tasks that are unavoidable in food preparation; the endless chopping of vegetables, for example, or the muscle straining whipping of butter and sugar. There is one repetitive task I've always found therapeutic: the zesting of citrus fruits. Also because I find zested citrus hilarious, like catching one's favorite professor in nightshirt and nightcap.

Though the refrigerator is now stocked with fresh produce, I felt an obligation to clear out some of the food the owner of the house left. Maybe it's the Chinese upbringing in me, but I almost never throw out food, even when the food is bordering on inedible. I've been meaning to use up the goat's milk yogurt left by the owner ever since she left town for sunnier parts three weeks ago, and judging from most of the food she left behind (we found canned food that expired two years ago! that means whatever is in the can is at least a decade old!), that yogurt probably has been sitting in the fridge for longer than I can imagine. But it smelled alright and yogurt keeps for a long time, right? Especially in the fridge. And there's no expiration date, which does NOT mean the date rubbed off, but rather, that it never goes bad.

What I really wanted was cookies, but we deliberately did not get more white sugar in hopes of curbing this baking frenzy we've been on. But alas, the brown sugar was giving me attitude and I just had to show it who's boss. The cake is moist and delicious and despite using only the zest, the grapefruit flavor really came through. I stupidly decided to bake the cake in a small, deep round dish rather than a regular loaf pan, but the cake managed to save itself from my stupidity. It took longer to bake and I obsessively checked it every minute after 15 minutes, but the longer baking time created a thin crispy crust, leaving the cake as moist and light as ever.

ZESTY YOGURT CAKE
(adapted from Smitten Kitchen, the recipe below is half the original)

• 3/4 cup all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
• 1/2 cup plain yogurt
• 1/2 cup brown sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 2 large eggs
• zest of one grapefruit (or lemon or lime, though the grapefruit was perfect for it)
  
• 1/4 cup vegetable oil

Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.

Zest the grapefruit into a bowl and whisk together with brown sugar, yogurt, vanilla and eggs.

In a separate bowl, combine flour, baking powder and salt. Mix thoroughly.

Measure out the oil. Whisk the flour mixture and oil into the sugar/yogurt mixture a little a time, mixing thoroughly and until batter is smooth.

Grease a loaf pan or small casserole dish and pour batter in. Bake for 15-25 minutes, depending on the shallowness of the pan. Cake is done when a knife or toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean.

Cilantro Pancakes

I think the fact that I know I can't get good Chinese food here has made me crave it more. I love me scallion pancakes but when confronted with a wilting bunch of cilantro and no scallions in sight, well, cilantro pancakes it turned into. Do not be put off by the 10 step process, it's really easier than it seems and this recipe is very flexible. I imagine you can substitute with other fragrant leafy greens and the flour to water ratio is simply 2 to 1.

The dipping sauce we made is a simple mixture of fish sauce, lime juice, some sugar, crushed garlic cloves and crushed red pepper flakes, but we got a little fancier than needed. Some soy sauce with crushed red pepper will also be delicious with it.

CILANTRO PANCAKES
(makes 6 pancakes)

• 2 cups cilantro leaves and stems, chopped as finely as you have the patience for
• 1 tablespoon oil (I used sesame, but olive and vegetable oil will also work)
• 1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
• 1 tablespoon salt
  
• 3/4 cup hot, almost boiling water
• oil for pancake assembly and frying

1. Start with a mountain of chopped cilantro

2. Mix flour with salt and tablespoon of oil. Stir in hot water and stir to mix thoroughly. The texture of the dough will resemble mochi, elastic and a little sticky.

3. Dust work surface with flour, form dough into a ball and knead for a couple minutes, dusting with flour as needed.

4. Roll dough into a log and cut into 6 pieces.

5. Take one piece of dough, flatten it with the palm of your hand and roll out as thinly as possible with a rolling pin (or an empty wine bottle). It doesn't have to be perfectly round.

6. Pour about 1/2 teaspoon of oil and brush it all around on top of the disc. Scatter chopped cilantro on top and roll into a cigar.

7. Pinch one end of the cigar close and curl the cigar into a snail.

8. Dust the work surface and the top of the snail with flour. Flatten the snail with the palm of your hand and roll it out again with a rolling pin.

9. Repeat the process for all pieces of cut dough.

10. Pan fry over medium high heat one pancake at a time, turning after about 3-4 minutes per side or until browned. Make sure to add more oil after each pancake to ensure that it doesn't stick to the pan.

Lahey and Bittman, Sitting in a Tree, K-I-S-S-I-N-G...

Do not underestimate this loaf of bread. For an amateur bread baker such as myself, this loaf was the perfect balance of flavor and texture. As I speculated in a previous post, Jim Lahey and Mark Bittman found perfect harmony in their glutenous matrimony.

OVERNIGHT FRENCH LOAF
(adapted from Mark Bittman)

• 2 cups all-purpose flour (bread flour works even better)
• 1 1/2 cup whole wheat flour
• 2 teaspoons salt
• 1 1/2 teaspoons instant yeast
• lukewarm water, as needed

In a large bowl, combine the white flour, yeast and 1 teaspoon of the salt. Mix dry ingredients well and stir in 1 cup warm water. Mix thoroughly, cover with plastic wrap and let rest overnight (at least 6 hours and up to 18 hours, the longer the more flavorful the loaf will be).

Incorporate the whole wheat flour and the other teaspoon of salt into the dough, adding a little warm water at a time until dough becomes a smooth, firm ball. If the dough is sticky, add a little more flour and knead into the dough. If the dough is too crumbly, keep adding water, a little at a time until the the smooth, firm ball is formed. Cover with plastic wrap and leave at room temperature for at least one hour, or until the dough has doubled in size.

When dough has doubled in size, gently punch it down in the middle to release the trapped gas. Flour a work surface and dump dough onto it. Flour your hands and sprinkle a little flour onto the top of the dough and knead for about 10 minutes (or until your hands get tired). Keep dusting the dough and work surface with as little flour as is necessary to keep the dough from sticking to the work surface.

Form dough into a ball and loosely cover with plastic wrap or towel. Preheat oven to 450 degrees Fahrenheit with a covered, heavy oven-proof pot (i.e. casserole pot or dutch oven) without the lid. When the oven is ready, take out the pot and slide dough into it. Cover with lid and put into oven. Turn the oven temperature down to 425 degrees and bake cover for 30 minutes. After 30 minutes, remove the lid and continue baking for another 15-25 minutes.

Bread is done when the crust is a golden brown color. Another way to tell is to tap the bread and if it sounds hollow then it is done. If you have a thermometer, insert into the center of the loaf; bread is ready when the internal temperature reaches 210 degrees Fahrenheit.

MOlasses

For people who arent mentally ill crazy about apples you can make molasses cookies.
BLEND
2 CUPS FLOUR
2 TSPNS BAKING SODA
TSPN EACH CINNAMOM GINGER AN ALLSPICE

MIX TOGETHER SEPERATE
3 TBSP BUTTER
2 TBSP VEGETABLE OIL
1/2 OR 3/4 CUP LIGHT BROWN SUGAR
2 TSPN VANILLA
1/2 CUP MOLASSES
1/4 CUP CAPTAIN MORGAN RUM

Then mix those two together put globs on a sheet and cook at 350 for like 10 or 15 minutes, theyre chewy and thin and pretty strong, you can have them with heated rum and milk and its freakin good. You could add an egg or two too if you want

Here is a picture of the batter where it looks even more like shit


Here is the finished cookie
Come on and party with the captain
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sFb9UqELX8w

Oatmeal Apple Cookies

Though I will eat any cookie handed to me, I am very particular about cookies I crave. I like a cookie with some body and oomph to it: thick, chewy and chunky. I made oatmeal raisin cookies the night before and though they tasted fine, it didn't quite have the texture I was craving. For one thing, the ratio of flour to oatmeal was way too high.

Not to toot my own horn, but I once made an apple pie that was described by some (my ever loving roommate) as a religious experience. It was that damn good. I love baking with apples because baked spiced apples will make anything taste good; and when you add cognac to the mix, it only gets better. Though I do most of my cooking through improvisation, I tend to bake according to recipes. But with the apples all diced up and swimming in cognac and spices (I was planning an apple crisp of sorts) and the memory of the success of the aforementioned apple pie bloating my baker ego, I let my craving for thick, chewy and chunky cookies take charge and ventured forth uncharted territory, namely baking without a recipe

What resulted were very good cookies (in my apple and nut loving opinion) and you can definitely taste the cognac in the apples, though William refused to taste a whole cookie (he has a thing against apples). I will admit that these cookies do not have mass appeal as there is an obvious lack of chocolate and only the bare amount of butter. But you know, chocolate chip cookies never did it for me.


OATMEAL APPLE COOKIES

• 2 cups apple, washed, peeled, cored and diced as finely as you have the patience for
• 3 tablespoons cognac (brandy will also work)
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
• 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
• 1/2 teaspoon ground allspice
• 6 tablespoon brown sugar (or more if you want sweeter cookies)
  
• 1/2 cup flour
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 egg
• 1/4 cup butter
  
• 1 cup rolled oats
• 1/3 cup chopped nuts (I used macadamia, which added a rich, butter taste but walnuts or pecans will also be tasty)

Wash, peel, and core apples into pea size chunks. Save all apple peels and core and place in a small sauce pot, add brown sugar and just enough water to cover. Bring to boil and simmer over medium low heat until sugar is completely dissolved and liquid reduced down to 1/2 cup. Strain and chill.

While sugar mixture is simmering, dice apples into pea size chunks and toss with cognac, cinnamon, ginger, cloves and allspice. (To keep chopped apple chunks from browning, first put the cognac in the bowl, add the apple chunks as you chop them and add the spices last. The alcohol keeps the apple chunks from browning)

Put apple mixture back in the fridge to keep chill.

Cut butter up into small chunks and mix with flour, salt and baking soda by hand. The butter and flour mixture will not be blend smoothly but it is okay, as long as butter chunks aren't larger than pea size. Mix in egg evenly and add chopped nuts and oats.

Add spiced apple chunks to the flour mixture and mix evenly. Pour in chilled sugar/apple peel syrup (doesn't have to be cold but it should at least be room temperature) and mix evenly.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. While oven is heating up, put the dough in the fridge or freezer to chill (this will render it chewy).

Spoon onto baking sheet with two inches between cookies and bake for about 12 - 15 minutes, depending on how the coldness of the dough and the size of each spoonful. The batch I made took 12 minutes but I like my cookies small so that I can eat it in one or two bites.

Fish Candy

Again, please pardon the terrible picture. I should put out a disclaimer that though I am not much of a photographer, I don't think I am as terrible as these pictures would suggest. I make the best out of what I have to work with, which is a shitty camera to begin with coupled with a broken LCD screen and this is what we get.

We finished our second bag of flour today with pancakes for breakfast and cake for dessert after dinner. This means that we had consumed over 10 lbs of flour in two weeks time; even for us that is a record. I like to heat up maple syrup on the stove to serve with pancakes, and after we drowned our pancakes in syrup this morning, there was only about 1/4 cup of syrup left. Rather than storing it back in a jar for the next pancake breakfast (likely to be no more than two days from now), I thought I might use it to make a marinate of sorts.

I had mackerel fillets defrosting and ventured forth to cook it in the maple syrup. We had the fish with plain rice and the maple syrup lime marinate reduced to a thick sauce and was delicious. The lime and maple syrup blended really well together and created a sort of bitterness that was offset by the sweetness of the syrup. William proclaimed that it tastes like fish candy.

LIME AND MAPLE SYRUP PAN SEARED MACKEREL

• 4 fillets of mackerel (other fish will also work)
• thumb size piece of ginger, peeled and finely chopped
  
• about 1/4 cup of maple syrup (make sure it's real maple syrup and none of that Aunt Jemima stuff, no offense against Aunt Jemima)
• juice of 1-2 limes, according to your taste
• pinch of crushed red pepper
  
• sea salt (or kosher salt)
• fresh ground pepper
• vegetable or canola oil

Rinse fish fillets and drain. Place fillets on a plate and rub in salt and pepper.

In a bowl, mix in maple syrup, lime juice, crushed red pepper and ginger.

Heat oil in a pan over medium high heat, when oil begins to bubble, add fish one at a time. Pan sear fish about 4 minutes on each side, flipping when one side has browned. (My tendency is to always flip the fish too soon and they fall apart. The key is to have patience and flip the fish only once)

When both sides of fish has been browned, pour in maple syrup mixture and turn heat down to medium low. The mixture will reduce and thicken; turn off heat and serve when the desire amount of sauce is left.