White Roughy with cornmeal crust

Last Week I wanted a quick fish dinner. Unfortunately, none of the supermarkets in walking distance of my apartment have a fresh fish section, so I ended up getting frozen white roughy from TJ's. My mom started buying white roughy several years ago, and I think that as frozen white fish goes you can't do much better. Its pretty cheap, defrosts quickly because its thin, but more importantly, is very easy to cook. It stays soft and moist even when slightly overcooked, making it very versatile and a great fish for people who are afraid of cooking fish.

I decided to bread mine, and combined approx.
1 tbsp white flour
3 tbsp cornmeal
1/2 tsp paprika
1 tsp onion seeds (I think you can buy these at Indian markets)
1/2 tsp coriander
pepper
salt

Before breading the fish I washed it and spread a thin layer of mayo on it. It then went in a hot cast iron skillet for a couple minutes per side.




I think next time I may try the Roughy in a stew.

Taking Good Photos of Food

In response to Avi's query, I have been playing on the internet in search of some good information. The real take home message: the glossy pics you see in cookbooks involve a staff, lighting and most importantly a food stylist. The process is not about making delicious food, but in making food that looks delicious. The best video I found on this was not in English, but it still really gets the point across.



So what are us home bloggers to do?
After reading a whole bunch of articles (this one was my favorite), here are my thoughts...
-Buy a plain black, and a plain white set of dishes...and think contrast when choosing which to use
- Be conscious of styling. Add some flair with garnishes and place them thoughtfully
- Get close to the subject
-Use a tripod (I really like the gorillapod)
- Have a couple of lights nearby
- Have fun, and don't let the experience distract you from the most important part: eating and enjoying the dish

Happy shooting, happy eating,
Sarah J.

Does this mean we're posting again?

I hope so..

I moved recently into an apartment in Coolidge Corner!

The first Friday night we were there we had a nice roomate bonding dinner.


The Lamb chops were marinated in yogurt with cumin and tumeric, and then rubbed with some more spices before broiling for a couple of minutes on each side, making sure to follow Xiaoxi's law: don't second guess your meat and leave it in the oven for a bit longer - it'll be overdone.
The rice was steamed with some cheapo saffron, and then I mixed in some coconut milk after it was cooked.

For dessert, Raina, one of my new roomates, made bread pudding with garam masala spices.
Unfortunately we didn't take a picture.

Hopefully now that I've moved out (which actually happened a month ago) I, and maybe others, will start posting again on a more regular basis, so we can share more food adventures and drool over pictures. Speaking of which does anyone wanna find or write a post about how to take good food photography?

Frank Bruni on Restaurants

Today Times restaurant critic Frank Bruni compiles his FAQs about restaurants, especially restaurants in New York. If you're a foodie, It's definitely worth a gander.
My favorite is Bruni's advice on what is the best and safest way to navigate a menu:

"Scratch off the appetizers and entrees that are most like dishes you’ve seen in many other restaurants, because they represent this one at its most dutiful, conservative and profit-minded. The chef’s heart isn’t in them.

Scratch off the dishes that look the most aggressively fanciful. The chef’s vanity — possibly too much of it — spawned these.

Then scratch off anything that mentions truffle oil.

Choose among the remaining dishes."

Link Here
photo: the dining room at 11 Madison Park, one of Bruni's favorites

Back in April

Right now it is August and like almost everyone else I know, I can't find a job. This is pretty frustrating, but I should look on the bright side: Not having a job means I have time to do some catch-up blogging!

In April we had a surprise tea-party in our backyard for Emily's birthday. There were finger sandwiches, cheesecake, a chocolate souffle cake with a caramel sauce, fruit, cheese, and of course, tea.

The souffle cake was delicious. It's rich and flourless, but not too dense or heavy, and not too sweet. The sauce, drizzled on top, was good too, but I don't think the cake really needed it. Although, if you like sweeter cakes, then the sauce is probably a good call.

Ina Garten's Caramel Sauce
Ingredients:

• 1 1/2 cups sugar
• 1/3 cup water
• 1 1/4 cups heavy cream
• 1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

Mix the water and sugar in a medium heavy-bottomed saucepan. Cook over low heat for 5 to 10 minutes, until the sugar dissolves. Do not stir. Increase the heat to medium and boil uncovered until the sugar turns a warm chestnut brown (about 350 degrees F on a candy thermometer), about 5 to 7 minutes, gently swirling the pan to stir the mixture. Be careful – the mixture is extremely hot! Watch the mixture very carefully at the end, as it will go from caramel to burnt very quickly. Turn off the heat. Stand back to avoid splattering and slowly add the cream and vanilla. Don't worry - the cream will bubble violently and the caramel will solidify.

Simmer over low heat, stirring constantly, until the caramel dissolves and the sauce is smooth, about 2 minutes. Allow to cool to room temperature, at least 4 hours (actually I think we probably let it cool for half an hour if that, and it was fine). It will thicken as it sits.

Chocolate Souffle Cake
Ingredients:

• 2 sticks (1 cup) unsalted butter, cut into pieces, plus additional for greasing pan
• 9 oz fine-quality bittersweet chocolate (not more than 60% cacao if marked), chopped
• 6 large eggs, separated
• 2/3 cup plus
  
• 1/2 teaspoon salt

• Special equipment: a 10-inch springform pan (I believe we used a 9-inch, and it turned out fine)
  

Put a small roasting pan filled halfway with hot water in bottom third of oven (to provide moisture during baking). Position another oven rack in middle of oven, then preheat oven to 325°F. Butter springform pan and line bottom with a round of parchment or wax paper. Butter paper.

Melt butter (2 sticks) and chocolate together in a 2-quart heavy saucepan over low heat, stirring, then remove from heat. Beat together yolks, 1/3 cup sugar, and salt in a large bowl with an electric mixer at medium-high speed until thick enough to form a ribbon that takes 2 seconds to dissolve into mixture when beater is lifted, 6 to 8 minutes in a stand mixer or 10 to 14 minutes with a handheld. Stir warm chocolate mixture into yolk mixture until combined well.

Beat whites in another large bowl with cleaned beaters at medium speed until they just hold soft peaks. Gradually add 1/3 cup sugar, beating until whites just hold stiff peaks. Stir one fourth of whites into chocolate mixture to lighten, then fold in remaining whites gently but thoroughly.

Pour batter into springform pan and bake in middle of oven (do not place springform pan in hot water) until a wooden pick or skewer inserted in center comes out with crumbs adhering, about 1 hour (a crust will form and crack on top of cake as it bakes). Transfer to a rack and cool 10 minutes (cake will "deflate" as it cools).

Run a thin knife carefully around edge of cake, then remove side of pan. Cool cake on bottom of pan 30 minutes. Invert a rack over cake and invert cake onto rack, then remove bottom of pan and carefully peel off paper. Invert a serving plate over cake, then invert cake onto plate.

An Eater's Manifesto

I just read "In Defense of Food; an Eater's Manifesto" and it was a life-changer. I highly recommend reading this book to understand the impact your eating habits can have on the environment, your community, and on your health. This is a very fascinating read. I have adopted a modified version of Michael Pollan's rules to be our family's food manifesto. We have now been living by them for a week, and it feels good to be putting our food dollars in line with our values. The resulting meals have been memorable as you will see in upcoming posts. I am going to share our slightly modified version of the manifesto with you so that you can understand how we are deciding what to eat (and thereby what we blog about!). This list, while informative, is not an adequate substitute for reading the book itself. It is well worth your time.

1. Don't eat anything your great grandmother wouldn't recognize as food
2. Don't eat anything incapable of rotting
3. Avoid food products including ingredients that are unknown or unpronounceable
4. Stay away from high-fructose corn syrup
5. For the most part, avoid food products that make health claims on the package
6. Mostly shop the peripheries of the supermarket
7. Avoid the supermarket wherever possible...try farmers markets! It is best to get food from people you meet personally! As Michael Pollan says, "Shake the hand that feeds you!"
8. Eat mostly plants - to this end we have been including vegetables all over our meals from the arugula pesto on the lamb brats to the mix of veggies included in our panzenella.
   
9. Avoid industrial meats. Only get meat that you KNOW (a pretty farm on the package doesn't count) was raised humanely and ideally on pasture.
   
10. Shoot for gastronomic diversity. Pollan makes the good point that "the greater the diversity of the species you eat, the more likely you are to cover all of your nutritional bases."
11. Regard non-traditional foods with skepticism
    
12. It is worth paying more for better food. Fun fact I got from the book: Americans spend a smaller percentage of their income on food than any other industrialized society
13. Eat meals, at the table, in the company of others. When snacking, also try to make it a table moment. When you are eating, you should focus on eating...it should not be done as a time filler.
    
14. Listen to your gut - eat only when you are hungry and stop when you are full
    
15. Eat slowly. For more info on this, check out the slow food movement.
16. The manifesto is more about celebrating the great foods that you can eat than thinking about the restrictions.
    

HAPPY EATING!

A Disaster No More!

Remember the disaster that sent us packing for Z Cucina? Jack and I decided that it would be a real shame to throw out the organic, free-range chicken that I had purchased that day from the Clintonville Farmers market. I had been trying to make it into tandoori chicken (the sauce failed pretty miserably), but to save the chicken we put it in a strainer and gave it a rinse.
The next night, it was just Jack and I for dinner and we were very happy we had saved the chicken. This disaster became the centerpiece of our very delicious dinner! This meal was made entirely from farmers market finds, and that was really exciting.


The Menu:
Peas
- cooked with a bit of bacon from the market...a great way to add flavor!
- There is something very nice about shelling your own peas. The effort of this labor seems to make them extra delicious.
Corn
- Ohio is known for its corn, and this was the first of the season. I was very excited when I saw it at the Schatz Family Farmstand.
Chicken Salad
- onions, garlic, tomatoes, and green beans all from the market!
- A delicious cilantro curry vinaigrette, made with herbs still warm from the sun in our garden
- The rescued chicken



VERY FRESH, VERY LOCAL, VERY TASTY!!!!!!

Fish Arepas

My friend Talya had just returned from Pakistan with a couple of pounds of fresh mangoes (don't tell the authorities!) , and needed to find a way to use them up before they went bad, so we decided to use them as the inspiration for our dinner. They were so soft and juicy that all you needed to do to eat them was cut a hold at one end and suck the flesh into your mouth!

We bought some haddock and rubbed it with cumin, salt, pepper, and paprika and threw it on the grill. In the mean time, we used some white corn flour to make some arepas to hold our fish, as well as a mango salsa which we were making as a topping
We chopped up some onions and peppers to add, and made a large mound on top of the arepas

For dessert we used the remaining mangoes to make a mango upside-down cake

Z Cucina by the pictures!

Z Cucina, in the Short North of Columbus, Ohio, strikes a perfect balance between fancy and no-fuss. It has all of the elements that I would consider key to a fine dining establishment: good food, a nice wine list, excellent service, and a clean and simple dining room. The menu also rotates seasonally to keep things fresh and interesting and to allow for the use of local ingredients. What Z Cucina doesn't have is equally important - - it lacks the pretension that can make some restaurants feel inaccessible. From the food to the decor, the people at Z Cucina have figured out how to provide the customer with exactly the right amount of the elegant without becoming overbearing.
We hadn't exactly planned on going out last Friday, but there had been a culinary disaster that was best solved by aborting the mission and heading out on the town. I have mostly ditched the cookbook and begun to improvise in the kitchen - - mostly with delicious results, but sometimes these grand experiments fail. I don't even remember what I was making, but it got to the point where adding things to try to fix the dish was not going to work. It is important to be able to recognize the point of no return for a dish! It was time to go to Z Cucina.
It has now been over a week since this meal and with a new menu up on the restaurant's website I don't remember exactly what went into each dish. What I do remember was that it was a very pleasant experience both in atmosphere and on the palate. I am going to give a picture tour and let the food speak for itself. If you want to know more you are just going to have to try it!

Spaghetti (squash) Night!

I have always been a vegetable lover, but the same was not true for one of my brothers. One of the ways that my mom cleverly snuck them in was with spaghetti squash and meatballs. With all of the flavors going on, it never dawned on us that we were greedily gobbling up veggies.
With some ground lamb from the farmers market, I made a more grown up version of this childhood favorite.

The sauce:
1) Saute 1 diced onion in some butter in a medium saucepan
2) Add 1 bay leaf and some fresh rosemary
3) Crumble 1 lb ground lamb into the pan and stir until it is well broken up and browned (other meat would do just fine here and the dish would also work just fine vegetarian)
4) Core 1.5 lbs tomatoes (In this case 3 hefty heirlooms; one red, one green and one purple) and then squish the tomatoes into pieces over the saucepan - a genuine tactile pleasure! For the non-squishers among us, dicing with a knife also works.
5) Bring sauce to a boil then reduce to a simmer for about 20 minutes.
6) My sauce ended up being a bit too runny. To fix this I added in small crumbs of bread that I had bought at the market that day. It ended up being a delicious addition that really added to the heartiness of the whole dish.


Easy Spaghetti Squash
1) Cut in half
2) Scoop out seeds
3) Put 1 inch of water in the bottom of a 9x9 glass baking dish and put one half of the squash in it, cut side up
4) Cover tightly with plastic wrap
5) Microwave on high for 8 minutes give or take
6) Once it cools enough to handle, use a fork to scrape the inside of the squash. Out will fall a torrent of spaghetti-esque strands.

Brats with a twist

It is easier to get creative with some ingredients than with others. Boneless skinless chicken breasts are simple. Right away I think of chicken tenders, tandoori chicken, a stir fry, chicken tacos....the possibilities are endless. Brats are a bigger challenge. There is this default of popping them on the grill and then into a bun. At the Pearl Market this week, Jack and I had our horizons expanded by the Dorper Lamb farm. The were offering samples of brat pieces sauteed with green peppers and onions in olive oil. It was delicious. Part of what made it so good was that it is easily the best lamb I have ever tried, but the method also added a lot.
For my rendition, I put a tablespoon of butter and some olive oil into a saute pan and heated them up well. I then added some diced onion to the pan and cooked them until they were starting to caramelize. Next the brats went in until they were fully cooked. Finally, I made a coarsely chopped arugula and rosemary "pesto" and added that to the pan, letting it cook long enough for the arugula to lose its bite. With this meal the brat was fun again - - and especially delicious!

simply delicious

These locally-grown strawberries would have been an excellent dessert on their own, but I got carried away. Sometimes I am like that fabulous children's book If You Give a Mouse a Cookie when I cook.

I swear I had intended to just plop the strawberries down in the middle of the table and let them speak for themselves. It is easy to follow one urge to the next though. Here is how it happened for Mr. Mouse.


And here is how it happened for me!

If you give a foodie some fresh strawberries, they will probably start dreaming of things that they could do with them. They will ask you for a cookbook and start flipping through recipes, just to realized that there is no whipping cream in the house. Once they find a recipe, they will want the whipping cream so they will go out to the store to get some. In the store, they might walk down the baking aisle and come up with a new recipe. Scharffen Berger chocolate was the perfect catalyst for a change in direction. Once home, things started to come together.
When a foodie starts to whip cream, they will wonder if there is anything they can do to glam it up. Having heard about the magic of balsamic with strawberries they may add a splash to the whipped cream. Now that the whipped cream is a bit tart, they will probably need some sugar too. Thank goodness that there was sugar in the house. With all of the components ready, they realize that the dish needs a presentation so they pull out some wine glasses. Layers are put in; lightly sugared strawberries (in quarters) , melted chocolate, and balsamic whipped cream. When I realized it looked so pretty, I decided that I needed a garnish. Out into the garden I went to find some chocolate mint (yum!). In the garden I realized that the thyme needed to be trimmed back and I was about to follow that train of thought when my stomach growled. Time for dessert!