Mustard roasted fish, garlic rosemary potatoes, and broccolini

If "Condiments-Anonymous" existed, I would have to join.  And be their flagship member.  My fridge is packed with mayonnaises, sauces, mustards, sour cream, hot sauces, tarter sauces, ketchups.  Sometimes, the protein in the dish I am cooking is just a vehicle for the delicious condiments I put on it! 

This Barefoot Contessa recipe (which she got from a Parisian friend) is magnificent because it is is easy, fast, completely delicious, and it lets me use 3 different kinds of mustard! (although you can get by with 2)

There really is fish under there!

I used Red Snapper fillets for this recipe, but you can use any fish you like (or even chicken).   Put the fish fillets on a parchment or foil lined sheet, and season well with kosher salt and pepper

For the sauce you'll need either Creme Fraiche (I buy it at Wegmans, but you could use sour cream instead), a standard Dijon mustard, a Whole grain mustard (with the whole mustard seeds in it), capers, and shallots.   The creme fraiche isn't supposed to separate during cooking, but I've used sour creme and the end result is just as delicious.  I also add a 3rd country style dijon, because my family has ordered me to use up some of the dozens of condiments crowding the fridge so there will be room for the milk and other necessities, which are currently stored in the garage fridge due to over-crowding in the kitchen fridge

Cover the fish with the sauce, and  bake in a 425 degree oven for 10 to 15 minutes, depending on thickness of the fish.  Don't overcook--you want it to be just cooked through. 

I served the fish with simple garlic rosemary roasted potatoes. These take about an hour to cook, so be sure to start them well ahead of the fish.  Cut the potatoes into chunks, toss them well with olive oil, garlic, rosemary, salt and pepper

Make sure to flip the potatoes about ever 20 minutes while cooking so they get all nice and evenly crispy

Broccolini is so delicious, and a bit more elegant than regular broccoli.  I blanch the stalks in salted boiling water for 2  minutes, then quickly immerse them in an ice water bath to halt the cooking.  This also makes them a gorgeous, bright green.  Drain them  on paper towels, then saute the stalks for a few minutes in some butter, olive oil, and shallots.  Don't over- saute...they should still be crispy.  Just heat them through.  I also like to drizzle them with balsamic glaze, which I buy at Wegmans.  You can also drizzle with a bit of fresh lemon juice

Here are the recipes:

Mustard-roasted fish:

4 (8-ounce) fish fillets (red snapper, grouper, or similar)

kosher salt and fresh ground black pepper

8 ounces creme fraiche (or sour cream)

3 tablespoons Dijon mustard

1 tablespoon whole-grain mustard

2 tablespoons minced shallots

2 teaspoons drained capers

Preheat oven to 425 degrees

Line a sheet pan with parchment paper or foil, or use an ovenproof baking dish

Put fish fillets skin side down and sprinkle with salt and pepper

Combine creme fraiche, mustards, shallots, capers, 1 teaspoon salt and 1/2 teaspoon pepper in small bowl.  Spoon over fish fillets, making sure to cover the fish

Bake for 10 to 15 minutes, depending on the thickness of the fish.  Don't overcook. The fish will  flake easily at it's thickest part when it's done.

Serve hot with sauce from pan on top

Garlic-Rosemany roasted potatoes:

Preheat oven to 400 degrees

Cut 2 pounds red potatoes into 1 to 2 inch chunks (don't peel first)

Toss with 1/4 cup olive oil, 5 minced garlic cloves, and 2 tablespoons minced rosemary.  Season with salt and pepper

Spread out on baking sheet and bake for 50 minutes to an hour.  Flip potatoes with spatula about every 20 minutes to ensure even browning and crispiness

Broccolini:

Blanch  broccolini in salted, boiling water for 2 to 3 minutes.  Drain and immerse in ice water bath to stop cooking.  Drain on paper towels.

Saute in pan with a bit of butter, olive oil and minced shallots for a few minutes.  You want the brocclini to be evenly heated through, but still crispy.  Sprinkle with salt and pepper (or Adoro), and drizzle with balsamic glaze or fresh lemon juice

Now get thyself to a CA meeting immediately!

Because love is love

In honor of Valentine's Day, a few thoughts about love, equality, and why gay marriage is a good thing:

Because encouraging commitment, stability and openness doesn't undermine the institution of family--it enhances it.

Because everyone is entitled to share value of marriage--love, loyalty, commitment, respect and family.

Because legalizing gay marriage doesn't threaten or undermine my own or anyone else's heterosexual marriage whatsoever.

Because gay people need emotional and economic stability no less than straight people--and society benefits when they have it.

Because it's not about Special Rights, it's about Equal Rights.

Because marriage comes with a host of legal rights...1,049 to be exact, ranging from the ability to collect Social Security survivor's benefits to the right not to have to testify against a spouse in court to the right to priority in claiming human remains and in making anatomical donations on behalf of a deceased spouse.


Because most states recognize marriage between men and women, including persons on death row, child abusers, and wife beaters.  At the same time, those states prohibit marriage by loving, caring, stable partners of the same sex.  And that's just crazy.

Because it makes no sense that the same people who crucify gays as promiscuous in one breath often vilify gay marriage in the next.

Because if conservatives are truly worried about the demise of marriage, why not target Las Vegas-style weddings, no-fault divorce laws or adultery?


Because Thomas Jefferson once said "If it neither breaks my leg nor picks my pocket what difference is it to me?"

Because it's the height of hypocrisy when people like Rush Limbaugh oppose gay marriage because they say it destroys the sanctity of the institution of marriage.......yet they themselves have been married and divorced 3 or 4 times.


Because how could anyone say no to these guys?

Because love is love.  End of story.

Keith Olbermann hit it out of the ballpark with this Special Comment:


http://current.com/shows/countdown/videos/special-comment-clear-case-for-same-sex-marriage

Zoe Strauss: Ten Years

Daddy Tattoo, 2004

 I visited the Van Gogh exhibit at the  Philadelphia art museum last weekend, and was prepared to write about it in my blog today.  But after seeing Van Gogh (which was wonderful),  I wandered downstairs to look at Zoe Strauss: Ten Years, a mid-career retrospective. It was her exhibit that resonated with me the most....in sort of unsettling ways.   Strauss is only 41, has never had any formal photography training, and conceived her first installation--the I-95 project (in which she installed her work on pillars below an I-95 overpass in south Philadelphia)--before she even owned a camera.  

Initially, I was put off by the raw edginess of her photographs.  She photographs people and places at the margins of society (often in her hometown of Philadelphia)--whether it be the facade of an abandoned building or a hand-lettered sign with it's characters askew--with the simple dignity of recognition.  

Her tendency to focus on the most disenfranchised people and places reminded me of Diane Arbus.   

I was with my friend Peggy, who owns a photography studio and is herself a tremendously talented photographer.  Peggy was completely captivated by Strauss's work.  I left the exhibit feeling like I had been punched in my solar plexus. 

The exhibit reminded me that art is not always about the aesthetic, but often its magic lies in its ability to provoke.  What I like about Strauss is that she refrains from passing judgement on her subjects, and doesn't proselytize.  She simply records snapshots of life--however unattractive or shocking--with unadorned simplicity.

What do you think?

Mattress Flip, 2001

Click the link to read about the tragic follow-up to this photograph: The boy in the white shirt, "Boo", was shot and killed
6 years after the photo was taken.

http://www.philadelphiaweekly.com/news-and-opinion/Zoe-Strauss-Mattress-Flip-Laurence-Boo-Rose-Philadelphia-Museum-of-Art.html

If You Reading This Fuck You

Woman Showing Dead Bird, 2010

Monique Showing Black Eye

Strauss took this photograph, having no idea she had photographed the subject before--it was only after she recognized the tattoo that she realized this was the same girl in "Daddy Tattoo" (above)

Woman, Camden

 Powerful stuff.


And finally, props to Peggy-- here is a snippet of her excellent work: http://peggypetersonphotography.com/

A favorite author: Jhumpa Lahiri

I recently read all three books from a remarkable writer, Jhumpa Lahiri.  Her writing, which probes culture and generational clashes among Bengali families living in the U.S., is utterly gorgeous, almost Chekovian in style.  Her first collection of short stories, Interpreter of Maladies, earned her a Pulitzer Prize (reportedly still in bubble wrap---Lahiri eschews the limelight and admits she doesn't even read book reviews).

I was so enchanted with her debut book that I followed with The Namesake--a novel which spans 30 years in the life of the Ganguli family and was turned into a Mira Nair film (which I haven't seen, but want to).    But my absolute favorite is her most recent work Unaccustomed Earth, a collection of eight quiet, fictional short stories.

Lahiri's first collection of stories

The Namesake was made into a Mira Nair film

My personal favorite

Her characters are exquisitely developed...as she explores universal issues that pertain to everyone: couples and families joining, coming apart, death, love, miscarriages, estrangement.  

Her fiction is not just about or for Indian Americans--it truly speaks to us all.  You don't need to read the trilogy to appreciate her writing.  Each book stands on it's own and you can read them in any order.  

Click on the link below to listen to Lahiri speak about Unaccustomed Earth in an NPR interview:

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=89461076

And Fresh Air's Terry Gross speaking to Lahiri about The Namesake:

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=1420143

In 2010, Lahiri was appointed a member of the Committee on the Arts and Humanities by President Barack Obama. 

Ms. Lahiri is truly a tour-de-force in the literary world.  

Chef Donna's Adoro...adding spice to your life

OK, I admit it.  I am a "Chopped" junkie.  I can literally watch back-to-back shows for hours upon hours.  I've even gotten my family in on my obsession.....I've convinced the basketball loving men in my family that this show is just as competitive as the games during March Madness!  So far they have bought into my analogy. (Well, not really, but Duke will sit and watch it with me occasionally if I bribe him with chocolate cake).

The judges on Chopped (my favorite is Jeffrey Zakarian) always comment on how many of the dishes presented to them are lacking proper seasoning.  The dish could otherwise be perfect....but if it's not well seasoned, that chef risks being "chopped".  The most memorable dishes have flavor layered throughout, which means that someone took the time and care to layer in taste and flavor at each step of the cooking process.

the dashing Zakarian!

I was so excited to learn that my friend, Chef Donna Desfor, has created her own unique blend of spices, simply called Adoro.  It is a multi-purpose, versatile seasoning that Donna brought back from Florence, Italy.  Adoro is a proprietary mix of Kosher salt, garlic, chili flakes, parsley and chervil.  It  lifts and brightens the primary tastes in any dish, bringing about a flavorful balance.  The heat of the chili flakes wakes up the palate, and the herbal aromatics round out the flavor on the after-palate. Adoro gives your food a depth of flavor in seconds! Trust me, it really does!

I used it tonight on angel hair pasta, green beans, and mashed potatoes.  All were brighter, more complex, and infinitely tastier.  Tomorrow morning it's going on scrambled eggs.  I am sold!

 Adoro, both literally and figuratively translates into "love".  With Valentine's Day right around the corner, what could be more perfect?

My 2 large bags of Adoro arrived today....yippee!

Adoro can be found at   http://spiceandtea.com/   Also check out Donna's blog, which can be found at   http://blog.spiceandtea.com/  for some wonderful recipes.

Try it on this elegant dish, created by Donna: "Linguine with Garlic Poached Crab and Lemon-scented Sweet Hot Peppers"

The Spice & Tea ExchangeBlogs, Recipes, News and Information

   

This thing called love.

January27

Recipe:  Linguine with Garlic Poached Crab and Lemon-scented Sweet Hot PeppersServes 6 to 8

IngredientsFor pasta1 pound linguine cooked in well-salted water, drained and tossed with 1 tablespoon TSTE Olive Oil

For garlic-poached crab8 tablespoons (1 stick) butter
1/2 cup olive oil
1 tablespoon (or more to taste) TSTE Vik’s Garlic Fix blend
About 1 pound cooked jumbo lump crabmeat, picked over for shells

For lemon-scented sweet-hot peppers2 tablespoons butter
2 tablespoons olive oil
About 1 pound mini sweet hot peppers, seeded and sliced into thin rounds (to yield about 2 cups) (substitute red, yellow, and orange bell peppers seeded and julienned)
Zest from 1 lemon
1 tablespoon (or more to taste) fresh lemon juice
1 tablespoon TSTE Ginger sugar

To finish the dishTSTE Chef Donna’s Adoro, to season

PreparationPrepare the Garlic Poached Crab. Place a large skillet over medium-low heat, combine butter and olive oil and whisk in TSTE Vik’s Garlic Fix.  Whisk occasionally until butter is melted and seasoning is combined.  Raise heat to medium until bubbles begin to form around edge of pan, do not bring to a boil.  Return heat to medium-low and add the jumbo lump crab pieces.  Poach until crab is warmed through.

Prepare the Lemon-scented Sweet Hot Peppers. Meanwhile, combine butter and olive oil in another large skillet over medium heat.  Add the peppers and cook, stirring often, until fragrant, about 1 minute. Add lemon zest and juice and ¼ cup of reserved pasta water.  Toss.  Stir in theTSTE Ginger sugar and reduce heat.  Cook, tossing occasionally until most of the liquid is evaporated, about 3 minutes.

Add pasta to lemon-scented chiles and toss to combine.  Increase heat to medium-high, add enough reserved pasta water to moisten pasta and skillet, then cook, tossing pasta or stirring with tongs, until liquid is almost evaporated and pasta is heated through, about 3 minutes more.  Taste.  Add TSTE Chef Donna Adoro until flavors are bright.  Using a slotted spoon add the poached crab pieces and toss.

Divide between warm pasta bowls and drizzle with additional TSTE Olive Oil, lemon zest, or lemon juice if desired.  Serve immediately.

Now THAT'S love at first bite!