Fridgg: What's For Dinner?

I Love Blue Sea’s Top-Secret Sake-Steamed Black Cod

Sake-Steamed Black Cod

If you read the interview with the guys from I Love Blue Sea that I posted on Sushi Day a few days ago, you’ll recall that I snuck off with a top-secret black cod recipe…

Okay, so they willingly gave me the recipe. But still. T’was top secret before I got my hands on it. Really. (At least, that’s what I tell myself… 😉 )

(And if you haven’t read the interview… well, why not? It’s good stuff. Don’t worry, we’ll wait right here while you go read it…)

Ingredients for the Sake-Steamed Black Cod

Son and I have recently become huge fans of black cod. We probably eat it at least once a week. So of course there was no question that we had to try this ‘top-secret’ recipe.

Top-secret means it’s got to be amazing, right?

Yes.

It looks so simple and innocent. Doesn’t seem like anything all that special, from looking at the ingredients. (Kind of like a good top-secret spy should look, right?) I mean, sake, ginger, green onion, salt… there’s nothing fancy about that, right?

Then it comes out of the oven, and you unwrap the foil… and an amazing scent ninja-kicks you in the face and makes your knees go weak. It totally sneaks up on you. You never saw it coming… never had a chance.

The buttery flesh practically falls apart at the merest touch of your fork. It has the essence of sake and a hint of ginger, without the bitterness of spirits or the harsh bite of the medicinal root.

No exaggeration… I would consider this to be the best cooked fish I have ever had. And probably one of the best things I have ever personally cooked.

You have to make this. It’s amazingly good… and ridiculously easy. Really there’s no excuse not to.

The black cod, straight out of the oven

I estimated all the amounts, so you can add more or less to your tastes. A 1 lb fillet was enough for Son and I, with enough leftovers for an additional meal, so plan accordingly.

And if you’re wondering about the sides – the roasted cherry tomatoes and pan-fried asparagus and corn, not to worry! Those recipes will be posted soon.

Ingredients

• 1 lb black cod
• kosher salt
• 4″ fresh ginger, peeled and diced into small cubes
• 6 stalks green onion, chopped
• about 1 cup sake

Cooking Directions

1. Rub the fillet with salt. Wrap it in plastic, and refrigerate for a couple of hours.
2. Preheat the oven to 350°F.
3. Rinse under cold water, then place on a sheet of foil large enough to seal around the fish.
4. Douse with the sake, then top with the ginger and green onion.
5. Wrap the black cod loosely in foil, leaving a little airspace, and seal tightly so the sake won’t spill out.
6. Bake for about 30 minutes. Actual baking time will depend on the size and thickness of your fish, so check to see if it will flake easily with a fork and bake longer if needed. It should flake very easily when done.
7. Enjoy! Serve with rice and kimchi, or with pan-fried vegetables like I did.

Spaghetti with Roasted Vegetables

I’m no chef. Heck, I’m not even that great of a home cook. Most of the things I make (aside from sushi) are from cookbooks or other blogs or recipe sites… it isn’t often that I come up with a recipe all on my own.

But sometimes, a recipe idea will just walk up and kick you in the face and force you to run with it. Even if you have no idea whether it will work out or not.

That’s what happened here.

Roasting the vegetables in the oven

I was at my dad’s, working on my garden in his backyard, and we were barbecuing for dinner. We had decided to make vegetable skewers – onion, grape tomatoes, mushrooms…

One taste of those grilled grape tomatoes and I knew I had to try them in spaghetti.

So I went home, tossed some grape tomatoes, chopped onions, mushrooms, and some garlic with some olive oil and stuck it in the oven.

And voila! The perfect, fresh, flavorful spaghetti sauce. The roasted grape tomatoes burst when you press your fork down on them. Add some spaghetti noodles and some garlic bread, and you’ve got a perfect summer meal.

Roasted vegetable spaghetti!

Ingredients

• 1 cup grape tomatoes
• 1 medium onion, chopped
• 1 cup sliced mushrooms
• 4 cloves – 1 head garlic (depending on how much you like garlic
• 2 tbsp olive oil
• dash of salt and pepper
• spaghetti noodles, cooked

Cooking Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 350° F.
2. Toss the grape tomatoes, onion, mushrooms, and garlic with the olive oil, salt, and pepper.
3. Roast for half an hour.
4. Top spaghetti with roasted vegetables. Enjoy!

Tour de France – Tartiflette

Tartiflette

Barbara of Winos and Foodies is known for being a huge fan of Lance Armstrong and the Tour de France – after all, every year she organizes the wonderful LiveSTRONG with a Taste of Yellow event.

Once again, she’s organized a great one – a series all about the Tour de France, that brings together a bunch of bloggers who are each assigned a stage of the Tour.

I got Stage 9, which happens today. It starts in Morzine-Avoriaz (check out Raita’s blog to see what she did for Stage 8… heh, let me just say, great minds think alike… 😉 ), and finishes in Saint-Jean-de-Maurienne.

Saint-Jean-de-Maurienne is in the Savoie region of France – the mountainous region in the south-east. It has a rich history with cycling – the many mountain passes that surround the town are absolutely perfect for biking, and it just happens to be at the heart of the biggest cycling area for climbers.

Of more interest to foodies, the town has an annual bread festival (which will happen on the 5th of August this year), and is famous for its Opinel knives.

Ooey, gooey cheese and cream…

I was delighted to hear that I was assigned to a town from the Savoie region – for several years now, there has been a dish from that region that I’ve been wanting to try. This was the perfect excuse!

Potatoes, bacon, onions, garlic, cheese, cream, wine… you really can’t go wrong with a Tartiflette. These are all the ingredients I love most! 😀

Perfect garnished with some chopped green onions!

Tomorrow’s stage will be over on Mele Cotte, so make sure to check it out!

P.S. Did you know you can also hang out with me on the Fridgg page on Facebook?

P.P.S. Speaking of hanging out, you’re following me on Twitter, right? Feel free to say hi, ask questions, poke fun at me… I always love getting to know my readers better. 😀

Tartiflette, adapted from Lucy’s Kitchen Notebook:

Ingredients

• potatoes to fill a 9×13″ pan (about 5-6 medium potatoes)
• 2 medium onion
• 1 lb good bacon, or other good cured pork
• 2 cloves garlic
• 4 tbsp butter
• salt and pepper
• 1/3 cup heavy whipping cream
• 1/2 cup dry white Savoie type wine
• 1/2 of a Reblochon de Savoie
• green onion

Cooking Directions

1. Heat the oven to 475°F (250°C).
2. Peel and slice the potatoes into medium-sized slices.
3. Roughly chop the onions.
4. Heat the butter in a heavy skillet and add the onions and bacon; sauté gently for 3-5 minutes.
5. Add the potatoes and continue to sauté for 5 more minutes.
6. Add the wine, give the potatoes a stir, season with salt and pepper as desired, then cover and let simmer and steam in the wine for 10 minutes.
7. Grease the baking dish with butter, crush the garlic cloves, and rub the garlic cloves all over the inner surface of the pan.
8. Add the heavy whipping cream to the potato mixture, and transfer it to the gratin pan.
9. Slice the Reblochon in half with a sharp knife flat wise, and place the two pieces on top of the potatoes, rind side up.
10. Bake for 10 minutes.
11. Turn the heat down to 400°F (200°C) and bake for 10 more minutes.
12. Turn off the oven but don’t open it, and leave the dish in the closed oven for another 10 minutes.
13. Garnish with chopped green onions.
14. Serve hot with a salad, crusty bread, and the the wine you cooked with.

Oyster Stew

Oyster Stew

If you read Sushi Day, my other food blog, you may recall that I went to Seattle, WA last August. Although the purpose of that trip was to learn about sustainable sushi, Son and I decided that if we were going to go, we might as well get the most of our trip. So we met a few friends, ate at a new restaurant owned by the husband of a food blogger whose writing and photos I absolutely adore, got lost a few times, and ended up with a foot swollen so big I could barely walk thanks to a rather inconvenient bug bite saw as much as we could of the city in one weekend.

One of the last restaurants where we ate at was Elliot’s Oyster House. Because we figured, well, we’re in Seattle, so we really should eat some oysters, right? I remember enjoying the meal, though half a year later I’ve forgotten most of what Son and I had. However, there is one thing that we ate that I still crave: the oyster stew.

Since coming home from Seattle, I kept promising myself I would make it. But I kept putting it off, because I didn’t have time to cook, it was better suited for cold weather, etc. etc. Finally, all the stars were aligned, and I made this oyster stew recipe that I adapted from Allrecipes.com.

Yum.

Get some nice crusty French (or sourdough) bread to sop up the warm soup. (Okay, I’ll admit it. That’s my favorite part. I’m not in it for the oysters (*gasp*) or even the potatoes (*double gasp*)… all I really care about is sopping up that hot soup with the crusty bread until it’s soaked and starting to get soft… mmm. Cream, butter, and some hot sauce all mixed together… what’s not to like?)

…with crusty French bread, it’s the perfect meal

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup butter
• 6 shallots, minced
• 2 potatoes, diced
• 1 quart half-and-half cream
• 1 (12 ounce) container fresh shucked oysters, drained
• salt and ground black pepper to taste
• 1 pinch cayenne pepper, or to taste
• hot sauce
• crusty French bread

Directions

1. Melt the butter in a large skillet over medium heat, and cook the shallots until tender.
2. Pour half-and-half into a large pot over medium-high heat. Mix in the butter and shallot mixture. Add potatoes. Stir continuously.
3. When the mixture is almost boiling, pour the oysters into the pot. Season with salt, pepper, cayenne pepper, and hot sauce.
4. Stir continuously until the oysters curl at the ends. When the oysters curl the stew is finished cooking; turn off the heat and serve with crusty bread to sop up the liquid.

Sushi! And a sustainable replacement for unagi.

Dragon Roll

The November 2009 Daring Cooks challenge was brought to you by Audax of Audax Artifex and Rose of The Bite Me Kitchen. They chose sushi as the challenge.

Catfish

To be honest, I was both excited and disappointed when I saw this challenge. Because, well… I love sushi! But… I make sushi all the time. Where’s the challenge for me?

Dragon Roll

Sumeshi. Dragon Roll. Decorative rolls. Nigiri sushi. Those were the “challenges” for this month. For most people, this is a great challenge, because if I had a dollar for every time I’ve heard someone is scared of trying to make sushi at home… I’d be a very rich woman indeed. But for me… I’ve done that all already. Countless times. *sigh*

BLT Spiral Roll

But!!! In fact, I was able to find something here to challenge me. You see, unagi is bad, bad, bad. Don’t get me wrong, I’ve eaten unagi many times in the past and enjoyed it quite a bit. But… it’s not sustainable. At all. Not good. Especially when these days, I’m trying to go completely sustainable, at least when it comes to seafood.

BLT Spiral Roll

Inspired by a roll Hajime Sato made at the Sustainable Sushi Dinner at Mashiko, I decided I would make my own sustainable replacement for unagi. Made from catfish. And that, my friends, was my challenge for this month’s Daring Cooks challenge.

So how did it turn out? Wonderfully. Perfect. The taste, the texture… we might as well have been eating unagi. It was fantastic.

BLT Spiral Roll

For the Dragon Roll instructions and the sumeshi recipe we were to use for this challenge, go check out the posts on Audax’s and Rose’s blogs. For lots and lots more sushi recipes and the instructions that I use for my own sushi, check out Sushi Day, my sushi blog.

Catfish

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup mirin
• 1/2 cup shoyu
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 2 catfish fillets

Cooking Instructions

1. Combine the mirin, shoyu, and sugar in a small pot.
2. Bring to a boil, then simmer for half an hour. Let cool.
3. Marinate the catfish in the sauce overnight.
4. Bring the oven to 350°F.
5. Wrap the catfish fillets in individual foil packets, pouring some of the sauce over each fillet. Bake 30-45 minutes, keeping an eye on the catfish so it doesn’t overcook.
6. Let cool. Enjoy!