Pescage du Jour - 23 June 2014

Ah, those pesky fish. They're not really that hard to cook, they're just hard not to overcook.

At last, I success with fishy perfection. It wasn't paella, but it was paellish in some ways.
While a pot of yellow rice cooked on the stove, I prepared a nice swordfish steak with some curry powder, paprika, and salt on each side. That was seared in canola oil, flipped, and removed - at just the right time!
Into that skillet went chopped onions, some chopped piquillo peppers, and some diced button mushrooms. I had some leftover chicken, so about a thigh's-worth was diced and added as well.
When they were just right, in went the rice for a quick stir while I cut up the swordfish and added the pieces to the rice.
What a bowl of flavour!
Oh, I also added some chopped pistachios and cashews which had been spiced with curry powder and paprika as well. They add a nice flavour and a great occasional crunch to many a dish in our house.

This was extremely delicious and highly recommended.
Enjoy!

Carnage du Jour - 27 June 2013

I blame the Olive Garden commercial - or perhaps rather I ought to give it some credit.

Let me explain.
We were doing some research on YouTube (hey, I'm not kidding here) when an Olive Garden commercial played, showing me this wonderful dish of shrimp and asparagus.
I said to Patrick, "Man, I hope I have some shrimp at home; that looks really good. At least I know I have some asparagus."

Well, I didn't have any shrimp, but I did have a nice swordfish steak waiting to be cooked. Oh, and I did have the asparagus, so we're well on the way.

But how to cook the swordfish?
How about a blast from the past, adapted to a different protein? Swordfish Liègeois!

This is based on a recipe from the 60 Minute Gourmet cookbook that I've had for nearly thirty years now. Originally a pork chop dish with a nice smear on top made of egg yolk, Dijon mustard, and shredded cheese, it would seem a natural for even another white meat. And so it was.

Good grief this was delicious.
In my grill pan I got nice marks (at 85 degrees apart or so) on each side, after brushing the fish with a bit of oil and sprinkling on a few poppy seeds.
As the second side's second marks were being made, I smeared on my mixture of an egg yolk, a couple tablespoons of Dijon, a teaspoon or so of white wine vinegar, some summer savory, and a few tablespoons of shredded Asiago cheese.
Then under the broiler it went until it got a beautiful brown crust across most of it.

While that was happening, I had simply reheated some leftover asparagus from a couple nights before, and made a big of pasta that got sauced with some lemon, some diced tomatoes with olive oil and garlic, and a bit of blue cheese dressing for creaminess and even more tang.

Again, this was a delicious repast, and I both blame and thank the Olive Garden for how much we ended up eating.

Enjoy!