Gilding the Lily since 2006
NY strip is a good cut of beef. Salt and pepper and a sear is all it needs. I gave it some Dutch blue just for shits and giggles. Also, celeriac makes good gnocchi. I think next time I’ll do a brown butter and caraway …
‘Lenten Rose’ hellebore in my garden. I collect hellebores, jack-in-the-pulpits and euphorbias. Lately I’ve been thinking a lot about the old adage, “she’s no spring chicken”. It’s strange, because I generally feel pretty sassy and chic for being a chick over thirty, but I go …
My wraps are “fresh!”I usually avoid any fruit that’s not local or in season, but the tropical fruit section of the grocery store was emitting a heady fragrance, and tempted, I bought a pineapple. I cut it open and slurped up a piece: juicy, sweet, with a perfect bromeliaceous acid balance. It wasn’t as good as fresh-from-the-plantation in Fiji, but it was pretty fucking good. No elderly upside-down cake would do this beauty justice – fuck a Better Homes and Gardens. I really wanted to eat it with meat.
I took stock of what we had in the fridge, and decided Vietnamese would be the best course of action: we had some pork, sweet/hot Chinese sausage, bún tàu (bean threads), Đồ Chua (pickled, julienned carrots and daikon), a head of greenleaf and some cilantro. Lettuce wraps are easy and healthy, which would be a nice change of pace from two-day planning and hours-long prep. This was a weeknight, for fuck’s sake.
I marinated the pork (thinly sliced), sausage (cut on the bias) and pineapple (cut into “fingers” haha, get it? cuz my finger’s all fucked up?) in a mixture of pineapple juice, smooshed lemongrass and grated ginger, fish sauce, chili paste (sweet and garlic), a splash of rice vinegar and a splash of rice wine, and a goodge of hoisin sauce. Hot grill pan for a split-second sear and you’re good to go. I deglazed the meaty fond off the grill pan with the marinade for a tasty dipping sauce.
You could wrap these in rice papers or just enjoy it on a bed of rice vermicelli (instead of the bean threads), but this is a fun way to eat.
Scott and I had a few of his homies over for dinner and vid night the other night. I had already thawed out a lamb shoulder roast to clear out some room in the freezer, so it was good that we were having some company. …
I found out that our liquor store sells shochu, yay! Mix with a little Trader Joe’s sparkling limeade and you’re laughin’. Getting shitfaced on lime chuhai makes me smile. Booze and painkillers are best mates (if your liver can take it). See that? That’s how …
I guess I’m finally tired enough of eating premenstrual cravings for dinner every night and can cook again, but I still don’t feel like busting out a carefully-metered recipe at 10:00 on a work night. So I’ll just describe and you can figure it out.
Pork tenderloin medallions, 1″ thick, S&P. Sear in a pan, finish to medium in the oven, rest for a few minutes. (I don’t believe in trichinosis, because this isn’t the 1800s. I eat pork a little on the less-than-well-done side.) Deglaze pan with some budget pinot noir and some pomegranate molasses (leftover from January RFJ). You can add some golden raisins or a mince of dried apricots, if you like. This is a lovely thing to do.
Roasted golden beets: scrub the dirt off the skins, salt and toss in olive oil. Roast until tender. Toss with a drizzle of walnut oil, some toasted pumpkin seeds, a splash of white balsamic and a pinch of Maldon.
Blue grits: 50-50 coarse grind yellow corn meal and blue corn meal (I couldn’t find coarse-grind blue cornmeal) . Heat some milk with a pinch of salt to a dull roar, drizzle in the corn meal (stirring) until porridge-like. Simmer on low for a few, then stir in a handful of frozen corn kernels and crumbled blue cheese (I used Danish). Spread this out on a silpat or some parchment, cover loosely with foil and bake until the bottom is crispy-cheesy (like 15 minutes). The crispy, browned crust on the bottom is manna from heaven and is, alone, worth this effort.
This is how I think all recipes should be written, anyway. If you spend as much time in your kitchen as I think you should, you would need only see a list of ingredients to make something incredible edible.
I needed to take a little vacay from the blogging for a few days, because when my hobbies start to feel like a second job, I usually abandon them altogether. I don’t want that to happen! I don’t want to resent my blog. Also, I …
Work’s been kicking my ass the past few days. I worked ~16 hours today, which included a two hour-long (mediated) fight with a senior coworker, and can’t fathom cooking. Yet I can fathom blogging? Okay, I asked the hubz if he’d consider fixing something to …
I’ve been making it for pert’neer a decade. It’s fast, easy and requires nearly no attention. And Rachael Ray can shove it up her Photoshopped ass, ‘cuz this takes less than 30 minutes, and I didn’t even have to fake any cooking talent to make it. You do need some basic Japanese ingredients, but for $10 worth of pantry items, you’ll be able to whip out fairly honest Japanese cooking.
Sakana-no nitsuke (miso fish)
You can use any kind of fish for this. I like a working-class tilapia or basa, but cod went on sale and it was just delicious. I like to serve this with Calrose rice and mixed greens to sop up the sauce. Serves 2.
Sauce
3 tbsp shiro (white) miso
2 tbsp soy sauce or tamari
1 tsp yuzu preserves or marmalade
2 tbsp sake (optional, but why don’t you just get a bottle of sake and drink the rest)
1 tbsp rice vinegar
1 tsp mirin (1/2 tsp honey + 1/2 tsp water can be subbed)
2 or 3 tbsp water
1 tbsp sugar
1 tsp sesame seeds
1 tbsp grated ginger
A good, firm fish fillet such as mentioned above, cut into 2 servings
1 scallion, sliced eloquently
Whisk together the sauce ingredients in your favorite little sauce-whisking vessel. Taste it and make sure I didn’t fuck up the recipe, because I wrote it from memory (however, I think I’m pretty damn close). I’m really assuming you know how to tell if something tastes “not right” and can tweak basic flavors such as sweet and salty. Also, you should just always taste while you cook anyway, unless you want to be a laughingstock, and who wants that.
Preheat the oven to 350oF (the magical temperature*). Heat up a pan and slip in some oil (not olive, just this once). Lay the fish in the pan (you can add some shiitake if you want), and pour the sauce over the top. Oh, how it will spatter and protest! Turn off the stove and toss this puppy into the oven. The fish will be done in the time it takes to cook the rice (15-20 minutes). When the fish feels firm to the tip of your ring finger, it’s ready. The great thing about this dish is that the fish never really dries out because of the sauce. Go ahead and sprinkle the scallions over the top, for a little flair.
Serve with Calrose rice sprinkled with fumi furikake (rice seasoning) of your choice (I use a spicy nori fumi furikake – it’s totally optional) and some nice mixed greens. Deftly spoon the sauce over the fish and greens, but leave the rice unmolested. You’ll be glad to have moist little mouthfuls of Clean and White to chase the unctuous sauce.
*350oF is the magical temperature because it gives you the maximum walk-away-and-forget time without resorting to actual slow-roasting. Oh, that shit’ll cook, it just won’t burn the second you turn your back on it. Also, it’ s my oven’s default temp and sometimes, yes, I’m too lazy to push a “temp up” arrow three or four times.
Okay, some of you know that I have a day job: I’m a field biologist working in natural resources consulting. I grew up watching a lot of David Attenborough programs. I have seen a lot of crazy shit in my life (truth really is stranger …