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January 17, 2006
Adventures in Food, Continued
Did you know that you can make lentil soup exactly the same way you make pea soup? I used the leftover carrots and slightly-limp celery and non-homemade vegetable stock and substituted whole lentils for split peas and came up with passable lentil soup in about an hour. It wasn't fabulous, though. It needed something. So I added a can of tomatoes, per Joy. Eh. Perfectly edible soup, yet, but nothing to write home about. I think I need a spice. I love the lentil soup you get in mediterranean restaurants -- slightly spicy, smooth, somewhat pureed, with a lighter color? I have to pull out the mediterranean cookbook...(hold please)...okay, the mediterranean cookbook doesn't even have lentil soup, but the slow cooker book has Moroccan Style Lentil and Chic Pea soup - that involves similar ingredients plus turmeric and cardamon and cinnamon and a bunch of other spices. Might be worth a try.
Next adventure: Fish. I like fish stores. They're so retro. Fishmonger is a great word. I just don't know what to do with fish. I can handle shrimp (with Dad on the phone coaching), and I can get sardines out of a can, but that's where it ends. I've tried tuna -- I think it was okay, but now I'm afraid of all the mercury so I reserve my tuna binges for New York Rolls at Yamato once in a while (ooohsogoood). Right, so, the other night I was walking past the fish store (which is half a block away from the other fish store in the neighborhood -- which one should I go to??) and I decided that it would be really cool if I just walked in and ordered a fillet of something, like a grown-up.
So I walk in and am confronted with 100 different kinds of fish. There's trout, bluefish, halibut, tuna, gray sole, lemon sole, cod, etc. All of my fish knowledge leaves me. Five store people ask if I need help and I have to pretend I'm still thinking. There's a beautiful red snapper, but it's expensive and a whole fish seems like a bit of a challenge. I suddenly can't remember whether my Spanish Mom always made haddock or halibut. Finally, the only thing in my head is: Mom gets sole, just get the sole. Only there are two kinds of sole, gray and lemon. I hope that maybe the lemon sole is pre-flavored or something. I ask. The fish guy is not so good with English, so I repeat myself and realize at the same time that this is a neophyte kind of question. The fish guy smiles. No. Lemon sole has nothing to do with lemon. Oy. So how is it different, I ask. Less expensive, he says. Okay, whatever, I've had enough fish store embarrassment for a day. I get a fillet.
At home, Joy really doesn't have much advice for me. Sautéeing is good for sole. Grill is best. Ugh. So I sautée, but I do it in the Le Creuset, which is really not the best pan because it's for evenly distributed heat, not high, fish-browning heat. I cook the fish in olive oil, slather it with lemon, salt, pepper, and parsley, and it is edible. Derek said it wasn't bad. I was not impressed. I really should have consulted the internet or Mom -- here's a decent recipe that I could have tried. Anyway, to summarize, it has not been a successful week in Blue Sage Food. Not as bad as the Failed Fudge, but not up to my foodie wannabe standards.
Update: The Amateur Gourmet has done an anniversary food post and it's full of things to try.
Posted by csageday at January 17, 2006 10:51 PM
Comments
If you buy some Panko or just make crumbs out of bread, toast, crackers, or whatever, then dunk the fillet in a little egg and milk mixture or just egg, then the bread crumbs and fry, the fish stays together better. Also a little squeeze of fresh lemon helps give the fish more flavor. I always lightly bread sole. Also works nicely with chicken (without the lemon.)
Posted by: Mom at January 20, 2006 10:01 AM