Cookaholics Bulletin Board

The most recent posting on My Year Cooking with Chris Kimball inspired me to try out the Poached Cod with Cilantro and Jalapeño Vinaigrette. Ok, I used Haddock instead of cod, I SV'd it (with some Olive Oil) instead of oil poaching in the oven, but I did use the vinaigrette and the fried Jalapeno and garlic. It was very delicious, though hotter then I expected (though not objectionably so; I like hot stuff). OTOH, I hadn't really considered something this spicy with fish, but it worked amazingly well, and the taste is quite 'fresh'.

So last night I tried poaching halibut in olive oil per the SF Chronicle.

I wasn't impressed. I don't know if, blindfolded, I could have distinguished it from halibut which was steamed, or even oiled and baked. And I had to toss almost 2 cups of olive oil.

Am I doing something wrong, or is this dish just more impressive than it sounds?

Fuzzy, I have no idea, not sure whether I'll ever try it due to the whole waste factor. Similar to the reason I stopped making CI's glazed maple salmon since I was tossing a lot of real maple syrup in the marinade.
We had my 11 year old's birthday party last night, 7 boys to see The Hunger Games (wow) and then back to our place for CI beef tacos, a sleepover (they didn't sleep) and then CI buttermilk waffles, which I messed up when measuring the liquid but thankfully trusted my instincts and didn't add it all in, therby saving the whole batch. The kids seemed happy with everything and the conversations amongst the boys were priceless.

JF,

What did you think of the movie?

I'd be guessing the latter. I don't think the oil can penetrate the fish. Using oil will change the flavor transfer to the cooking medium, and of course some flavours on the surface will come out differently due to oil solubility being different then water. And I suspect it is much less prone to error; most people seem to be pretty dreadful at cooking fish. But I'd be that carefully cooked fish (say poached, or steamed) rubbed with oil would be fairly indistinguishable from the oil poached. I'd be willing to be proved wrong, but the MC experiments with duck confit come to mind and I don't think fish flesh is any more oil permeable then duck meat. But that is all guessing. And, for your average cook, the end result might be better if they are normally prone to overlooking fish.

I haven't read the book yet, but thought the movie was really well done. My 12 year old, who has been waiting for the movie for months, thought it was okay but the book was way better. The emotional pull of the movie can't be denied, I was in tears several times. I'm going to read the books now even though thanks to my son I know how it ends.

So our corner grocer has started carrying loose salt-packed Sicilian anchovies (yeah, I know, sucks to be us). So I made Whore's Noodles tonight (that's Pasta Puttanesca, for the Italian speakers).

I was a bit worried because the anchovies were, well, hard and had to be chopped with a cleaver. But they broke down fast once cooked in oil and added a lovely flavor to the funky fettuccine.

Hmm, Puttanesca, now that sounds like a good idea. Any good ideas on subs for olives? Something tasty that would match the rest of the dish....

I've never had hard salt-packed anchovies. They've always been moist.

Amy

Last night I made a Mexican Tortilla Casserole from the Splendid Table newsletter. The filling was chopped toms, tom paste, black beans, spinach, peppers, onions, cumin, chili powder and some corn. That was layered between tortillas along with some cheddar cheese in a spring form pan. baked and then sprinkled with cilantro. I served it with salsa, sour cream, guacamole and shredded iceberg. It came together very quickly (even though I was interrupted about 9000 times and got a late start) and was very tasty. I think it would be a great for a buffet as well. I just had some cold for breakfast and I can also recommend that. My husband was thrilled with it. He said I should blog about it. I told him I don't have a blog but would let all of you know that he really, REALLY liked it.

Mary