Fish Night

We had six for dinner again on Monday. Hugo brought four inexpensive bubblies – champagne, proseco and two other sparkling wines -- so we could do a taste test. He had given me advance notice of this, so I had a big tub full of ice awaiting the bottles. We all tasted and were evenly divided as to which wine we liked the best! But we loved them all, and the early evening science experiment made a great start for dinner, which included:

• Skillet Roasted Cod with Ravigote Sauce – The method I used for cooking the cod is one of my favorites – “Skillet Roasting.” This is a technique I learned from America’s Test Kitchen and results in perfect fish with a nicely browned crust every time. This recipe tells you how to do it, but I used this only for the technique and used Jacques Pepin's recipe for the ravigote. This was a delicious dish. The leftover sauce was wonderful on an avocado salad the next day and I’m thinking of making the sauce just to have in the fridge. It would be great with eggs, on a baked potato -- perhaps anything other than ice cream!
  
• Company Carrots – this was good, but not great, and life is too short to eat food that is other than “great!” I know this would have been better if I had undercooked the carrots slightly, so I may give it another chance. I was looking for a new way to fix carrots. I love serving carrots because I always have then on hand, they are very healthy, and their color is always nice on a dinner table. Although Company Carrots is definitely different from my usual carrot technique, Daughter No. 1 reminds me that our guests always love the standard technique, so maybe I should leave well-enough alone.
  
• Limas with Leeks and Walnuts – this was terrific even though I did not have any white truffle oil. It’s another new recipe for me, but I will definitely add it to my standards. There was not a lot leftover, but I ate it for breakfast the next day. Yum!
• Amish Secret Rolls – I’ve mentioned these before. I love them and they are so easy!
  

We had ginger cookies for dessert with our tea and coffee. I don’t have a recipe for these – I just make it up as I go. But I do use “layers” of flavor. I used powdered ginger, grated fresh ginger and candied ginger. Did I mention ginger? Everybody loved these. I’ll try to do better and remember to write down the ingredients next time.

Fascinating Fish Facts: I bought myself a cookbook for Christmas – Good Fish by Becky Selengut. This was listed by the Washington Post as one of 2011’s ten best cookbooks so I couldn’t resist. I really like the cookbook, but I love Selengut’s website. It has all the things you expect on a chef’s website, but the most interesting part is the videos. You can watch Selengut clean mussels, devein shrimp, remove the skin from a fillet, and lots more. Give it a try!