Before The Weather Hits

The weather report for the remainder of the week does not look promising for grilling.  Rain tomorrow, possible snow the following, and freezing temperatures after that.  So it was somewhat of a no-brainer to make sure that I grilled tonight.  Last week's somewhat healthier cooking was properly countered by the weekend dining.  It was time to get back in the game with the Red Snapper Fajitas With Black Bean Salsa on page 283.

I wanted to have as much done as possible before The Bride came home.  The fish could marinade for no longer than half an hour, otherwise the texture becomes mushy due to overexposure to acid.  The plan was to have everything in place, so that when she arrived I could drop the fish in the marinade, fire up the grill, and thirty-four minutes later (fish cooks for four minutes) be eating.  With this in mind, the first step was to create the marinade and set it aside.

Next up was the salsa, which was very similar to the salsa I created for a grilled chicken thigh taco much earlier in the blog, but with the additions of black beans and red onion.

I mixed that up and also set it aside for later.  

A couple of hours later, The Bride pulled into the driveway.  I placed the fish into a Ziploc Bag with the marinade for its set time and lit the grill.

After the allotted time I took out the fillets, wiped off the marinade, and (after this picture was taken) brushed them with olive oil.

The purpose of the olive oil at the end is to prevent the fish from sticking to the grill.  In this matter, I have conducted a fair amount of research.  There are two thoughts: oil the grill grates and then put on the protein, or oil the protein and then place on the grill grates.  The research overwhelmingly states that the latter technique works better.  With proteins other than fish, this has worked quite well for me.  With fish, however, I remain unsuccessful.  It is one of the reasons I have abandoned the flesh-down-first-then-flip technique with salmon, opting for indirect cooking instead.  What I am irresistibly drawn to, however, are those wonderful grill marks that indirect cooking provides.  Thus, I gave the direct cooking method another "college try."  With one of the fillets I only had minor issues with the flesh sticking to the grill, and therefor achieved nice markings on most of the surface area.

The other fillet experienced much more sticking, and less-than-desirable results.  Oh well.  I guess it's a good thing that these would be shredded and placed into tacos.

I plated The Bride's meal first, but I know that she would not have wanted a taco (she LOVES traditional tacos, but rather dislikes fish tacos), so I selected a piece that had the nice grill marks, and used a piece of romaine lettuce as a base to enhance the plate's visual appeal.  With a generous dollop of salsa to finish it off, I was done!

I, unlike my better half, enjoy fish as my protein in tacos.  Wanting to keep the carb count down, I opted to use a lettuce wrap instead of a tortilla shell.  I shredded a bit of the less-visually appealing fillet and placed it in the lettuce piece with the salsa.

Low-carb fish taco!

This was a light and refreshing meal...more aptly suited for summertime, but pleasant nonetheless.  The lettuce wrap was a good call, it added a wonderful crunchiness to the softer fish and salsa textures.  Flavors were complimentary, but not overwhelming.  In fact, the marinade may have been underwhelming.  I think more salt may have been in order.  The Bride and I agree that the salsa's additions were not preferred compared to the other tomato/avocado salsa.  Otherwise, this meal has a nice diversity in that it can be either a knife-and-fork meal like The Bride's version, or a silverware-free meal like mine.

An Improvised Birthday

The Bride and I were all set to have fish again for dinner tonight.  As work came to a close, I received an email from her, indicating that today was her father's birthday, and that he would be coming over for dinner.  Knowing that he does not enjoy fish, we had to alter our plans.  I've been to Red Lobster with the man before, so I know that while he does not like fish, the guy can throw down some serious shrimp.  This would be close enough for our diets, and please him at the same time.  To add to his birthday meal, I picked up a VERY nice filet mignon (shout-out goes to Mackie Meats at Findlay) so that he could have a surf 'n turf dinner.  While he was the only one to enjoy red meat tonight, all three of us would be dining on the Shrimp and Onions with Cocktail Sauce on page 311.

The cocktail sauce calls for prepared horseradish, but the stuff you find at the grocery store just doesn't have the kick that I would like.  Years ago I learned how to make my own from scratch, and it is SO much better and ridiculously easy to do.  Start by peeling the horseradish root.

I prefer to use a microplaner, but I broke mine on Thanksgiving.  I used a box grater instead.

All you need to do is add enough plain vinegar to moisten the pulp to the consistency you like, and season it lightly with salt and sugar (I used Splenda) to taste.

As a warning, during this process your eyeballs will start burning.  This is your indication that you are making something truly awesome, and you will never go back to the store-bought stuff.  This took all of a minute or two to accomplish, and is vastly superior.

The horseradish was added into the other cocktail sauce ingredients.

Some gentle stirring later, I had a nice cocktail sauce.  I covered it with plastic wrap and set it in the fridge while I prepared the shrimp.

It does take some time to shell and de-vein the shrimp (by the way, that's no vein you are removing), and I actually prefer to grill shrimp with their shells still on to save moisture, but I also like to follow a recipe as best as I can the first time so that I can see what was truly intended.   Thus, I removed the shells for tonight.

I skewered them up, alternating onion slice and shrimp.

We needed a vegetable, so I improvised a ratatouille, grilling the vegetables first and then finishing them off on the stove.

As the only seasoning in the recipe was salt and pepper, the shrimp came off the grill looking rather plain.  The point, I supposed, was to let the cocktail sauce be the star.

I plated, and called everyone in to dinner.  Not pictured, of course, is the wonderful filet on my father-in-law's plate.

The cocktail sauce takes all of five minutes, and will make you a stud at your next party.  Seriously, this stuff is terrific.  The shrimp acted as a canvas for which to adorn with flavor from the sauce, instead of the other way around.  Friends WILL see this sauce if we ever have a need for shrimp appetizers at a gathering.  The onions didn't seem to serve much purpose, though.  I didn't even plate them, especially since I had other (and more interesting) vegetables.  I couldn't imagine anyone just eating leaves of plain grilled onions.  Otherwise, this meal was a happy success.

Continuing The Trend

Unbelievably, I grilled two days in a row!  I would have to go back MANY moons to find the last time that happened.  It was actually much nicer today than yesterday, and the weather is supposed to get even nicer over the next couple of days.  Thus, I just may even grill out a couple of more times this week!  Last night, The Bride requested pork tenderloin.  As I perused The Guide this morning, I realized that I was down to my last recipe for this cut of meat, so that made the decision easy.  After work, I picked up what I needed for the Butterflied Tenderloin with Rice Salad on page 181.

I started the marinade as soon as I got home, as I wanted this to have as much flavor as possible.  With The Bride having an anticipated arrival time of only about three hours, every minute would count.  On a sad note, I used up the last of the honey that I had picked up last summer at the farmer's market my parents took me to in Virginia.

What I was eager to investigate about this recipe was that although I have a fair amount of experience with pork tenderloin, I have yet to try the technique of butterflying them.  After removing silverskin and fat, I made my incision and opened up the meat.

 

Taking care to lay down Saran Wrap beforehand, I used my rolling pin (in a hammering motion, not a rolling one) to flatten out the tenderloin to an even thickness.  

With both of the tenderloins now prepared, I put them in a jellyroll pan so that I could pour the marinade over them and not have it leak all over my fridge.

So in went the marinade, and I did my best to make sure that both sides of the meat were coated.  I covered the pan with plastic wrap and set it in the fridge.  To kill time while The Bride was still away, I removed the Christmas lights from our tree, before taking it out to the curb.

Flashing forward a few hours now, The Bride is home and on the couch recovering from a long day's work.  It was time for me to get the ball rolling!  I fired up The Forge, and while it was getting nice and hot, I started in on the rice salad.  The first step is to get the dressing ready.

The salad calls for a cup of peeled and seeded cucumber, which after you do so, doesn't leave you with too much of that fruit left.

Okay, I admit it, I cheated...you are supposed to use a wild rice, which would take over an hour to cook.  Let's just say that I wasn't "feeling it."  So I used microwaveable brown rice, which was ready in two and a half minutes.

The mint and celery were diced as well, and the salad was starting to come together.

The whisk was actually a terrific tool for stirring and incorporating all of the ingredients.

The tenderloins looked and smelled amazing.

 While those rested, I went about plating.  I dug out my PVC rings, which are still a super-cheap and fun way to plate!

The key is to press down on whatever it is that you are putting inside the rings, and then to let it sit there for a minute to set.

Once you remove the ring, the rice salad will sit all nice and pretty on your plate!

From there, top it with your main course and call it a day!

So, I learned a new technique today (butterflying a tenderloin), and I will declare it a success.  Three hours proved to not quite be enough marinade time, but the pork was still quite tasty.  I would have liked it a little more if it was given more time to absorb the more subtle flavors of the marinade.   Still, this technique will be remembered and reused.  

For the second day in a row, I was less than impressed with the mint.  Maybe it is because I am used to the mint that I grow in my herb garden, which is currently unavailable for the next several months.  I was apprehensive about flavors clashing (mint and cucumber in the rice salad, sesame oil and ginger in the pork), but they seemed to mellow and get along just fine.  The pork was juicy, which was another concern I initially had when reading that the tenderloins would be butterflied.  I did shorten the recommended cooking time by a few minutes, which was a good call.  Otherwise, this rather lean cut of meat would have dried out too quickly.

Well, let's see what the rest of the week has in store!

New Year's Resolutions

First of all, I don't like making resolutions for New Year's.  Making them implies that I am somehow flawed.  Well, in looking at the volume of posts I created in 2011, I suppose there is room for improvement.  Thus, I am going to start 2012 with my earliest grilling session to date, even though it is only one recipe, the Northern African Marinade on page 52.

The Bride requested fish, and I figured that would be an incentive to get back into grilling as I do not enjoy still smelling fish three days after cooking it.  I can't exactly open the windows for ventilation, either.  In case  you aren't from Cincinnati, here is what is going on right now (in Fahrenheit, for those of you abroad):

 I actually forgot the cookbook on the way to work, so I took a guess at the fishmonger, figuring that I probably still had at least one salmon recipe left.  When I got home, salmon in hand, I learned that I really did not.  Well, one recipe is for a different cut of salmon than what I had, and another is for a whole salmon.  Thus, I flipped back to the rub/marinade section to see what I could make.  Most of what was left there were for chicken, pork, or beef.  The only remaining for fish was the Northern African marinade, but I'm moderately confident that the fine citizens of Northern Africa do not encounter much salmon, so I wasn't terribly sure this recipe would match up well with my fish.  Regardless, I forged ahead.

 

While at Kroger, picking up a couple of ingredients for the marinade, I decided to pick up some asparagus as a vegetable.  I knew that I had one or two carrots left over as well in the fridge.  I used my mandolin to slice the carrots into nice planks for grilling.

I used the same marinade for both, but put them in separate bags as fish tends to be somewhat tender, and I wanted to keep the fillet as intact as possible while coating.

I decided a long time ago to always use the indirect method of grilling for salmon, so I was able to cook the fish and the vegetables simultaneously.  When it came to plating, I wanted to be a little fancy.  I began with the carrot planks.

I then placed the asparagus perpendicular to the planks.

Plating was finished by orienting the salmon at a bisecting angle.  In retrospect, I should have made a sauce for this, but hey, I have to get back into the groove of things.  I haven't done much cooking in the last couple of months, so I really should just ease back into it.

The marriage between the marinade and species of fish turned out to be harmonious.  The Bride was especially pleased.  I really didn't pick up on the mint in the recipe, but the brightness from the sherry vinegar broke though, as did the smokiness from the paprika.  The parsley added a gentle bitterness, rounded out by the olive oil.  Through all of this, however, the salmon flavor was preserved and was allowed to be the main attraction.  The crunchiness from the vegetables contrasted beautifully with the flakiness of the fish, adding depth of texture.  In all, a surprising success.  I still believe that this marinade is better suited for white-fleshed fish, but it is good to know just how versatile it can be!

Slowly Getting Back In The Game?

The porch project (I need to come up with a more clever name for that fiasco) has continued to absorb most of my time, so cooking has gone out the window.  Recognizing that tonight was going to be the last nice night of the year (below freezing temperatures arriving this week) I mandated myself to grill.  The Bride requested a "nice piece of fish" last night, so on the way home from work I stopped by Hyde Park Fish Market where I was informed that they no longer carried Sea Bass, the fish I wanted to cook for her.  Thus, I headed off to Fresh Market, the place the fishmonger recommended I could acquire such a fish now.  I was a little (read: a lot) disappointed that it was previously frozen, but at this stage in the game I was getting frustrated enough and just settled.  I quick stop by my herb garden completed what I needed for the Mediterranean Sea Bass on page 303.

Similar to making a rub first, as in most of the recipes here, I began by making the paste.  It was interesting to use the dried lavender that I had been sitting on since using some to make lavender-infused honey earlier in the summer.  This certainly had a Provencal feel to it.

I had the idea to just toss the fish in the bowl instead of trying to smear the paste on the fish.  This also saved a dish later when it came to washing up after dinner.

While The Forge was heating up, I gathered the little I needed for the super easy Grilled Asparagus With Prosciutto And Orange Mayonnaise on page 373.

The recipe called for both 1 tablespoon of orange juice and 1/2 teaspoon of orange zest, so I just bought one orange to take care of both, as I don't keep orange juice at home.  

I added in both parts of the orange, some lemon juice, and some cayenne before whisking.  If you look closely, you can see the flecks of cayenne.

Asparagus essentially has three parts: the tip, the fleshy stalk, and the woody stalk.  The fleshy stalk and woody stalk will naturally split from each other in the right spot if you take each end of the spear and bend it in the middle.

From there you can line up this piece with the others to see where to cut them.

You can now quickly trim all of your spears to the right length in very little time!

I'm glad I separated the pieces of prosciutto ahead of time, as they were a pain to peel apart.  I would not have been happy standing over a grill trying take them all apart, watching one piece burn before I even had the other pieces separated.

The fish was oddly cut by the amateur person behind the counter at Fresh Market (I've ranted about this before, but was left without a choice today), but I managed to cook it to temperature without scorching or drying the fish.  

The asparagus and prosciutto cooked up rather nicely, and were even done before the fish started to get cold.

This all plated quickly as well, so we were eating in no time at all.

I'll go ahead and say it myself...this looked pretty.  Even better, it smelled heavenly.  Sea Bass, with its high fat content, is naturally tasty; but with the addition of fresh herbs that have a southern French feel to them it becomes exquisite.  The fresh squeeze of lemon adds an acidity that cuts through the fats to create a melded and broad set of flavors.  

The asparagus was good, but I wasn't thrilled with it.  In theory it should have been superb.  I mean, what's not to like?  There's grilled cured pork, mayonnaise-based sauce spiked with cayenne, and my favorite citrus fruit.  Together, they offer a variety of textures and flavors, from sweet to spicy to vegetal.  I appreciated all that they had to offer, but it just didn't float my boat.