Parchment baked fish with thyme and olives

 

It's finally nice enough today to open up the back door and let in some fresh air, just one week after there was a heavy blanket of snow outside. With any luck winter may have given up and in a few weeks we can start moving the overwintering herbs back outside. They don't always survive the transition, so we figure we should make liberal use of them just in case. This dish takes advantage of the now spindly but growing lemon thyme plant. 

Parchment baked fish with thyme and olives

Adapted from Better Homes & Gardens, February 2019

Ingredients

½ pound fingerling potatoes, halved lengthwise

½ tablespoon water

2 tablespoons olive oil

2 small fish fillets (firm whitefish like halibut or cod work well), about ¾ pound total

8 to 10 sprigs of fresh thyme (lemon thyme is extra nice, but not necessary)

Pitted black and green olives (a mix of marinated olives from the deli olive bar is dandy)

Method

Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Place potatoes in a microwave-safe dish along with a ½ tablespoon of water. Cover and microwave at full power for 5 minutes. Let cool slightly.

Cut 2 15-inch squares of parchment paper. Drizzle the center of one half of each sheet with a bit of olive oil. Place half of cooled potatoes on top. Place the fish fillets on top of the potatoes. Top with several sprigs of fresh thyme. Sprinkle with salt and pepper. Arrange olives around fish. Drizzle remaining olive oil over the top.

Fold the other half of the parchment over the top of the fish. Starting at one corner at the fold, start folding both layers of parchment up toward the center, pleating and pinching as you go, kind of like crimping a pie crust. Fold the last corner under to seal.

Transfer packets to a baking sheet. Bake at 425 for 10 minutes on convection or 15 minutes in a conventional oven. Fish should flake easily. Watch for steam when you peel open the packets. Serves 2. 

Rating: Really quite nice, and reasonably filling without being heavy. It's fast enough for a weeknight supper and cleanup is easy. Dave was quite taken with it. I think the olives you pick make a big difference; we used a mix of marinated and unmarinated olives and it added quite a bit of nice flavor as well as color.

Fish with saffron leek sauce

 

I'm more of a Julian calendar kind of gal when it comes to New Year's. March 25, close to the equinox, seems a much more logical time than the Gregorian notion. And if we're being arbitrary, why not round it up to an even month and claim April 1? It seems like an appropriate time of year to celebrate new beginnings, and a much better time to set resolutions than the dead of winter when your main goal is survival.

The past few years I've waited to make my resolutions until today, when everything seems more possible. Bonus: No one asks you about how you're doing with your resolutions in April, when everyone else has moved on.

Many of my yet-to-be-broken resolutions revolve around a theme of deploying existing resources, so it's bound to trickle down to the recipes I make. This first one comes from one of seven cookbooks I've identified as targets for culling. My plan is to cook the recipes in them that look plausibly tasty and then pass them along to others. Why seven? Because there are seven cookbooks stacked not so neatly across the top of my other cookbooks because they don't fit on their very generous shelf. Of course this plan only works if I don't acquire any more (see separate resolution later...)

Up first, something that falls under the general resolution of eat more fish. So happy New Year to any fellow fools out there.

Fillet of fish in leek and saffron sauce

Adapted from “Low Fat,” a Barnes & Noble publication I picked up for $5.98 years ago.

Note: Naturally, when I adapted it, I made it ever-so-slightly less goody-goody by adding a tablespoon of olive oil and cooking the leeks in the oil, followed by the broth. If you want the low-fat version, blanch the leeks in boiling salted water for 4 minutes instead and incorporate the broth when the leeks are added to the sauce.

Ingredients

2 leeks, white parts only, rinsed and sliced

½ cup vegetable stock

¼ cup dry white wine

2 tablespoons dry vermouth

½ cup crème fraiche

Saffron

1¼ pound perch fillets (or some other firm white fish)

3 tablespoons olive oil, divided

Fresh dill sprigs for garnish

Method

In a large skillet, heat 1½ tablespoons olive oil over medium low heat. Add leeks and cook, stirring often, until they’re slightly tender and golden. Add vegetable stock and cover, simmering until leeks are tender.

In a saucepan, heat white wine and vermouth to boiling. Continue cooking until reduced by about half. Add the crème fraiche, a pinch of saffron and the leeks with broth. Simmer to thicken a bit and keep warm while cooking fish. Season to taste with salt.

In same large skillet, heat remaining 1½ tablespoons of olive oil over medium heat. Salt and pepper fish fillets and add to the pan. Cook on both sides until fish readily flakes.

To serve, dish up cooked leeks on 4 plates, using a slotted spoon to leave most of the liquid in the pan. Top with fish. Spoon over the sauce and garnish with dill sprigs and a pinch of saffron.

Rating: Not bad. The sauce is repeatable and could have other uses. Like maybe with risotto?

Overnight yeast-risen pancakes with orange honey butter

 

There are snowflakes flitting around in the air. I mean, I know it's still March and all, and it's not supposed to amount to anything. But still, enough already. It drove us to make reservations for next winter's getaway, so we set our vacation time before we overbook ourselves with concert tickets like we did this year. I know, first-world problems extraordinaire.

But at any rate, it's still comfort food weather, and we had some maple breakfast sausages from Hilltop in the freezer, so pancakes it is.

Overnight yeast-risen pancakes with orange-honey butter

Adapted from Kitchn.com's "Christmas morning pancakes"

Ingredients

2 cups warm milk (about 105 F)

2 tablespoons sugar

2 teaspoons active dry yeast

4 tablespoons butter, melted and cooled slightly, plus more for the griddle

2½ cups flour

½ teaspoon salt

2 large eggs, lightly beaten

For butter:

8 tablespoons room temperature butter

2 tablespoons honey

Zest of 1 orange

Method

Combine milk, sugar and yeast in a medium bowl. Let set about 10 minutes until foamy. Whisk in the melted butter.

Whisk flour and salt in a large bowl. (A glass bowl is handy so you can see from the side how much the dough rises later.) Pour the milk mixture over the top and stir to blend. You can expect (and tolerate) lumps.

Cover the bowl loosely and place in a warmish place away from drafts. Let rise until doubled. The original recipe says this takes 30 minutes, but definitely not in my cold Minnesota kitchen. An hour and a half did the trick. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate at least 8 hours or overnight.

In the morning, stir in the eggs and let set at room temperature for a half hour. Lightly grease a griddle or large skillet and heat over medium to medium high heat until a drop of water sizzles on the surface. Pour a scant ¼ cup of batter for each pancake and cook in batches until done. Serve with orange honey butter. Makes 14-16.

For orange butter mix butter, honey and orange zest. Cover and refrigerate. Bring to room temperature before breakfast (or dinner). Can be made well ahead, and tastes better if it’s had at least a few hours to blend the flavors.

Rating: Nice and reasonably fluffy. The orange butter is tasty, as you might expect.  Good for breakfast or supper if you plan ahead.

Pasta with tuna, lemon and caper sauce

 

Some meals are pantry friendly. This one adores your pantry.

Orecchiette with tuna, lemon and caper sauce

From “The Essential Pasta Cookbook”by Whitecap Books. This compilation has a truly staggering number of pasta recipes, every one of which I've tried over the years has been a keeper. For a pre-Instagram era cookbook,this 1998 gem is amazingly photo-driven. It's also refreshingly celebrity-chef free, only listing the recipe developers and testers in the credits in the back of the book.

Note: The recipe calls for tuna in brine, which doesn't tend to be on your standard American grocery store shelf, much less in my pantry. I added just a smidge of the caper brine to the sauce to compensate for that flavor note. It was spot-on.

 Ingredients

1 pound orecchiette

1 ounce butter

1 garlic clove, crushed

1 onion, finely chopped

14 ounces canned tuna in brine, drained

2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice

1 cup cream

2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley, divided

1 tablespoons capers, drained (but add a touch of brine if you're not using brined tuna)

¼ teaspoon cayenne pepper

Method

Cook pasta in boiling salted water until al dente. Drain.

Meanwhile, heat the butter in a large skillet. Cook garlic and onion for 2 minutes. Add tuna, lemon juice, cream, half the parsley, capers and cayenne. Simmer over low heat for about 5 minutes. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Toss with cooked orecchiette. Serve garnished with remaining parsley.

Rating: Really quite tasty, and so simple and fast to fix. Perfect pantry-friendly meal. This hits all the right flavor notes and prep points. As Dave noted, it's like really, really good tuna and noodles that don't seem at all the same as the glop we witnessed as children.

Arugula and fennel salad

The calendar claims it's spring, so I opted for something a little fresher tasting, although it will be a while before we see actual baby greens grown anywhere outside of a greenhouse.

Arugula and fennel salad

From “Earth to Table Every Day” by Jeff Crump and Bettina Schormann

Ingredients

3 tablespoons chopped red onion

⅔ cup olive oil

¼ cup canola oil

¼ cup unseasoned rice vinegar

1 tablespoon sugar

1 teaspoon coarse Dijon mustard

6 cups baby arugula

1 small fennel bulb (core only), thinly shaved

Zest of 1 lemon

Shaved Parmesan for garnish

2 tablespoons toasted pine nuts

Buttermilk dressing for optional garnish (see below)

Method

In a food processor or blender, combine red onion, olive and canola oils, vinegar, sugar, mustard and a pinch of coarse salt and black pepper. Puree until creamy. (Can be made ahead and brought to room temperature before using). Note that you’ll only be using part of this dressing for the salad, but it keeps fairly well.

Toss arugula and fennel together in a bowl with about ⅓ cup of the dressing or to taste. Divide among 4 plates. Garnish with lemon zest, Parmesan shavings, pine nuts, and a dollop of buttermilk dressing, if desired. (To make buttermilk dressing mix equal parts buttermilk, sour cream and mayonnaise and season with black pepper.)

Rating: Nice flavor combo, and it comes together pretty quickly. The vinaigrette has definite potential to join the house stable of rotating salad dressings. It stays emulsified quite nicely.

Gorgonzola pasta

In winter, I get in ruts, whether it's in the ice kind in the alley or turning to the same cookbook. But when it's comfort food weather, that will happen.

As Dave said, "I was sick of this winter four years ago. I'm sick of next winter already. I've been sick of next winter for five years now."

So once more to "Lorenza's Pasta," this time with a nice coating pasta sauce that gave us enough heft to shovel that last blast of snow. Now if only that could be the last of the season.

Penne al Gorgonzola
From "Lorenza's Pasta" by Lorenza de'Medici

Ingredients
1 pound penne
6 ounces gorgonzola cheese
4 tablespoons butter
1 cup heavy cream
Zest of 1 lemon
Pinch of nutmeg
Salt and pepper

Method
Cook pasta in boiling, salted water until al dente.

Meanwhile, in a large skillet, heat the cheese, butter, cream, lemon zest, nutmeg and a pinch of salt for about 5 minutes, stirring often. Drain pasta and toss with cream sauce. Sprinkle with pepper to taste.

Rating: Super simple and basic, but like many elemental sauces, super tasty.