THE LADY OF SHALLOTS

Happy New Year! I'm not a big one for resolutions, but I've realized that I've been slacking on cooking, and that has to change (for both budget and health considerations). I do love Blue Apron, but while I'm on break from teaching I'm trying to plan meals and cook more often. Santa was kind enough to bring us Mark Bittman's The Mini Minimalist set, as well as Ottolenghi and Tamimi's Jerusalem cookbook. Thus far in the new year, I've made Bittman's "Broiled Bluefish or Mackerel with Green Tea Salt" (The Mini Minimalist: Meat, Fish & Poultry, 20-21). We had to substitute sea bass as that was the fish that was available and least likely to compete with the green tea (something told me salmon would be funky). The neat part of this recipe is the green tea powder with coarse salt. Bittman recommends grinding one's own green tea, but I went for Matcha powder since I had it on hand. The recipe worked out fairly well, except tha...

flounder, sesame seeds (black & white), dark sesame oil, butter, soy sauce, sugar One of the reasons Mark Bittman's How to Cook Everything is such an invaluable resource in my house is because I can use it for something I hate: cooking without planning. At this point in the semester, my mind is full of grading, student crises, and just getting through the next few weeks. So getting out to the Farmer's Market and picking up fresh flounder seemed like a huge accomplishment.  And then dinner time rolled around, and I realized I had absolutely no plans for that flounder, beyond consuming it. Enter Mark Bittman. How to Cook Everything has never failed me.  I went to the section on "Thin White Fish Fillets," which includes his mini-rant regarding why he's not a big fan of tilapia (who knew?). Almost all the recipes in this section had ingredients that I had on hand, but I finally settled on the "Crisp Sesame Fish with Soy Glaze," which was a vari...

I've been away on vacation/visiting family so I haven't posted in awhile. When I returned from my trip, however, I had a burst of great cooking experiences. Due to copyright issues, I won't post the recipes that are not otherwise available online (in which case I've linked to them), but I do have some pictures to share. First, I made Ina Garten's " Savory Palmiers " (or see Back to Basics , 43) for a social event. I approached this with some fear as every time I open a package of puff pastry I hear this in my head. This is since my last attempt to make baked brie, which came out more like an exploding puff pastry volcano of brie. However, much to my surprise, they came out pretty darn well! My favorite part of the recipe was making the homemade pesto. All pesto is NOT alike, and Garten's recipe (or see Back to Basics , 44) is by far the best I've ever tasted! Can you really go too wrong with homemade pesto, sun-dried tomatoes, goat cheese, and...