Skate, tomatoes, & thyme!...

I lurve skate! It's so springy! The fishmonger said it has a 'scallop' like texture but I think it's kinda closer to chilean sea bass (not as fatty) but, not fibrous like scallop, not thin and flaky or stiff like other fish...sea bass with a bit of oomph! I lurve it!

The last time I had skate it was er...not...so awesome. I didn't know skate breaks down faster than other fish (since it's not even...fish...really! Case in point.) But anyhoo, so when skate breaks down, it releases uric acid from its skin. I hadn't kept it *that* long but uh...when I was eating it I thought to myself, "HRMM hrmm HRMM. this tastes rather...menthol-y. And intriguingly...reminiscent of...hair dye -.- in terms of smell." And there you go! The urea translates to a pungent ammonia smell/taste! VOILA!! GENIUS MOVE!

SUPER ZOOM!


I was congested that night and...hadn't noticed anything prior to cooking. Except that the skate fillet had released a bit of liquid in the paper package. Silly, silly, daft, incomprehensibly oblivious fooooool that I am. BRAVAAAAA. Anyway, the sauce I made that time was *the BizzoOomB*! It didn't taste that pungently of Pine-sol and cleaners, esp w/ my kick ass reduction so bow chicka bow wowww I've recreated the dish tonight. With fresh skate!!

I used borsari salt on the skate, sauteed it skin side down with butter & olive oil and garlic for about 1 min, flipped that bitch and left it on for about 40s or so b/f adding the tomaaaters! Which...of course I seasoned with sprigs of thyme and a few dashes of fish sauce! :D :D :D

The first two below show the early. Yummmaaay. Springy springy! The thyme makes it kinda...bright/subtly minty feeling. Thyme and dill! i sure like'em. Rosemary more for roasting, esp mah starches but...I don't care to use them for much else.

I broke the wing in two. A giant brown fan isn't that interesting to look at. The skate wings are pretty massive--about $6.99/lb which is essentially one wing! MASSIVE!! Corrugated looking! Wee! The combo of fish sauce and browned butter added a *lot* more color to the fleshy side of the skate fillet but WHATEBBS i lurve the coloring! You can see the liquids bubbling for a bit up there.SEE? I dunno, I can see how fun it is for me to poke this fish repeatedly and how it has a mild flavor which the texture complements (or at least adds to the fun of the fish, in my opinion). It doesn't flake at all like other white fish, and doesn't come off in chunks or glistens like chilean sea bass. BUT YAY!

I much prefer eating this with soba noodles, kind of like the chicken I make similarly to this but diff seasoning in the sauces. The tomatoes get pretty thick and coats the noodles really well (I for some reason don't really like it with italian pastas--i think b/c the soba has a much cleaner taste, esp the buckwheat!).

I don't want to rewrite the recipe again b/c I'm *lazy* so just...saute & season skate wing skin side down with garlic for 1 min, flip and saute for a bit then throw in tomaters and sprigs of thyme, add water if necessary (depending on how much tomatoes u put in). At the end I kind of leave it on low heat w/ the lid on to steam a smidge to maintain springiness and for the tomato sauce not to reduce too much! throw in some butter last min if u want!! :D

Chilean Sea Bass pt 2!...

Dinner per due (for 2): 2 filets of patagonian toothfish! ;) pan seared for 2-3 min each side then oven baked for ~3 min. Rosemary & borsari salt crust.

Garlic and oil pasta tossed with sauteed asparagus, heirloom tomatoes, leeks, and basil.

Yummay yum yum. we keep this one short and to the point. :)

Thurs was roasted sweet potato with roasted brussel sprouts and pancetta with tons of garlic and lemon zest/juice. Eaten with some sweet potato soba noodles and FISH SAAAAUCEE!! light hand, mixed with a little (tiniest bit) of rice vinegar and lemon juice.

...*sigh*. i need to work on my lighting and...stop FORGETTING stupid white exposure when i shoot =/ BUT STILL so yummay. *smacksmacksmack*...

A Foray into Spicy...and Baby Octopi/Octopodes/Octopuses!....

Betcha didn't know all 3 forms of plural "octopus" was correct!! (insert suleyman and...progeny joke here). Here's what I made on Fri for dinner: slow simmered baby octopuses in a spicy tomato reduction with asparagus, scallops, shrimp, and squid.

back story! :)...so all day Friday @ work I had this major fixation with making seared scallops again, but with the porcini risotto i had posted about--and maybe some baked asparagus b/c I was feenin' some greens and baked produce. And when I went to Whole Foods I saw baby octopuses, mussels, shrimp, bass, mexican scallops in addition to the jumbo Cape Cod ones my head kind of exploded!

...and after seeing all these pictures of my friend's crawfish extravaganza and all these clam bakes on Man vs. Food in Boston and Seattle...I had all these ideas running thru my head--and remembering my flight on JetBlue a while back wherein Mark Bittman showed u how to cook octopus around the time I discovered grilled octopus (period) @ Kefi...

I paced back % forth at the seafood counter for like a good half hour and the guy at the counter thought i was nuts b/c i bought half a pound of everything :P I wisely left back the mussels for another day.

Strangely...NO FISH SAUCE in this one!! But I think in some other incarnation of this (which will resemble my mom's shrimp in a tomato/garlic thing...it's nuts...it's like casserole level thickness in sauce).

I also decided that since the octopus/seafood orgy was going to take like at least 45 min to slow simmer, I'd bake myself a version of the asparagus I used to do--but this time with shaved pecorino, lemon, and this Borsari citrus salt I got @ Whole Foods that was particularly intriguing!

I also decided to go with white asparagus to try to break down the difference for my own palate...and with manchego cheese slivers of course. And for shiz and giggles--threw some fresh pecans in there to roast as well!! Def helped calm the flavor :)

I grossly underestimated the flavor reduction in the prosciutto (AGAIN) with the "reduced" pecorino shavings too, so the drippings mixed with the Borsari citrus salt (pretty light hand this time around) with the lemon juice was WAY intense but SO FRICKIN' AMAZING. I mean it felt like I was scrounging around for things to sop up the drippings and was a pretty big hit w/ my roomies too. The manchego melted well and balanced out the strong tart savory flavor with a little musky, "creamy" taste. Maybe a little smokey? I can't pin point the descriptor!

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"RECIPE" for SPICY SEAFOOD PASTA:

...not giving it the long sexy foodie fetish name :P...

1/2 pound baby octopus in a sauce pan with 1/4 cup olive oil, 2-3 bay leaves, lightly sauteed shallots/garlic (just personal preference to have both--and I like to put in like half a bulb or more of garlic!!) :) season as u will...dump 2 cups of halved grape tomatoes in there (I ended up throwing in about 4 roma-sized tomatoes diced in there too b/c i like my reduction really thick and tomato-y esp since I don't wanna use tomato paste).

1/2 pound shrimp (maybe less is better), 1/2 pound scallops (the baby/mexican scallops are probaby a better choice), 1/2 pound squid sliced. I seared these lightly b/f dumping them all into the pot to slow simmer for ~45 min on REALLY low heat, stirring occasionally. I tried to add in chili pepper (i usually don't cook spicy) but couldn't taste anything and was worried so I put in pepper flakes...and then cayenne pepper eventually :) It was of adequate heat, suffice to say--even for a chili n00b like me :)...

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BAKED ASPARAGUS:

wrap thin slices of prosciutto--I think stripping the normal slice into 3 long strips would be ideal. Don't be fooled that it doesn't look pretty or whatever proportional when wrapping it around the thin strips of manchego around the asparagus stalks. Shave some pecorino or parmesan or whatever other cheese u wanna play with. I squeezed half a good sized lemon over it all with a nice sprinkle of the Borsari salt. Bake @ 350-375 for about 15 min. YAY.