juggling in my kitchen

I have never thought much about cod. I always thought it was a cheap fish (isn't it what they use for filet-o-fish? I did have it once several years ago at Pitchoune, a now defunct restaurant that, incidentally, had the best creme brulée ever) and thought it was really good, but for some reason I never considered buying it or seeking it out. Until now, that is. Two nights ago we happened to watch Lidia Bastianich's show on PBS and she grilled cod steaks and though her son (who actually did the grilling) botched the promised caramelization b/c the fish stuck mercilessly to the grill, her forgiving description of the flaky, mouth-watering fish and the way the simple golden olive oil and garlic marinade coated the fish made me want it so much anyway. So, yesterday I was at Westerly market on 8th Ave during lunch, and what do you know—they had cod filets. Though I didn't have her exact recipe, I marinated it in olive oil and garlic, along with some yellow and green squash strips, and then grilled everything on my grill pan. Eureka! Caramelization! It was really flaky, moist, and a bit sweet. I am so happy to find another fish that I really like. I don't like really meaty fish (except tuna cooked black & blue), which cuts out a lot of options.

It's amazing how a large kitchen affects your desire to cook. Last week, David and I visited my dad and Gail in a house they had rented in Martha's Vineyard, and one of the aspects of the house that really got me going was the suburban-sized kitchen, something I'm not normally accustomed to using, and I suddenly found myself consumed with the desire to grill, bake and traipse from the stove to the counter to the fridge as often as possible. I believe I wanted to cook more often that anyone wanted to eat. Gail brought her copy of The Silver Palate New Basics cookbook, which I used as a reference for a few things. I made pancakes topped with "triple berry syrup" (heated up leftover super-runny filling from a pie from the Black Dog Bakery), blueberry cornmeal muffins, a blueberry pie (it was supposed to be chocolate-raspberry, but we never could find the pick-ur-own raspberry farm), grilled eggplant-tomato napoleons topped with basil and goat cheese (adapted from a recipe from Gourmet, which Gail brought), grilled wild salmon with sliced zucchini and summer squash.

Real Simple magazine has a huge peach story in their current issue, and there was one recipe I couldn't wait to try: white peach floats. They were really pretty good, but I'm still debating whether the amount of work really justifies them: Dissolve 1/3 cup of sugar in 1 cup of water, then add a roughly chopped 1 inch piece of ginger and cook for about 10 minutes. Remove the ginger, then start adding, in batches, 2 pounds of roughly chopped peaches, After 2 minutes of cooking each batch, remove them with a slotted spoon to ice water, where they sit for about a minute before slipping off the skins and transferring them to a holding area. Strain the syrup and chill. Then, squeeze 1/2 a lemon into a bowl, add the peaches and mash with your hands (I found it easier to use a potato masher). Strain the peach mixture with the back of a spoon, and mix the resulting liquid with the syrup and continue to chill. WHEW! When cold, pour into glasses and top with a scoop of vanilla ice cream. I added seltzer for texture and lightness, but that wasn't in the recipe.

A friend and I went to Bali Nusa (651 9th Ave.) last night. I'm not sure that I've ever had Indonesian food, but it seems like as in most Asian food, it blends bits and pieces from other familiar cuisines. We each had the "special"—my friend, a vegetarian, had the vegetarian special, and I had the meat, though it had vegetables in it, too. It really was delicious: small servings of chicken satay with peanut sauce, a corn fritter, sauteed japanese eggplant, curried broccoli and cauliflower, coconut curried beef, and pickled vegetables all surrounding a plentiful mound of fluffy jasmine rice.

I went to Stiles fruit market yesterday on 52nd b/w 8th and 9th to pick up some peaches with plans to make what sounds like an incredibly refreshing mid-summer treat: white peach floats from Real Simple mag. They only had regular peaches, but I'll assume they'll do in a pinch . While I was there, I saw they had portobello mushrooms for $2/lb, so I decided to grill them for dinner. I found a recipe on epicurious that I messed around with a bit: I blended olive oil, balsamic, a garlic clove, thyme, rosemary, an anchovy filet, mustard and a dash of sugar, then added a chopped shallot. I marinated each mushroom cap in a ziploc for about 1/2 hour while I heated up the flip side of my cast iron griddle pan (the grill side). I grilled both sides and tossed some mesculin with the leftover vinegrette, then served it up with a dollop of goat cheese and some sliced tomatoes. Mmmmmmmm

A group of us went to Blockheads (a Mexican place on 50th b/w 8th and 9th) yesterday for lunch, and I ordered the lunch special with two shredded beef tacos, of which I ate one. Incredibly, the deal (which was about 8 bucks) came with two 1/2 pound containers, one each of seasoned rice and black beans. It also came with a bag of tortilla chips, and a small container of salsa and one of sour cream. I've always thought Blockheads a bit pricey, but considering that I got a lunch and a dinner for two out of them, I'll cut them some slack. For dinner, I used some whole wheat flatbreads we got at Costco, and made one quesadilla and one quasi-quesadilla. I say quasi- because I'm pretty sure quesadillas require cheese, and only the first one had cheese. I gave David the beef from the taco, since I'd already had some and there wasn't much left over, and layered it with the black beans, rice, diced canned tomatoes that I seasoned with cumin and hot sauce. For mine, I kept it veggie by layering the beans, rice, tomatoes, and I shredded some cheddar in there, too. Then I topped them with another flatbread and crisped it on a cast iron griddle. The hardest part was flipping them, but they cooperated fairly well.


	"There are no small kitchens, there are only small cooks."