Saturday, May 22, 2010

huile d'olive - aceite de oliva - olive oil

It’s been a week now and I have been meaning to blog about the delectable olive oil poached halibut I prepared last Saturday but my busy schedule got in the way. A week later I now have time to share this wonderful preparation and more. Leading up to last Saturday I dinned out a few days in a row with a fairly heavy meat and poultry diet so it was time for fish. A trip to the farmers market was in order where I picked up halibut and other ingredients for the evenings meal and the next day. Because I choose halibut I wanted a delicate preparation so I decided to poach the fish in olive oil.

Never having prepared fish this way did not concern me – I have poached fish before in juices so how different could it be. I also, decided that I did not need to spend any time looking up recipes for such a simple preparation. When I returned from the market the first thing I decided to do was to infuse the olive oil with aromatics and let the infused olive oil stand until I was ready to poach the fish.

Infused Olive Oil
1 ½ c. olive oil (you should use as much as it takes to cover your fish)
1 clove garlic
Lemon
Sprig rosemary
Dash red pepper flakes
¼ t. salt & pepper
Tablespoon capers
Spring Onion

When I was ready to prepare the fish later in the day I preheated the oven to 250 and placed the infused olive oil into the oven for 30 minutes or so, cooking is not an exact science. I added the fish to the infused oil and return the dish to the oven for 10 minutes or so - - really that’s all the time it took. After I removed the dish from the oven I kept the lid on until the food was plated. The fish was awesome, light and mellow and almost melted in your mouth like butter! I was so into this preparation that the next night I prepared shrimp using the same method, poaching time about 5 minutes longer – that’s all.

Sunday we were invited to our neighbors for a cook out (more about that later) so I decided to make the Almond Citrus Olive Cake (see blog April 17, 2010). The first time I made this cake it was a hit, I followed the recipe to the letter, something I rarely do. This time I decided to “do it my way” by substituting ¼ of a cup of the olive oil with a blood orange olive oil and I added ¼ teaspoon of pure almond extract and I baked the cake in individual bunt pans. The house smelled so good when the cakes were baking in the oven and our neighbors enjoyed the finished product as much as we did. The cake was so delicious, light almost feather weight with a nice nutty fruity taste.

Olives are fruit as you all know and they are so versatile in sweet or savory dishes.

The moral of this story (blog) is to buy some really great ingredients, trust yourself and experiment and you are bound to achieve greatness!

Monday, May 10, 2010

What A Beautiful Day


Leading up to mother’s day I was a little melancholy but my darling son saw to it that I had a perfect mother’s day! Friday, my son came in from work and presented me with a box of chocolate covered strawberries, how sweet. Mother’s Day morning he took his dad and me to breakfast at Luce http://www.lucewinerestaurant.com/, this modern and sophisticated restaurant is located on Howard St. at 5th.

The breakfast brunch menu had a nice mix of light fare to more robust morning afternoon meals, we chose the traditional breakfast. Starting with coffee and fresh squeezed orange juice I had good old fashion pancakes; my son had the American classic with sausage, eggs, toast and hash browns, and my husband had the pastry basket.

The food was great, the service was excellent and the room was beautiful but spending the morning with my son and husband was simply special. Since I have my own family I understand how much joy my mother felt just being surrounded by her children - - mother’s are so easy! At the conclusion of our meal the waiter gave me a gift bag and two beautiful tulips. Oh what a beautiful morning…..

After breakfast we came home, my husband made mimosas and I sipped and lounged around all day. Towards evening I began to wonder about dinner, I began to mill around the kitchen and my son told me to go upstairs and relax until dinner. I was called down to dinner and was served a delicious cat fish dinner with roasted potatoes and asparagus. The fish was fried but not greasy at all, everything was prepared perfectly. The food was tasty - - the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree if you get my meaning.

While my son was tiding up the kitchen his dad made a run to Anthony’s Cookies http://anthonyscookies.com/ for dessert - - Oh what a beautiful day thanks to my darling son!

Saturday, May 8, 2010

Mother's Day

The week leading up to mother’s day has been filled with all sorts of emotions, confusion and conundrum. My dear mother is in a nursing home and she hasn’t spoken since November, every year that if I was not able to spend Mother’s Day with my mother I always sent a card and flowers. Before my parents moved to the nursing home they lived in a senior building and they loved receiving packages from me for two reasons; one they were from me and the other a little bit of showing off. For every occasion I was not present I sent flowers, candy, fruit and all sorts of things; the Fedx, UPS or FTD truck was always showing up with deliveries for them.

Earlier this week I went into a card shop to buy a sympathy card and was almost paralyzed, you see I lost my father March 1st; I quickly regained my composure and chose a card. Then I noticed that I was surrounded by mother’s day cards so I paused for awhile trying to decide if I should send my mother a card. I knew she couldn’t read it but she is still here on this earth and I could not imagine not sending something to acknowledge mother’s day. I called my sister and she told me that she would read the card to mother, so I sent the card. The next thing I struggled with was sending flowers, I decided against sending flowers for possible health related reasons.

This is all a little difficult for me because I have lived my entire life with the best mother ever! I never had to look beyond my mother for a role model. My mother is kind, loving and giving; she taught me right from wrong, how to give of myself without expecting anything in return, how to accept people for what they are and how to forgive. My mother never expressed disparaging words about anyone and she always saw the good in everyone (I have a little trouble with this one but I am working on it).

Although this mother’s day is a mark difference from mother’s days past I am so very thankful to still have my mother, and for the first time in many years I will be spending mother’s day with my son! So this mother’s day like all of the others will start with me calling my sister and a few close friends to wish them a Happy Mother’s Day. Later in the day when my sister is visiting our mother I will call her again so she can put the phone to my mother’s ear so that I can wish my mother a Happy Mother’s Day and tell her how much I love her - - then I will be ready to enjoy the day with my darling husband and wonderful son!

So to all you awesome mother’s, sons and daughters I wish you a Happy Mother’s Day!


P.S. I will be return to my ‘hungrybroad’ self talking about food next blog, I promise…