Joel's First Post: Fish, Sweet Potatoes, and Broccoli

Hello world. I'm Joel and happy to be contributing to this blog. I don't know if we're doing formal introductions or not, but here I go anyway. I love cooking. I used to write about the things I cooked pretty often on my blog, but it's taken a recent political turn, and we all know there's no going back from there, so I'm happy that Liz got this going.

A few disclaimers. I'm an omnivore who usually cooks vegetarian, but rarely vegan foods. I'm a strong believer that we in America should be eating less meat and I think my cooking exemplifies that belief. I also believe in eating seasonally and locally when possible. During the summer months I try to get all my produce from our farmers market. I believe that in almost all cases eating fresh ingredients and cooking from scratch are the only way to go.

I'm not great at recipes, and terrible with measurements. I can't remember the last time I looked up a recipe on the internet, and usually my inspiration comes from being at the grocery store or looking in my fridge and thinking "Those might go good together." I'll do my best to explain how I made what I post but I think the important thing to remember when cooking is to be brave, and to go for it. If you think something could just more salt but the recipe doesn't say so, just add it. If in the middle of making dinner you think of something that would go good in the sauce, try it out. Don't worry about making a bad or mediocre meal. People make bad food for a living every day, so if you do it in your spare time you'll survive.

If you have never really cooked before and feel timid, I highly recommend checking out the man who got me cooking, Mark Bittman over at the NYTimes. His methods and ingredients are simple and well explained while still being incredibly creative and dishing out some remarkable results, in addition his cookbook are probably the best I own. Also, if I do a bad job explaining something, just leave a comment and I'll try to clarify.

Now that introductions are over. I'll get to tonight's dinner.

Asparagus Pesto topped Whitefish

with Mashed Sweet Potatoes and Roasted Broccoli

Ingredients

Fish & Pesto

Fillets of Whitefish (half to one per person)

Chopped Aspragus (canned is fine)

2 or 3 cloves Garlic

Olive Oil

small small handful of Pine Nuts or Walnuts

Butter

White Wine (a decent Chardonay works well)

Lemon Juice

Salt and Pepper

Sweet Potatoes

One Sweet Potato per person

Heavy Cream or Milk

Butter

Salt & Pepper

Broccoli

A few heads of Broccoli

Olive Oil

Salt & Pepper

Instructions

Preheat oven to about 400 degrees or so. Start a pot of water to boil for the sweet potatoes, quarter them and when the water is boiling add them until they are soft enough to easily stab with a fork. Chop up broccoli and spread out on a cookie sheet or baking pan, salt and pepper them and drizzle in olive oil. When oven is hot put in the broccoli for about 25-30 mins.

In a blender or food processor put in the chopped asparagus, garlic, salt, pepper, and lemon juice. Turn the blade on and slowly add olive oil until it forms a smooth paste. Taste and adjust as needed.

Cut the fish into sections of desired sizes. Set them on a cutting board skin side up, and make slices deep enough to cut the skin but not so much that it goes all the way through the fish. Melt a healthy amount of butter in a pan over high heat and place the fish skin side down in the pan for about a minute or two. Flip the fillets over for about 30 seconds and then turn the heat to low, add enough wine to cover the bottom of the pan and some more butter and cover it. (I also threw in some champagne vinegar here to give it a bit of an extra kick.) Let the fish simmer in the wine and butter for a few minutes until it's finished cooking. It's done when stabbing with a knife you come across little to no resistance. (If it's bouncy, it's not done.) Remove from pan onto plate, top with the asparagus pesto.

When the potatoes are cooked, drain the water and put them back in the pot with a little bit of butter and cream. Then, (here's where improvising can take it to the next level) take the wine/butter mixture that you cooked the fish in and add it to the potatoes until they reach the constancy you want. Top them with some goat cheese if you have it, and plate them along with the broccoli.

Eat, and drink the rest of that bottle of wine.