soup and bread; things stuffed in things; fish cooked well

… these are a few of my favorite things ^^

The good weather was not going to last forever, and rain moved in, so soup sounded like a good idea. Obviously. Along with homemade bread. Obviously.

Chill in the air? Simply stand over a hot stove and/or next to a hot oven.

Bread and soup for a cozy dinner table.

 

The soup was Mark Bittman’s minestrone, published in Parade magazine. My mom clipped it and made it.

Not as oh-so-easy as he makes it out to be (since we ate dinner at, oh, 9:30; though for us that’s kind of normal).

Quite delicious. Kale. Love it! Recipe here.

 

Good for dunkage was Cooking Light’s brown Irish soda bread, which I’ve made a gazillion times. This time the following substitutions:

for all purpose flour, used a mix of all-purpose and spelt
in lieu of egg, used 1 T flax, 3 T milk and added 1/2 tsp. extra baking powder and 1 tsp. oil
just for giggles, substituted homemade applesauce for 1/2 a cup of the buttermilk and thus omitted the brown sugar

SUPERB!

Was still on a soup kick for Sunday brunch. Trader Joe’s roasted red pepper tomato bisque, which isn’t anything to write home about if you get the low sodium version, unfortunately.

Uncharacteristically small brunch cause we’d already FEASTED on Arabic goodies at church, a small sample of which (due to the massiveness of the food and being unable to finish it) my mom brought home:

Za’atar bread, baba ghanoush, veggies, grapes.

Also was hummus, pita, scads more fruit and veg. Mm mm mm. I really need someone’s Lebanese grandmother to sit me down and show me how they make baba ghanoush. It’s different… and awesome.

The soup and church goodies didn’t quite do it (I’d not eaten breakfast, after all), so I had my favorite combo on the land:

Greek yogurt and homemade applesauce. It’s just SO PERFECT. Which is good because I have a lot of both items in my fridge.

 

Afternoon snackage was more hummus, but my own (cilantro ‘n lemon again; vair good). With carrots for dippage, and the last of the grapes that my mother still had not eaten.

 

Question: has anyone ever made something, froze it, thawed it, loved it, and forgotten what they put in it?

Witness this stuffed cabbage.

 

Excavation reveals the presence of bulgur, olives, mushrooms, and what I’m pretty sure is parsley. But quantities and method are a mystery.

SO delicious. And that iffy tomato soup is good as stuffed cabbage sauce.

 

My Monday morning began as most of my mornings do, with Sheila standing by the back door demanding to be let out… then in… then out… then in. As a reward for being such a good doorman (doorwoman?) she brings nice half-dead voles to the back door for us to enjoy as a family.

 

My oats for the week, a batch of which was made Sunday night, involves oats (duh), milk, flax, apples (surprise surprise, still have a ton), cinnamon, and nutmeg.

Almonds on top in the morning for protein ‘n crunch.

 

Lunch was eaten at my desk (boo) but delicious (yay!)

Things you’ve seen before: salad with farmer’s market greens and strawberries, delightful homemade bread, applesauce and Greek yogurt (the flavor! The texture!)

 

A rather unorthodox afternoon snack? How about a nice roll of stuffed cabbage!

You’ll notice the plate was also leftover. Apparently it just had decided to linger around the kitchen, so I appropriated it.

Consider the following recipe atonement for all the leftovers you just had to scroll through (if you made it this far).

It’s great, and it’s really thanks to Eating Well, which came up with the idea of poaching fish… on top of asparagus.

Intriguing, no?

Love asparagus :D

  

I went in a different flavor direction than theirs (which involved beurre blanc and I’m sure was great) because I was going for more of an Asian palette. Had cod, a great assertive fish that stands up to a lot of flavors.

So I sprinkled my cod with ginger, garlic, and green onion…

Then drizzled on a simple sauce with some of my favorite Asian flavors (hoisin sauce, sesame oil, and soy)…

 

And a few minutes on the stove (though wayyyyyyy more than Eating Well put in their cooking times, for some reason) led to a rather impressive meal for a weekday. Plated up with some cabbage-apple-rice vinegar slaw that was just okay. The fish is great. Make the fish.

Asian Cod Poached on Asparagus

½ bunch asparagus, snapped
12-ounce portion cod fillet
1 tsp minced ginger
½ tsp. minced garlic
1 spring onion
1 tsp. soy sauce
¼ tsp. sesame oil
2 tsp. hoisin sauce
¼ cup water

Sprinkle cod with salt and pepper. Sprinkle with ginger, garlic, and green onion. In a small bowl, combine soy sauce, sesame oil, and hoisin sauce.

Place asparagus in an even layer in a large skillet. Add 1/4 cup water. Place the cod on top of the asparagus, and pour the soy sauce mixture over the cod. Bring the skillet to a boil over medium heat. Cover and cook until the asparagus is tender and the fish is cooked through, which is really anyone’s guess since for me it took totally different times than advocated by the Eating Well recipe. For me, the asparagus finished first (after about 6 minutes), but the cod wasn’t done, so I removed the asparagus and continued to cook the cod. It took about 10 minutes. Serves 2.