For Cod's Sake!

Tonights dinner was unexpected but a result of a few sales at my local Kroger and a free Rachel Ray Cooks magazine. Possibly that Metamucil I had this morning too causing a prolonged visit to my office (aka, the spare bath). 

Anyway... Eggplant was on sale for $0.88 each. Great deal! Beautiful locally grown eggplant with a nice bouncy firm skin. Mmmm, bouncy and firm, generally reserved for boobs but on eggplant, delightful. Besides, I'm almost 30, nothing on me is firm anymore! 

Some fresh wild caught cod filets were in the seafood counter. Seeing as cod is a sustainable fish and so creamy and fatty and delicious, who could say no!? Besides, I have had a fish craving for awhile. Mississippi produces catfish... a lot of FARMED catfish. I'm not saying it's terrible, I'm saying I'm generally not a huge fan. I prefer my fatty saltwater fishes. 

On to my next ingredient, basil. It's gardening season and my lovely backyard garden is going nuts. My basil is like 4 ft high and bushy. Mmmm, bushy basil. While we're out there, the spring onions are going nuts too and so delicious this year. Flavorful but not that kind of onion that leaves a nasty taste on the back of your tongue, the good kind that's like fresh and pops.

The one thing I had to go searching for was cherry tomato. Blah, mine aren't ripe yet! Soon enough, for now we got some locally grown from the supermarket. 

Putting it together... 

Set the oven on a normal broil. Let it get HOT. 

Saute some chopped garlic and choppped basil in grape seed oil just until it turns light blonde. Half the tomatoes and throw them in (DO NOT STIR). I used about a cup and a half of tomatoes. Sprinkle salt and pepper on top. Let them sit until they look happy and shake the pan a bit. They'll do their own thing. When they saute a little, turn it all off and set aside. 

Slice the egg plant into like 1/2 inch slices and lay them on a baking sheet with some grape seed oil on. Sprinkle with salt and pepper. Put under the broiler for like 5 minutes. Don't let them burn. 

Take the eggplant out and flip it over. Pile the tomato mixture evenly divided onto the eggplant. Nom... try to contain eating all the tomatoes right here. 

Lay pieces of cod over the tomatoes. Sprinkle with salt and pepper. See a theme? Just a touch at each step gives it a great flavor! I sliced paper thin slices of lemon and laid them on top of the fish here. It made it good. Nice touch of sour fresh. 

Pop back under the broiler until the fish turns kind of white and starts to seperate. That's when it's delicious. Again, do not overcook.

This tastes great served with couscous. It cooks in like 5 minutes. Boil water, add some lemon juice, chop the spring onion and basil. Let the couscous sit in the hot water until it absorbs. Stir in the onion and basil and add a dash of salt. Fluff a little (hehehe) and you're ready to go! [That's what she said]

Here's a picture! 

Happy eating!

Breaking news: A new Petco opens in Juneau AK! Here's a recipe for fish!

His name is Mr. Fishy... I know, real original, right?

... It's one that I stole from the Fiddlehead cookbook to fry a lot of halibut one day for Fish & Chips. Note: This recipe is not to be confused with my new Betta fish... he is pretty and blue and is peacefully swimming around the Buddha... but I digress...

If you have ever been to Alaska or have ever thought of going, there are two things you should know:

 1. To enjoy Alaska you will need beer. Lots of it. Thankfully it's the state in the nation with more breweries per capita than anywhere else. I'm willing to go so far as to be the world. So drink up muthas!

2. Everything kind of smells like fish. Or bear poop. Take your pick, kinda the same thing. Tends to make you hungry, you know, after all the beer.

I need to throw on one last small note, when thinking of moving here, you may want to, you know, scout out a bit instead of throwing all your earthly possessions in a truck and moving across the country to find out maybe, just maybe, impulse decisions aren't so great.... Yay expensive mistakes! (again, I digress)...

On to the food, which made the 6,000 mile round trip move in 10 days totally worth it (in addition to my insurance company never being able to screw me because I have a current and accurate inventory of all my earthly shit).

What you'll need:
1 c all purpose flour
2 tsp oil (we're dealing with flash points here people, go high temp!)
2 tsp salt
1 cup of beer (drink the rest, and by god use ALASKAN! - if you use Budweiser, I cannot be held responsible for the quality of this dish)
2 egg whites
2 lbs of fish (or whatever you have)

How to make it yum:

Whisk flour, oil, salt, and beer together. Cover and let sit for half hour. Drink another beer.

In a separate bowl, whip egg whites til you can hold them over your head and they don't spill out. If you get covered in eggie goodness, try again. And possibly just ask a friend to stand near you. Its good for your hair and all but not entirely great for getting laid....

When it looks right (these will be standard directions, if you have questions, call us... or don't) fold the eggs into the batter.

Cut up the fish to look like, the right size. Somewhere around 2 inches works. Think of gym class, cold pool, banana hammock...

Dip the fish in the batter... oh yeah... feel the goodness.

Lower into some hot cooking oil (375 works). Note: after a few beers, you may want to watch your hands or use tongs. Hot oil is... well... hot. (PS - when using a deep fat fryer with a basket that you bought from Costco, DO NOT raise the basket and place drippy battered fish onto the basket and then lower it in the oil... this will cause all kinds of evil regarding your fish... Do what I figured out later: put the fish nuggets in one at a time with tongs and kind of hold them there for a little bit until the batter firms up... otherwise, you'll have a really bad burned mess to clean up, which is really only good for attracting firemen)

When the fish floats like a guppy at the pet store (but, golden brown and delicious), its good and done. DO NOT EAT IT RIGHT AWAY! Give it to the closest male and say "it might be hot". Drink another beer and laugh!

When he stops cursing, it's probably just right. Dig in!

Serve with lemon, or tartar, or vinegar. Depends on what floats your boat. Either way, that's some good shit.

Much love from AK (for now)...

Jen & Jessie