The best way to thank someone for something is to cook them dinner, in my humble opinion. It's more personal that way, I think. Also, cooking is a creative art and relaxing, you get to be alone with yourself in the kitchen creating something, something that someone else (or you, yourself) will savor. I don't know about you but I find peace in cooking, I relax (especially when I drink a glass of wine and listen to good music while I'm cooking, jejeje). I had a "Thank you" dinner scheduled last night for a friend who did a huge favor for me...so I decided to try to go local...
Yesterday on my way home from work I stopped at the Monterey Fish Company (at Wharf #2) to see what was fresh. They had recently caught Monterey Bay Rock Cod, among other fish, but that looked good to me. I bought a couple fish and the nice young guy scaled the fish and gutted them. I asked if I could watch and he showed me how to swiftly and cleanly gut a fish, something I have never done before. It will take several poorly gutted fish before I can do it with his grace. I also bought squid but did not prepare it last night, I'll keep that for another post.
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| Thank you fishies, for letting me eat you |
I went with simple: extra virgin olive oil (grown and pressed in Watsonville), Crane Lake Sauvignon Blanc (from Napa Valley), rosemary (that I picked at work), thyme (that I picked in my aunt's garden), Meyer lemon slices (that were given to me from my friend's tree), salt (oops, Himalayan salt that I bought at the store) and garlic (that I found in my parents' kitchen which surprisingly enough CAME FROM CHINA!). Well, I try to do local.
I put 2 super long pieces of foil on a baking sheet, perpendicular to one another, laid the fish on the foil and generously poured olive oil, salt and the herbs over and in it. I had cut some slits in the fish and stuffed the slits with herbs and chopped up garlic and inside the fish I placed thin slices of the lemon and more garlic and herbs. At the end I drizzled the fish with some white wine and sealed the foil, making a tent like structure. I put it in a preheated oven (at 375˚ F) and baked it for 20 minutes.
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| seasoned Monterey Rock Cod |
The green beans (from the Farmer's Market) were blanched then tossed in olive oil and butter that had thyme and almonds frying in it.
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| green beans from the Farmer's Market |
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| Voilà |
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| Yum! |
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| Dessert was honeydew (farmer's market) with lime (farmer's market) squeezed on it and fresh mint (aunt's yard)...refreshing! |
