Broiled Fish with Swiss Chard

No pictures tonight - I got into it too quickly.

Tonight's meal gets a C, B- at best.

I nailed the fish. Tilapia filet rubbed in oil, one side covered in Andalusian paprika, the other in basil, a sprinkling of basil and black pepper all over, another light coat of oil, broiled. Very, very good, flavor throughout, moist in the body, crisp on the edges.

Unfortunately I didn't fare as well with the swiss chard. I did not use oil this time, and I think I suffered for it, losing some flavor. I peppered it, and that was a mistake. While not spicy, chard has enough flavor and texture to not need spices. Wilting it in oil would have brought more of that out.

I had some white wine left over that I had to finish up. The wine was good, but did not pair well with this meal.

Anyway, lesson learned.

Served with brown rice.

Quick Spaghetti and Matballs

I copied this from a Jamie Oliver bit I caught while channel surfing. Also, not as good, because I didn't have fresh basil, and could've used a little more salt.

First, take an ordinary sausage. I sweet pork sausage.

Remove the skin.

Roll into little balls of meat.

Cook the meatballs in oil, then dump in a can of stewed tomatoes.

Season to taste (basil, pepper, salt)

Served with a Pinot Noir (frankly, too dark fr this meal, but it was open and I need to finish it off before it goes bad).

All in, about 20-25 minutes start to finish, and that includes boil time for the water. Take that out and, as Jamie put it, done in 15.

Tilapia 'n Bass

Tonight's experiment: Tilapia seasoned with lemon juice, pepper, and basil, broiled; fingerling potatoes prepared in a buttered skillet; wilted spinach with a dash of vinegar, served with a bottle of Bass ale.

I give myself a B.

The fish turned out great. I'm always a little nervous about broiling or baking fish, as I often overcook it. One bite and it was good, several more and I knew I nailed it. I had just the right amount of seasoning and time in broiler to get some real flavor but still have some juicy fish filet. I only wish I'd been taking better notes so as to reproduce this feat in the future.

The potatoes were OK. I'm not totally certain about the quality of the potatoes, as some of them had some scar tissue (or whatever it is that makes them look rough). I cooked them in butter over a low heat for 20-25 minutes, but they were still pretty stiff to bite into, not soft as I expected. That said, they did retain the butter flavor, and were chewable. I was just expecting soft, mushy potatoes, and maybe that wasn't the right expectation to have.

The spinach was OK. Wilting the spinach wasn't hard, but I tend to underestimate how much it will wilt - I wish I'd had more spinach. This was fresh spinach from the farmer's market yesterday. I think I had the right amount of red wine vinegar thrown in for flavor, but insufficiently tossed; some bites had lots of vinegar, others, hardly any at all.

The Bass worked out well, and I am taking to Bass as my beer of choice for dinner over some of the Sam Adams and Harpoons I've tied. Especially the Harpoons. Their summer ale just isn't wow-ing me this year.

In Defense of Starbucks

A recent post on Gawker got a whole thread started on the merits and demerits of Starbucks. I can't address all the points, but let's talk about cost.

A Tall cup of coffee (which, contrary to popular belief, is not the smallest size you can order) is about $1.91 in Manhattan.

A comparable size cup at a deli will set you back $1.25. Yes, you can still find a dollar cup in the city, but it will taste like crap.

I used to do deli coffee all the time. When I first moved to the city, it felt more authentic. Starbucks seem obnoxiously overpriced and factory-like, and, like so many, I just wanted a cup of coffee, no fancy drinks.

That said, when I started working at Penn Station, Starbucks ended up being right in my flight path. I bought flavored coffee. I got their rewards card so the flavoring is no extra change. More than any other place, Starbucks is consistent. They're not perfect, but no matter what day I go in, or which store I go to, their coffee tastes like what I expect.

Now, let's do the math:

In three weeks I could spend $28.65 at Starbucks, or $18.50 at a local place. So, I'm spending about $10 more per period.

But what's this? Thanks to their rewards system, every three weeks I get a free drink of my choice - any size, any drink. Let's value that at $5 (sometimes more). Basically, every three weeks I treat myself to a tasty dessert beverage simply for buying something every workday that I would buy anyway.

So now, rounding, I'm spending $5 more per period, or about $.33 per drink, than a regular cup of joe. It's worthwhile to me to pay that premium for coffee I like, that is consistently good, and at a store (one in particular) where I like the employees. AND I get a tasty drink every three weeks.

I have nothing against other coffee places. I like Starbucks. That does not make me a snob. They have a good system in place and I like their coffee. If you don't like their coffee, don't buy it. But whoever you are, don't be a hater.

Mung Beans with Vindaloo Sauce

I took a shortcut today. I heated p the uncut mung beans from the other night in water for about twenty minutes, then pured in a helping of the Vindaloo sauce I had left over from chicken the other night. Ten or fifteen minutes later, I poured this into a blender and blended for about two minutes. The result was great - lots of flavor, both the earthy tones of the mung beans and the spicy flavor of the Vindaloo sauce. The only thing I might do differently in the future would be to cook the beans, process them, and then cook in the sauce a bit.

Served with rice, and my new pork chop staple: Thick pork chops, stuffed with goat cheese. In a small bowl, blend the goat cheese with basil and Andalusian paprika, along with pepper to taste. After stuffing the chop, smear the remaining cheese mixture on the sides, along with a pinch of salt and pepper on each side; also, roll the edges of each shop in black pepper, or at least the fatty side. Broil 5 -8 minutes per side. Served with a cold, perky Chardonnay.

Chicken Vindaloo

Here's the meal I was talking about. The Dal worked out well. I still have about a cup of non-pureed Dal that I should use soon. Will probably lump that in with a pork chop, or cajun catfish.

MMMM. That sounds like a good alternative to the okra I bought for the catfish. Maybe some Dal and corn and catfish, or rice instead of corn.

Cooking

I forgot how much I love to cook. The past couple of years, as I've devoted more energy to B-School, cooking kinda fell by the wayside. Oh I still cooked, but my time for picking new dishes, shopping for fresh ingredients, and taking the time to do it all right, well - I was reduced to heat 'n' eat.

So, now that I've been away from classes three weeks, and graduated, and had a friend in town, here are some pictures of my latest work.

D brought down lamb chops from some animals she had to slaughter. They weren't really raised as farm animals, and weren't strictly organic because they'd been given hormones as part of an experiment. OK, that sounds scary, but in retirement, these critters only at grass.

What I did: salt, pepper, braised in olive oil. Also, I rolled the wide in in black pepper. It's my new thing - so easy, so good, I've done that with tuna steaks and pork chops.

Served with cous cous and, at D's suggestion, wilted spinach. That is my new easy fresh vegetable treat.

I made a pan sauce using the drippings, butter, rosemary, orange juice, and orange rind. The recipe said zest but read like that meant rind. Sure it looks disgusting, but except for lightly overcooking, it was superb.

A couple of nights later, I returned to an old favorite: pork chops stuffed with goat cheese.

The original recipe I followed also had me stuffing slices of granny smith apple in there, which is great. I was out of granny smith, so I cut up part of a red apple (Rome, I think). The main different is that I blended basil and andalusian paprika into the goat cheese before stuffing the chop. Also, I broiled this, instead of braising in a pan, and I was really happy with the results - so much so that I forgot to take a picture until after I'd had a couple of bites.

And - here's the food porn shot - the best I could do with my little pocket camera:

Automation

So the automate ad targeting bothers me. For example, earlier on Facebook I posted something about seeing a man air-rum to a Phil Collins song.

Sure enough, as soon as I had posted, Facebook recommended pages for Phil Collins and Air-drumming.

I thought this was funny so I posted something about Facebook being funny.

Sure enough, Facebook recommended Facebook.

Hands down the best example is targeted advertising. For example, on a lark, I looked up air fares from New York to Ulan Baator, the capital of Mongolia.

Sure enough, for a couple of days I saw ads everywhere I went online for "low fares to Ulan Baator".

What's sad is they don't know when the ads work. I started looking into Zipcar. Sure enough, ads followed. I signed up for Zipcar. I even rented cars and drove them on more than one occasion.

Sadly, I still seed Zipcar ads.