Okay, this is where I try to reverse-engineer a meal from out at a restaurant. How did I do? Pretty well! This is from wonderful meal that we had at the Aquarius restaurant in Santa Cruz last month, with jwa’s parents.

That amazingly tasty dish: California white bass with udon noodles, lychee glaze and miso-truffle broth. So, yeah, mine was similiar, but a little different. Swapped bass for halibut, guava for lychee, no truffles in broth and added veggies! I basically used the flavorings for the broth that I’ve used before making a miso soup (ginger, garlic, soy sauce, mirin). It worked well here.

Oh, I loved this. I want to make it again. I’d say the glaze is probably optional, and when I make it again, I might just skip it, but it was fun to try and come up with a replacement for the lychee glaze. Doesn’t even need it though, imho.

There are a lot of steps, but stuff is do-able ahead of time. You could easily make the glaze and the miso broth earlier in the day or even a day before.

Halibut with Carrot-Shiitake-Miso Broth & Udon Noodles
1/2 cup guava juice
1 tbsp jalapeno jello ha! jelly
10-12 shiitake mushrooms, stem removed & sliced
2 tbsp olive or peanut oil
3 cups chicken broth
2.5 tbsp white miso
1 tbsp grated ginger
1 garlic clove, minced
1 tbsp soy sauce
1 tbsp mirin
2 green onions, chopped
1/4 cup finely grated carrot (I used a micro plane grater)
3/4 pound halibut halibut, cut into 2 pieces (two 6 oz pieces)
salt & pepper
cooked udon noodles (enough for 2 servings)
toasted sesame oil
chopped, fresh cilantro, sesame seeds for garish

Make the glaze - combine the guava juice and jalapeno jelly in a small pan and bring to a boil. Reduce until you have about 2 -3 tablespoons of glaze and it is all thick and syrupy. Remove from heat and cool.

Heat a pan over medium heat and add 1 tbsp of the oil. Add the mushrooms and saute until soft and getting a little color, 7-9 minutes. Set aside.

In a sauce pan, add the broth, miso, mirin, garlic, ginger and soy sauce. Whisk to combine and simmer until the miso dissolves and flavors start to meld, 10 or so minutes. Add the cooked mushrooms, grated carrots and green onions. Keep warm.

Cook the udon noodles in boiling, salted water. When done, drain and toss with a little sesame oil. Keep warm. I had mine in a bowl and covered with foil. I used frozen udon noodles, but you could also used dried.

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F. Salt and pepper the halibut and then slather the glaze on the flesh side. Heat a pan over medium-high heat and add the remaining tablespoon of oil. Add the fish, skin side down, glaze-side up.

Cook for about 4-5 minutes, getting the skin nicely crisp. Then, move to the oven and roast for 5-7 minutes, until the fish is cooked through. While the fish is in the oven, rewarm the miso broth of needed.

Put it all together:

Divide the udon noodles between two bowls. Ladle in the broth and top with a piece of the halibut. Garnish with some sesame seeds and chopped cilantro leaves.

So good! I always forget how much I love miso in things! Must use more miso…

Okay, this was delicious. Especially the couscous. It gets a little golden and crunchy on top. Seriously tasty.

I was curious about making something that all cooks together like this. I figured it would turn out okay (I basically trust Tyler) but, as I’ve only ever made couscous on the stovetop, I was intrigued by baking it. It works. We had this with some pan-roasted asparagus.

Changes I made: I subbed broth for water, used Marcona almonds instead of pine nuts, olive oil in the dish instead of butter, and added feta to the top.

Salmon with a Couscous Crust
Recipe adapted from Tyler Florence
1 cup couscous
1/2 bunch fresh flat-leaf parsley, chopped
1/4 cup golden raisins, coarsely chopped
3 tbsp coarsely chopped green olives
2 tbsp capers, chopped
3 tbsp pine nuts, toasted and coarsely chopped (almonds can be substituted)
1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil, plus extra for drizzling
1 lemon, juiced
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
2 (6-8 ounce) salmon fillets skinned
1 1/3 cup chicken or vegetable broth
1/4 cup crumbled feta cheese

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F.

In a large bowl, stir together the parsley, raisins, olives, capers, pine nuts, olive oil, and lemon juice and season with salt and pepper; stir in the couscous to moisten completely and season generously with salt and pepper.

Put the salmon in a single layer in a smallish, oiled baking dish; the fillets should not touch one another. Sprinkle with salt and pepper and drizzle with a little olive oil.

Now spoon the couscous mixture over the top of the fish so that it completely covers them and fills in the whole dish at the same time. Pour over the broth and sprinkle with the feta. Drizzle with olive oil.

Put the dish in the oven and bake 25-30 minutes.

Use a large spoon to spoon out the salmon and the couscous.

So good!

Okay, we are starting this thing where Saturday night is designated, “Vegetarian Night”. So far we’ve had this, an Indian Feast (coming soon), and this weekend, the Vegetable Upside-down Cake from the Enchanted Broccoli Forest.

But now, here’s lasagna. Originally, it was just sauce, noodles, and Parmesan. This sounds great but why not add a little more? Exactly! I did two layers of low fat ricotta with some defrosted, drained frozen spinach mixed in. Also, I added Mozzarella to the top because, c’mon, it’s lasagna!

Oh, and there’s also chicken broth here. Obviously that makes this not vegetarian but, if you use vegetable broth it is. So there.

Note: I used 1% milk here and the sauce was very creamy and rich. I guess that’s what happens when you use 8 tablespoons of butter.

White Lasagne with Parmigiano Besciamella with Spinach & Ricotta
Recipe adapted from Gourmet magazine
3/4 cup minced shallots (about 6)
8 tbsp unsalted butter
12 button mushrooms
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon grated nutmeg
3 3/4 cups whole milk (or low fat milk — I used 1% milk and it was fine)
1 15 oz container ricotta cheese
1/4 tsp red pepper flakes
1 bag frozen spinach, defrosted, drained very well
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 cup rich chicken stock or reduced-sodium chicken broth (or veggie broth)
2 large eggs, lightly beaten
1/2 cup dry Marsala
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1 1/2 cups grated Parmigiano-Reggiano, divided
12 (7- by 3-inch) no-boil egg lasagne sheets (or, the number you need to get 4 layers, I needed 3.5 per layer)
mozzarella cheese

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F with rack in middle.

Cook shallots and mushrooms in butter in a heavy medium saucepan over medium heat, stirring occasionally, until tender, about 6-7 minutes. Add flour and cook over low heat, stirring with a wooden spoon, 3 minutes.

Add nutmeg, then slowly whisk in milk and stock. Bring to a boil, whisking, then simmer, stirring occasionally, just until sauce lightly coats back of spoon, about 1 minute.

Remove from heat and cool to warm, stirring occasionally. Stir in eggs, Marsala, salt, 1/2 teaspoon pepper, and 1/2 cup cheese.

Stir the spinach into the ricotta and add 1/4 cup Parmesan cheese, pepper flakes and garlic cloves. Salt and pepper taste.

Spread about 1 1/4 cups sauce over bottom of a large baking dish. Cover with a layer of 3 lasagna sheets. Cover with a some sauce and a sprinkle of cheese.

Add three more sheets and spread 1/2 the ricotta mixture. Cover lightly with sauce and more cheese. Repeat one more time.

Layer with the last sheets, then top with remaining sauce and remaining parmesan cheese.

Dot the top with mozzarella. Bake, uncovered, until browned, 45 to 55 minutes.

Let sit for about 10 minutes before slicing.

And of course, the nice thing about lasagna (besides the cheese) is that you can get a number of meals out of it!

Foodie Chickie is hosting Weekend Cookbook Challenge this month and she chose Diner Food as the theme. Okay, so when I think of diner food, I think of breakfast!

Well, actually, I think of breakfast first, but then honestly, I then think of things like meatloaf and burgers and fries and then I get hungry and I need to get up and find a snack. But anyway, let’s just stick with breakfast, shall we? These are the first waffles of the Fall 2008 season. These are Gingerbread Waffles from the cookbook Prairie Home Cooking, by Judith Fertig. These are pretty damn good.

I skipped the pear sauce in the cookbook and opted instead to have maple syrup, with chopped fresh pear for the top of the waffles. I also had about a handful of chopped pecans. What the hell — I threw those in the batter too. This will make 4-6 waffles, depending on the size of your waffle making apparatus.

Gingerbread Waffles
From the book, Prairie Home Cooking, by Judith Fertig.
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 tbsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/8 tsp ground dried ginger
1 cup milk
1/3 cup molasses
1/4 cup canola oil or corn oil
1 egg
Optional: 1/4 cup finely chopped pecans

Combine the flour, baking powder, salt, brown sugar, cinnamon, and ginger in a medium bowl. Add your chopped pecans here if using.

In a large measuring cup or bowl, add the milk, molasses, oil, and egg, and stir until well combined. Pour the wet ingredients into the dry. Mix until just combined. I thought the batter was a little thick, but it seemed to work just fine.

Cook in a waffle iron, for about 2 minutes. (The cooking time will vary with your waffle iron.)

Serve immediately, with maple syrup and diced pear.

Thanks again to Foodie Chickie for hosting WCC this month. Also, thanks to everyone who I exchanged soup with at Victory on Saturday! Our fridge/freezer is filled wonderful things! And now I want to drag jwa there so I can get another New Fashioned…

This was super good and appropriately Fall-ish. Originally, the recipe called for parsnips and turnips, but I changed the turnips to sweet potatoes. I also added some garlic cloves. I would think you could use any root vegetables you wanted to — potatoes, carrots, rutabagas, etc…

And, I finally mixed up some of this Essence seasoning mix stuff. I used teaspoons instead of tablespoons, though. So, yeah, this is an Emeril recipe. At first, jwa was skeptical, as he is of all things that come out of a crockpot. But, in the end, he was won over. Sweet, succulent pork will do that. Epic win.

My pork loin was on the smaller side (about 2 pounds). Didn’t seem to make any difference. Enough for dinner and lunches later in the week.

Applesauce and Sage Glazed Pork Loin with Sweet Potatoes & Parsnips
1 tbsp olive oil
2 1/2 to 3 pound boneless pork loin
1 medium white onion, chopped
Kosher salt & black pepper
1 tsp Essence, recipe follows
1 1/4 tsp fresh cracked black pepper
1 cup chicken stock
2 medium parsnips, diced
2 medium sweet potatoes, diced
6-8 cloves of garlic, peeled
1/2 cup applesauce
1/2 cup light brown sugar
2 tbsp apple cider vinegar
1 tbsp chopped fresh sage leaves (or 1 tsp dried rubbed sage)
1 tsp chopped fresh rosemary leaves
1 tsp minced fresh ginger

Set a big skillet over medium-high heat and add the olive oil. Add the onions. Season the pork with some salt, the Essence and some black pepper. Sear the pork in the hot pan for 2 minutes on each of the four sides, and on the two ends as well.

Place the pork and onions in a slow cooker and add the chicken stock to the pot.

Lay the sweet potatoes, garlic cloves and parsnips around the pork, salt them with the remaining 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt, and place the lid over the crock pot. Turn the heat up to high and cook the roast for 3 hours.

While the roast is cooking, combine the applesauce, sugar, vinegar, sage, rosemary and ginger in a saucepan and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat to a simmer and stir. Cook until the applesauce is thickened, about 10 minutes.

After the roast has cooked for 3 hours, pour the glaze over the top and replace the lid. Continue to cook for 1 hour longer, until very tender.

Serve with the pan juices. Hint: You will want bread to sop up all the pork juices.

Emeril’s Essence Creole Seasoning
For a small amount of seasoning -
2 1/2 tsp paprika
2 tsp salt
2 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp black pepper
1 tsp onion powder
1 tsp cayenne pepper
1 tsp dried oregano
1 tsp dried thyme

Combine all ingredients thoroughly.

Night Before Election Self-Portrait

Yes, yes. It’s the truly awesome Emo for Obama t-shirt… I got it at Zazzle a while ago, but I can’t seem to find it there anymore. I wanted to get one in a different color too. Sad.