A Boring Weekend
If you ask me, I will be fast to admit that I am not the most popular person out there. I know that comes as a huge shock to some of you, but it is the truth. What I do have are a handful of really, really good friends. So with life being what it is, I occasionally have a weekend where I do not get a single phone call or a text message or an email from family or friends for the entire weekend. This was one of those weekends. One of those where the only people I spoke to from the time I left work on Friday until Monday morning were the sales clerks where I made purchases on Saturday and Sunday mornings.
Now don't get me wrong, I love the peace and quiet on weekends like these. This is where "Fun With Food" weekends come into play and other small tasks get done. The girls love the laid back quality time we share.
Saturday morning I ran a few errands and then stopped by the Farmers' Market. I could hear the smoked salmon calling my name very loud and clear. It called so loudly that it drown out all thoughts of getting Nohia vacuumed out, washed and waxed,,, my poor van.
While in the fish stall I inquired about the Snapper. They had red or pink. After a short discussion with the sales man it was decided that a red Snapper was what I needed. During our discussion he asked me how I was going to prepare it. I looked at him and replied "I have no clue but I'll see what hits me while I'm having a cocktail or two". During Happy Time as I refer to it, (why call it Happy Hour if you're going to drink for more than one hour?) I started going through some of my cookbooks. I knew I wanted to cook this on my grill so that narrowed down the cookbook choices. I found a great recipe in a Weber Grill cookbook. I did not have all the ingredients, but I had enough to make this work.
I must stop and head off in another direction for a moment. After I got home from my errands, I walked my girls, put some movies on and spent 3 hours working on my grand daughter's Christmas Stocking. Now, back to our program,,,
I gathered together all the ingredients I had, or that I had to substitute for. No Cilantro so I used parsley; no lime juice so I used lemon; no oregano so I used Italian seasoning, no Anaheim pepper, oh well. The recipe did call for some tomato and I had a beautiful one that was given to me by a co-worker.
The first step was to make a vinaigrette. Half was to brush on the fish. To the other half you added onion, tomato and Anaheim pepper (imagine it in there).
Next I had to cut the fish open more than they had so I could pack the cavity with the tomato-onion vinaigrette mixture.
"Wind a piece of cotton string around the fish three or four times to close the cavity and tie it". Well, I have no idea where my kitchen twine is so I used toothpicks. Maybe I'll find my twine after my next move.
You then brush the outside of the fish with some of the reserved vinaigrette before putting it on the grill.
In addition to the Snapper, I picked up some fresh zucchini. I split one, seasoned it with lemon-pepper and got it ready for the grill.
While my meal was cooking the smell was wonderful.
Suppertime. Now never having cooked Snapper before and never having cooked a whole fish on an electric grill, I did over cook it a tad. A tad, as in it completely fell apart as I was trying to take it off the grill. It may not have looked too pretty but the taste was wonderful and if I had added the Anaheim peppers it would have really been good.
After Saturday's great meal, I cleaned up the kitchen and crawled into bed to watch TV with my girls. Sunday morning I ran to the grocery to pick up a couple of frozen things that I could not have feasibly gotten home in anywhere near a frozen state on Saturday.
That little errand done I went to purging stuff. I am most likely moving in October and my #1 choice is smaller than where I am now, I need to get rid of some stuff. Everything on this bed is going. Some to my son, some to a friend and the rest to Goodwill.
Doing all that work made me hungry so I got out the fresh blueberries I had picked up at the Farmers' Market on Saturday and whipped up a batch of pancakes. I only ate three. The rest I wrapped up and froze for future use. They were oh so good.
I was even smart enough to set some of the blueberries aside to be added to Monday morning's mango smoothie for breakfast.
Next up thoughts of lunch for the upcoming week. I made egg salad, I love egg salad.
Then my mind seemed to recall reading somewhere about bacon in egg salad, so of course I just had to fry up some bacon.
After purging and more cooking I watched more movies and worked on my grand daughter's stocking for another 3 hours.
By the end of the day I sat down to a nice meal. I had grilled myself a perfectly medium-rare ribeye, sauteed up some fresh zucchini with onion and dill weed. I took a piece of everything French bread, toasted it and then buttered it. I took the last of my wonderful tomato and chopped it up with some basil and garlic. All those little white things in with the tomato are pieces of garlic. I spooned the tomato mixture on the toasted bread and ended my night blissfully full.
MEXICAN RED SNAPPER
Makes 2 servings
For the vinaigrette:
3 tblsps extra-virgin olive oil
1 tblsp fresh lime juice
1 tblsp fresh chopped cilantro
1 tsp minced garlic
1/4 tsp dried oregano
1/4 tsp cumin
1/4 tsp salt
1/8 tsp cayenne
1/2 cup thinly sliced onion
1/2 cup thinly sliced Anaheim pepper
1/2 cup thinly sliced tomato
1 whole red snapper, scaled and gutted, 2- 2 1/2 pounds.
In a medium bowl whisk together the vinaigrette ingredients.
In another medium bowl, place the onions, pepper and tomato. Add half the vinaigrette and toss to coat.
With a sharp knife, extend the belly cut from the head to the tail. Open the fish and make a second cut inside the cavity running along the backbone, cutting the ribs but not cutting through the skin. Spoon the onions, peppers and tomato mixture into the fish and wrap with cotton twine as mentioned above.
Brush both side of the fish with the reserved vinaigrette. Grill over indirect medium heat until the fish is opaque in the thickest part; 20-30 minutes. Brush the fish occasionally with the reserved vinaigrette.
Carefully place the fish on a work surface, cut off the head and tail, remove the string and slide the meat off the rib bones. Serve with some of the vegetables.
Now don't get me wrong, I love the peace and quiet on weekends like these. This is where "Fun With Food" weekends come into play and other small tasks get done. The girls love the laid back quality time we share.
Saturday morning I ran a few errands and then stopped by the Farmers' Market. I could hear the smoked salmon calling my name very loud and clear. It called so loudly that it drown out all thoughts of getting Nohia vacuumed out, washed and waxed,,, my poor van.
While in the fish stall I inquired about the Snapper. They had red or pink. After a short discussion with the sales man it was decided that a red Snapper was what I needed. During our discussion he asked me how I was going to prepare it. I looked at him and replied "I have no clue but I'll see what hits me while I'm having a cocktail or two". During Happy Time as I refer to it, (why call it Happy Hour if you're going to drink for more than one hour?) I started going through some of my cookbooks. I knew I wanted to cook this on my grill so that narrowed down the cookbook choices. I found a great recipe in a Weber Grill cookbook. I did not have all the ingredients, but I had enough to make this work.
I must stop and head off in another direction for a moment. After I got home from my errands, I walked my girls, put some movies on and spent 3 hours working on my grand daughter's Christmas Stocking. Now, back to our program,,,
I gathered together all the ingredients I had, or that I had to substitute for. No Cilantro so I used parsley; no lime juice so I used lemon; no oregano so I used Italian seasoning, no Anaheim pepper, oh well. The recipe did call for some tomato and I had a beautiful one that was given to me by a co-worker.
The first step was to make a vinaigrette. Half was to brush on the fish. To the other half you added onion, tomato and Anaheim pepper (imagine it in there).
Next I had to cut the fish open more than they had so I could pack the cavity with the tomato-onion vinaigrette mixture.
"Wind a piece of cotton string around the fish three or four times to close the cavity and tie it". Well, I have no idea where my kitchen twine is so I used toothpicks. Maybe I'll find my twine after my next move.
You then brush the outside of the fish with some of the reserved vinaigrette before putting it on the grill.
In addition to the Snapper, I picked up some fresh zucchini. I split one, seasoned it with lemon-pepper and got it ready for the grill.
While my meal was cooking the smell was wonderful.
Suppertime. Now never having cooked Snapper before and never having cooked a whole fish on an electric grill, I did over cook it a tad. A tad, as in it completely fell apart as I was trying to take it off the grill. It may not have looked too pretty but the taste was wonderful and if I had added the Anaheim peppers it would have really been good.
After Saturday's great meal, I cleaned up the kitchen and crawled into bed to watch TV with my girls. Sunday morning I ran to the grocery to pick up a couple of frozen things that I could not have feasibly gotten home in anywhere near a frozen state on Saturday.
That little errand done I went to purging stuff. I am most likely moving in October and my #1 choice is smaller than where I am now, I need to get rid of some stuff. Everything on this bed is going. Some to my son, some to a friend and the rest to Goodwill.
Doing all that work made me hungry so I got out the fresh blueberries I had picked up at the Farmers' Market on Saturday and whipped up a batch of pancakes. I only ate three. The rest I wrapped up and froze for future use. They were oh so good.
I was even smart enough to set some of the blueberries aside to be added to Monday morning's mango smoothie for breakfast.
Next up thoughts of lunch for the upcoming week. I made egg salad, I love egg salad.
Then my mind seemed to recall reading somewhere about bacon in egg salad, so of course I just had to fry up some bacon.
After purging and more cooking I watched more movies and worked on my grand daughter's stocking for another 3 hours.
By the end of the day I sat down to a nice meal. I had grilled myself a perfectly medium-rare ribeye, sauteed up some fresh zucchini with onion and dill weed. I took a piece of everything French bread, toasted it and then buttered it. I took the last of my wonderful tomato and chopped it up with some basil and garlic. All those little white things in with the tomato are pieces of garlic. I spooned the tomato mixture on the toasted bread and ended my night blissfully full.
MEXICAN RED SNAPPER
Makes 2 servings
For the vinaigrette:
3 tblsps extra-virgin olive oil
1 tblsp fresh lime juice
1 tblsp fresh chopped cilantro
1 tsp minced garlic
1/4 tsp dried oregano
1/4 tsp cumin
1/4 tsp salt
1/8 tsp cayenne
1/2 cup thinly sliced onion
1/2 cup thinly sliced Anaheim pepper
1/2 cup thinly sliced tomato
1 whole red snapper, scaled and gutted, 2- 2 1/2 pounds.
In a medium bowl whisk together the vinaigrette ingredients.
In another medium bowl, place the onions, pepper and tomato. Add half the vinaigrette and toss to coat.
With a sharp knife, extend the belly cut from the head to the tail. Open the fish and make a second cut inside the cavity running along the backbone, cutting the ribs but not cutting through the skin. Spoon the onions, peppers and tomato mixture into the fish and wrap with cotton twine as mentioned above.
Brush both side of the fish with the reserved vinaigrette. Grill over indirect medium heat until the fish is opaque in the thickest part; 20-30 minutes. Brush the fish occasionally with the reserved vinaigrette.
Carefully place the fish on a work surface, cut off the head and tail, remove the string and slide the meat off the rib bones. Serve with some of the vegetables.
Comments
Post a Comment