Friday, October 16, 2009

Pan-seared Tilapia with a Tomato Coulis over Toasted Lebanese Couscous



This is one of my go to recipes when I’m in the mood for white fish. The couscous cooked in a saffron stock provides a delicious starch, and the tomato coulis an easy vegetable and further sauce. My recipe combines inspiration from the Tribeca Grill and Jacque Pepin. The Tribeca Grill suggests a butter sauce of Buerre Blanc and Mariniere, which I find too fattening with its 2 sticks of butter. Instead, I substitute a tomato coulis inspired by one of Jacque Pepin’s cookbooks. While the picture above from the Tribeca Grill Cookbook shows the butter sauce spooned around the plate, usually spoon the coulis over the fish in place of the garnish. They also suggest making this with red snapper, which of course is nice, but tilapia is an adequate mid-week substitute. Serves 4


Ingredients:
6 tbsp olive oil
1 diced onion
1 cup Lebanese couscous
1/4 cup diced leek
2 cups chicken stock
½ tsp saffron threads
1 clove diced garlic
2 tsp dried parsley leaves
1 tsp dried thyme leaves
1 can diced tomatoes
1/4 cup flour
4 tilapia filets
salt/pepper

Directions:
Heat 2 tbsp of oil in a medium saucepan over medium-low and soften half of the diced onion. After a few minutes stir in the leek and couscous. Allow the couscous to brown a few minutes and then add the chicken stock and saffron, stir, return to a simmer and cover, simmering for a further 10 minutes. Remove from heat.
Heat 2 tbsp of oil in a medium saute pan over medium-low and soften the remaining onion. After a few minutes add the diced garlic, and after a minute further add the parsley, thyme and diced tomatoes. Stir, return to a low-simmer and cover.
Heat 2 tbsp of olive oil in a large saute pan over medium heat. Season the tilapia filets to taste and dredge through the flour, shaking off any excess. When the oil in the pan begins to smoke, add the filets. Sear for 3 minutes or until gently browned, turn and sear for a further 3 minutes or until the fish is just cooked through. Remove the fish from the pan and drain on a paper towel.
To plate, spoon a portion of couscous onto the center of the plate. Place the fish on top of the couscous, and then spoon a small portion of the coulis on top of the fish. Serve with Chardonnay or a clean white such as an Orvieto from Italy.



Lying low, in public

October 16

Sometimes it’s simply more work than I want it to be to find someone to join me for dinner. Maybe I’ve been invited to something at the last minute, maybe I can’t figure out which of my friends would be most suitable to join me at a particular restaurant, maybe I don’t feel like strong-arming someone into joining me in Queens. But twice this week I’ve dined solo.

I have no qualms about eating alone. I enjoy my own company, and it let’s me focus on the food or my surroundings, or to stare out the window and watch the people go by.

Actually, yesterday I didn’t watch people go by, I tried to piece together the drama that seemed to be unfolding across the street from ’wichcraft on 20th St.

That unit of Tom Colicchio’s fast-casual sandwich chain has been serving dinner, full-on dinner with servers and beer and wine and cloth napkins, since April — quietly, for regular customers, to see if it would work.

It seems to have worked, because they’ve decided to go public with it and will likely be offering dinner at some other ’wichcraft units soon.

They got a good turnout for their press dinner. I arrived early, at 6, because I was tardy in RSVPing to the invitation to dine there and was told that all the prime time tables were booked.

Dinner is being served upstairs at that ’wichcraft, and I was seated at the window. I had a micro-brew pale ale from Maine and sampled an avocado-and-radish salad as the sun set. It was getting pretty dark by the time I was having my anchovies and gruyère on grilled bread, and by the time my pork and pickle had arrived (pulled pork with slightly sweet dill pickles and brown grainy mustard on thick bread), I had become fascinated by the activity in the building across the street, where everyone apparently belongs to a religion whose practitioners don’t believe in curtains or window shades of any kind.

One window was the locker room for the Equinox gym, so that was fun, and the other seemed to be some sort of office, but with bookcases and a couch. Not only was it lighted as though it were a stage, but everyone in there gesticulated like they were on stage. One woman walked in and dramatically plopped herself in a chair that looked like it was at a desk with a computer, although I couldn't be sure. A guy walked in and spoke using grand gestures, and laughed big laughs, leaning back for dramatic effect. Another guy walked in and got the first guy briefly in a playful fake headlock in the way that they do in TV and movies but not very often at all in real life.

I was fascinated, and continued to watch as eye ate my walnut-apple crumble with vanilla ice cream and drank my espresso.

I was sorry to leave, but I imagined my table was reserved for someone else soon, so I got up and chatted briefly with Matt Lee, who was two tables away with his wife and five-week-old son, Arthur, who was resting peacefully in his stroller in the way that babies usually don’t.

My colleagues Elissa Elan and Ellen Koteff had RSVPed earlier, and so they had just recently sat down and were snacking on shishito peppers as I was leaving. I joined them briefly to give them ordering advice and to discuss Balloon Boy Falcon Heene (or I guess, really, Non-Balloon Boy, since the kid was never in the runaway balloon to begin with).


Two nights before that I went to Cávo, a 10-year-old restaurant in Queens (Astoria, to be more precise) that had recently hired a pretty big gun to be its chef, Richard Farnabe.

Farnabe was the chef of a restaurant that Drew Nieporent opened in Midtown about 10 years ago called Berkeley — serving California cuisine and playing music from the 1960s. It only lasted for about 10 minutes. But Farnabe landed on his feet as chef of Lotus, which was one of the hottest tickets in town in the pre-9/11 era. He then worked at Bruno Jamais, and was also corporate chef for Milos.

I hadn’t heard about him in awhile when I was told he was at Cávo, and it seemed reasonable to check him out on a quiet Tuesday night.

Cávo’s big and beautiful, with a lounge that’s like a glamorous cavern and a spacious, dark-colored, big-shouldered dining room in the back. I guess I shouldn’t be surprised when I find grand and beautiful places in Queens, and it just shows that I am a parochial boob of a Brooklynite, because I was surprised.

Manager Jesse Normand entertained me between courses of fried stuffed zuchinni blossoms, a chicken-and-leek pie that was Farnabe's take on Spanakopita, and a grilled, pepper-crusted tuna loin that tasted just like steak au poivre.

Dessert was cheesecake with sour cherries.

I noticed sour cherries were served with the chocolate dessert on ’wichcraft's dinner menu, too. I think that just might be the fruit of this autumn.

17th oct 09 - day 4 - heart.


17th oct 09. day 4 of the, changing-my-life-phase. 2nd day of, erm, u know~
rase cam da lame plak. rase mcm. lame sgt. urmm~ well hey. gerak blk kuching!
yeay yeay. jap je lg. bagusss nye awk aqilahhh x gi class 2 hari dah. x larat.
badan x larat. nnt kang pengsan ssh. hati larat. tkot bdan yg x blh trime.
owhhh... mulalah nnt habit ske termenung dlm plane. aiyooo. packing x start lg.
ala 3 hari je. baju tdow x yah bwk, bju duk umah tayah. bju jln je. erm.
ade yg x bwk luggage besar kang. bwk hand luggage je. blh? taleh. brg mesti bnyk jgk nnt.

sampai2 kuching nnt dlm 3pm. mama + abah x dpt ambik di airport. syahdu plak rase~
cett. bkn ape pun. nnt driver ambil dkt airport, pastuuu terus gerak g office abah.
ade open... open office? ke. ahah. ade jamuan rayeee. mama + abah mesti kene ade sane.
tuan rumah. so dr airport gerak trus gi sane. mesti muka sememeh je kan tgh leteyh.
x pela. mkn best3. uncle2 anak buah abah mesti simpankan mknan pnye. ta daaa~
mule2 pk jamuan raye kan, pakai bju kurung ke? tp x kan nak naik plane bju kurung.
wahaha. tammo2. budget esok pakai sneakers je. [abah pantang sy naik plane dgn flip flop]
bju kurung choc + crocs pink. blh? hahahahahaha XD ngok ngek~

ermmm... btw. heart. this is for u.

Heart, I know I’ve been hard on you
I’m sorry for the things I’ve put you through
Before you start to break on me or ask for sympathy
I need to make you see

Oh, heart, I’m not sure it’s been long enough
To say that what I feel is really love
There’s just one way to learn, sometimes we’ll get hurt
And right now it’s our turn

Give it time, help me through
Heart, we can do this together
You’re my strength, you’re my soul
I need you now more than ever

Heart, all the hurt will soon be gone
If you’ll, if you’ll just keep on being strong
You will always be my friend, so keep on hangin' in
And we’ll find love again

Heart, I know I’ve been hard on you
I’m sorry for the things I put you through
Please don’t you break on me, I need to make you see
It wasn’t meant to be

‘Cause you will always be my friend, so keep on hangin' in
And we’ll find love again



Dining in Comfort

There are just a couple of things that make for a good dinner party: the conviviality of the guests, the food, of course, and a pleasant, comfortable ambiance. I am pretty attuned to the first two factors but the third one does not come naturally to me. I often unconsciously choose appearance over comfort. And this leads me to talk about dining room chairs.

I have a friend who has strong opinions about dining room chairs. To his mind, they are a conspiracy to keep chiropractors in business and to shorten dinner table conversations which he would very much like to prolong. At my house, he is able to sit through the main course and perhaps a salad course, but at his limit, he bounds to his feet saying “These are the worst dining room chairs in the world. You need some chairs like mine.” We move to the living room for dessert and at last he can find some comfort for his modestly padded behind.


















So, you might ask, what are these remarkable chairs he wants everyone to buy? They are vintage Hermann Miller office chairs, a version of which you might be sitting on right now in front of your computer. They are good-sized, with arms and rolling casters, upholstered in durable fabric in a variety of colors, many of which he has. He bought them used maybe eight years ago from a discount office supply place in Emeryville. His six surround a table which could seat ten or more people.
There are a couple of disadvantages for the typical dining room. These chairs take up a lot of room. You need to have a large table and an even larger room to incorporate chairs this big. On carpet, they don’t roll particularly well. And on hardwood floor, they can leave roller indentations. In my opinion, they are not destined to show up in a House Beautiful photo spread for the latest in dining room fashion.

But he’s absolutely correct: they are the most comfortable dining room chairs you could ever want. You and your dinner guests can linger over the food and a good conversation as long as you or they desire, comfortable and padded in every regard.

I’m probably not going to trade in my chairs for his rolling variety. But I have been led to consider other possibilities better suited to comfort and perhaps stylish and pretty at the same time. Ideas?

Menu 11: New Mexican Stew and Cornbread

I need to visit New Mexico once a year. Primarily I need to see my dear friends Anne Sigler and George Muedeking who left the Bay area a couple of years ago and now live in the East Mountains outside of Albuquerque. But there are a couple of other reasons as well. I have to see the sky. Living as I do in urban areas, I don’t see enough of the sky from one horizon to another and I need it; my spirit needs it. And then there is the food. I love New Mexican Green Chile stews. This year I had an excellent one at the café at Acoma Pueblo some ways south of Albuquerque. The café’s stew replaced the tomatoes in the recipe below with chicken stock and added a little more heat, but in all other ways was like this one. Just lovely. The café served it with plain white bread. I think flour tortillas and especially the Lemon Cornbread are great along side the stew. A friend of mine fancies the cornbread crumbled into the stew.

Pueblo Green Chile Stew

















2 pounds boneless pork butt or shoulder, cut into 1-inch cubes
3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
2 tablespoon olive oil, butter, lard, or bacon fat
1 cup chopped onions
2 garlic cloves, minced
6 fresh tomatoes, cored and chopped, or 1 28-ounce can diced tomatoes
2 teaspoons salt plus more to taste
1½ teaspoons dried Mexican oregano
1 teaspoon ground cumin
½ teaspoon ground coriander
¼ teaspoon ground chipotle chile powder or to taste—this provides the heat
¼ cup chicken stock, if necessary
10 poblano (sometimes called pasilla) chiles or Anaheim chiles, roasted, peeled, seeded, and chopped—these are fresh, green and mild
Note: You can do these ahead. In a pinch you could use canned chiles.
1 yellow summer squash or yellow zucchini, quartered lengthwise and cut into ½-inch slices
1 green zucchini, quartered lengthwise and cut into ½-inch slices
1 ear fresh corn, kernels removed
1 bunch cilantro, leaves removed and chopped
Sour cream

1. Place part of the pork cubes in a plastic bag with the flour. Shake around and remove to a plate. Continue with the remaining cubes until all are lightly dusted with flour. Add more flour if necessary. Place on a plate.
2. Melt the fat, whichever you choose, in a large, heavy skillet or sauté pan. Add as many pork cubes as will easily cover the bottom of the pan with some space around each cube. Don’t crowd. Turn until all sides are golden. Remove the browned pork from the pan and place on a plate. Repeat with remaining pork, adding more fat if necessary.
3. In the same pan, add the onions and garlic; cook until soft and all the golden crust (flour which stuck to the pan) from the bottom has been dislodged and mixed in with the onion.
4. Place the meat, onions and garlic in a large stew pot. Add the tomatoes, salt, oregano, cumin, coriander, and chipotle chile powder. Cover and simmer for 30 minutes until the tomatoes have softened and cooked. Add stock if the mixture is too thick.
5. Add the green chiles, the yellow squash and zucchini and simmer for 30 minutes or until the squash is nicely tender but not falling apart, adding a little more stock if necessary.
6. Five minutes before serving, mix in the corn kernels and half of the chopped cilantro. Simmer until the corn is cooked. Taste for seasoning.
7. Ladle into bowls. Sprinkle each bowl with a bit of the remaining chopped cilantro and a dollop of sour cream. You can put bowls of sour cream and cilantro on the table and help yourselves.
Serve with flour tortillas (which would be traditional) or Lemon Cornbread which is not traditional but complements the stew nicely. With the stew, I would omit the blueberries in the Cornbread.

4-6 servings
I started with the recipe in The Museum of New Mexico Foundation’s Santa Fe Kitchens: Delicious Recipes from the Southwest, but made a significant number of changes.

Lemon Cornbread

















1 egg
1 tablespoon grated lemon zest
1 tablespoon lemon juice
4 tablespoons melted butter
2 tablespoons canola oil
1 cup buttermilk
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 cup yellow cornmeal
1½ teaspoons baking powder
½ teaspoon soda
¼ cup sugar
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup blueberries, optional

1. Preheat the oven to 400°F. Butter an 8 x 8 pan and set aside.
2. Whisk together the egg, zest, lemon juice, butter, and oil in a pitcher or small bowl. Stir in the buttermilk.
3. Mix together the flour, cornmeal, baking powder, baking soda, sugar, and salt in a large bowl.
4. Make a hole in the middle of the dry ingredients. Pour the wet mixture into the hole. Stir gently but thoroughly to combine. Fold in the blueberries if you wish. Do not over mix. Scrape batter into the prepared pan.
5. Bake for 20-25 minutes until the edges start to pull away from the sides of the pan. Remove from the oven and cool on a wire rack. Or eat right away.

If you have any leftover cornbread, you can slice a piece in half, lightly butter each half, toast and smear with honey.

Makes one 8 x 8 pan or about 9 servings
Adapted from The Junior League of Honolulu’s Aloha Days Hula Nights

Poll Results & Buffalo Chicken Lasagna


So, Thanksgiving food tops all holiday food, eh? I, personally, voted for New Years Eve, as did husband (note: I simply asked him the question verbally as he is yet to participate in supporting my blogging by reading!). I enjoy a fine-dining experience, stellar meals, and champagne toasts...lots! Heck, I enjoy any meal not resulting in a messy kitchen and dishes!



Follow-up question posed to all you Thanksgiving day lovers: What do YOU eat on Thanksgiving? What's your favorite Thanksgiving dish? Recipes are always welcomed...hint hint!



My grannie used to make Pineapple Souffle and while it sounds odd, it is absolutely amazing! I will have to post the recipe as Halloween passes and Thanksgiving comes upon us.


In other news, husband-who-refuses-to-read-my-blog dined on another favorite dish last night: Buffalo Chicken Lasagna. As I've said before, we're huge lovers of all things buffalo wing and chicken and healthier options make me a happy dietitian and cook! This is a favorite in our household and while the cooking time is somewhat long, the dish itself is easy breezy. Adding spinach is a great option, too -- I just add it to the ricotta and Egg Beater mixture. Mmmm! Best part: this lasagna reheats like a charm! It's one of the few things husband looks forward to eating as leftovers!










BUFFALO CHICKEN LASAGNA

12 whole wheat lasagna noodles, uncooked
1 lb. boneless, skinless chicken breast, cubed or shredded
3 cups Hunt’s Four Cheese Spaghetti Sauce
1 cup  mild buffalo wing sauce (low-fat! We use medium)
1 1/2 cups water
15 oz. nonfat ricotta cheese
1/2 cup egg substitute
9 slices 2% Pepperjack cheese

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Spray skillet with nonstick cooking spray. Cook chicken over medium high heat for 4 minutes or until almost done. Stir in sauces and water. In a small bowl, combine ricotta cheese and egg substitute. Spray a 9X13 pan with nonstick cooking spray. Spread 1 Cup of sauce in the bottom of pan. Arrange 4 noodles over the sauce. Spread more sauce, then a layer of ricotta mixture. Add another layer of sauce, and repeat the whole process until you end with a layer of sauce. Cover and bake 70 minutes. Uncover and place cheese slices on top, then bake for another 15 minutes uncovered. Let stand 10-15 minutes before serving.

Serves: 9
Per Serving: 285 Calories; 4g Fat (13.7% calories from fat); 29g Protein; 31g Carbohydrate; 5g Dietary Fiber; 41mg Cholesterol




And I failed to journal a day, hence why I didn't record my diet from Wednesday yesterday -- but I did have that yummy squash for dinner that night and limited myself to half! It was difficult, for the record!!


Yesterday went like this...


Breakfast:
1/2 cup old-fashioned oats (2 carbs)
1 Tbsp pumpkin butter (1 carb)
1 tsp Splenda brown sugar (1/2 carb)
1/2 cup skim milk (1/2 carb)
     Total: 4 carbs

Lunch:

2 cups chicken noodle soup (2 carbs)
Arnold Thin (1 1/2 carbs)
1 slice 2% Colby Jack cheese (0 carbs)
1/2 small apple (1/2 carb)
     Total: 4 carbs


Snack:
1 serving baby carrots (0 carbs)
1/2 small apple (1/2 carb)
     Total: 1/2 carb


Dinner:
1 serving Buffalo Chicken Lasagna (2 carbs)

2 Michelob Ultras (1 carb)
     Total: 3 carbs


Snack:
2 fun-size Twix candy bars (1 1/2 carbs) -- oops...
1/2 cup skim milk (1/2 carb)
     Total: 2 carbs


I am planning to make steel cut oats this weekend. I've gathered several recipes and I will surely report my $0.02 on the stuff!

TGIF to all -- have a wonderful start to your weekend! I am crossing my fingers that husband and I can try out a new Japanese restaurant tonight! Mmmm...sushi!!  

...Fingers crossed, also, that my Illini can do something positive this weekend. Can I puhhhlease get a "W"? All the Ohio State fans in my life are making Saturdays rather painful!

Frat House Chicken


I know you guys are probably sick and tired of hearing me go on and on about this "diet" I seem to be sticking to. But, thank you. Posting it here is helping me A LOT to keep going. I appreciate your support and encouragement.

So here is one more post about what I can actually eat. And, it's actually good!

Weekday meals have never been my passion. Okay, I made dinners for years because we knew that, as our kids were growing up, sitting around the dinner table every night was one of the best things we could do as parents. I stand by that concept today. I think if more parents would take the time to have dinner with their kids every night and actually have some REAL conversation, the world would be a much better place.

That said, I always referred to it as "slopping the hogs." (Forgive me, Andy and Eric). Now that it's just the two of us, Henry (bless his heart) refers to it as "slopping the hog." I would correct him, but.......

We eat a lot of fish and chicken in this house. I don't know about you, but I hate recipes that call for browning the chicken in a skillet first, then putting it the oven with whatever you decide to add to it. It makes a mess out of your kitchen and your stove, and in my case, probably the floor which will be speckled with little dots of grease and oil by the time I am finished. And then I slip and fall on it or the dogs will lick it up and I will trip over them. You get the picture, yes?

As usual, I have to rant for awhile before I get to my point. Haha, I'm gonna ramble a bit more....

Both of my kids decided to leave the ATL and head for college in NYC. They are 2 years apart, but they both ended up at the same school there. They both joined the same fraternity. They both ended up living in the crappy brownstone which was the frat house. Do I even need to describe the condition of the place? Suffice it to say that the scouts from "Queer Eye for the Straight Guy" took a serious run at filming an episode there.

I happened to be visiting one week when my eldest son asked if I would cook dinner for the "house." He's a pretty good cook himself and offered to help. So of course I said "yes." How bad could it be?

Of course, he was nowhere to be found when it was time to cook. And the condition of the kitchen? Oy veh. Totally disgusting. The oven was so black and crusty on the inside, I was afraid of it. Dirty dishes and garbage everywhere. And then there was the fact that many of them (including my son) kept kosher. Oy vey again. Guess we wouldn't be serving cheeseburgers...

In the end, I devised a baked chicken dish which turned out really well. In fact, it was really good. Easy, too. I made it for 40 kids that night and they ate every scrap. I made it for Henry tonight and he did the same.

And oh yeah, it's on the list of things I can eat these days!

Frat House Chicken

8 chicken pieces, breasts and/or thighs, skinned (I prefer bone-in)
Olive oil
1 lemon, halved
1 T. chopped fresh rosemary
Salt and pepper to taste
1 onion, diced
1 28-oz. can diced tomatoes (preferably San Marzano)
2 tablespoons chopped Kalamata olives
1 tablespoon capers
2 tablespoons red wine vinegar

Place chicken in a baking dish. Sprinkle with olive oil and squeeze lemon juice over. Toss to coat, then season with salt and pepper. Sprinkle with chopped rosemary and let marinate for at least 30 minutes.

In a skillet, heat about 2 tablespoons of olive oil. Add chopped onion and cook over medium heat until onion is just soft. Add tomatoes, olives, capers and red wine vinegar. Let simmer for 10 minutes. Season as desired with salt and pepper.

Pour tomato mixture over marinated chicken pieces. Place in oven preheated to 350-degrees and bake for 45 minutes or until chicken is cooked through.


Serve and revel in the fact that you have had a healthy and DELICIOUS meal. No guilt. No slippery floor, either.

Sagrada Familia and Gracia.

Yesterday I spent the day in the neighborhood of Gracia and the Sagrada Familia in Barcelona. It had been many years since I visited the Sagrada Familia, but nothing has changed since the last time I was ... or how beautiful it is ... or cranes! Never finished it, sigh!

 

In the Gracia district I bought this book, which cost me € 10 due to the 25th anniversary edition from Taschen, one of my favorites. The book is very interesting and complete, I highly recommend it! Talk about all the great designers of the fashion world, from Karl to Slimane or Galiano.


He also photographed the graffiti funny, I must return to that store when it is open.



At night we went to the photo exhibition, and to our surprise ... had not exposed the pictures of our friends! I was very disappointed and sad for her especially, since she hadn't been warned about it... at least they'll be posted at her school, although it seems unfair that exposed jobs of less quality than hers. Actually, I only liked this one...




And yesterday I did some more shopping, besides the book ... I went to a thrift store and found some treasures!


Skirt from Mango, 7 €



Top from Bershka, 7 € (with tags!)



And the best... Promod shoes... 3 €!!!

And my outfit yesterday.

Ramones' T-shirt - Zara
Skirt - H&M
Tights - Zara
Boots - H&M
Bow - Primark

Today I'll meet Cris, who's going to cut my hair; and Esther... I hope you all have a great evening!

And congrtulations to Laia, who's win the Wish Wish Wish giveaway!! :*!

Whiting Fillet in Fresh Breadcrumbs with Garlic Herb Potatoes and Coleslaw

Whiting is one of my favourite types of fish. Its clean, fresh, delicate flavour is beyond the compare of many and provided it is not over-cooked it will provide for a delicious and healthy meal. When preparing any type of fish in breadcrumbs, however, many people make the mistake of using packaged breadcrumbs or fish dressing from supermarkets, when nothing can beat the fresh breadcrumbs simply prepared at home.

Ingredients (Per Person)

1 fresh fillet of whiting
2 tbsp fresh breadcrumbs
3 or 4 new potatoes (or as desired)
1 clove of garlic (crushed)
1/2 tsp dried sage
1 egg
2 tbsp sunflower oil
Salt

Method

If using the larger new potatoes as I have done, they will require a total of forty minutes' cooking time. Smaller new potatoes will require only thirty minutes. In either case, they should first be boiled - unpeeled - for half the alloted time in salted water prior to being very well drained. One tablespoon of sunflower oil should then be added to a large bowl along with the sage and some more salt. This mixture should be stirred, prior to adding the potatoes and carefully stirring them around to coat them all in the seasoned oil. The potatoes should then be poured on to a pre-heated baking sheet and placed in the oven - pre-heated to 400F/200C/Gas Mark 6 - for the second half of their cooking time. The bowl should be left unwashed and set aside for later use.

When the potatoes are in the oven, a slice of semi-stale bread should be grated or shredded to make the breadcrumbs. If the bread is fresh, it should be sat on a vacant shelf in the oven for a minute or two to dry out a bit. The breadcrumbs should then be spread evenly on a dinner plate. The egg should be placed in a small soup plate or similar, seasoned with a little salt and beaten thoroughly.

Ten minutes before the potatoes are due to be ready, put the remaining tablespoon of sunflower oil in to a non-stick frying-pan and bring it up to a medium heat. Draw the whiting fillet through the egg-wash, ensuring all parts of the fillet are coated prior to patting it down in the breadcrumbs on both sides. The fillet should then be gently fried for about four minutes on each side.

Five minutes before the end of the scheduled cooking time for the potatoes, add the crushed garlic to the bowl used earlier. Remove the potatoes from the oven, tip them in to the bowl and stir them around in the oil residue and garlic. Return them to the baking sheet and the oven for the final five minutes.

The fish and the potatoes may then carefully be plated up and a spoonful of coleslaw added as a final accompaniment.

Food Tip of the Day - Friday, October 16th, 2009: Vegetarian or Carnivore? Which is Right?

The debate rages on on a daily basis: which is right? The vegetarian or the carnivore?

Opinions are clearly very varied indeed on this contentious issue, with many actively campaigning on behalf of one side of the argument or the other. There is one important factor of this debate, however, which many often neglect: who has the right to judge?

Vegetarian or Carnivore: Which is Right?

Happy Deepavali

Cool Deepavali Kolom.
 Good job guys!!



A Happy Deepavali to all my friends and family. this is an old-school Add for Dewali and i think its awesome, just like to share it with you. Enjoy and have a safe and fun time.