What the Halibut?!

We eat halibut often; it is probably our favorite fish. It is snowy white, flaky, and yet meaty at the same time. And it stands up well to strong flavors (although on its own, I would never call it strong flavored.) I especially love halibut with asian flavors and usually that is my prep of choice. But I am so enjoying this recipe that I wanted to share it. I've talked a little about it once before. It is my take off on a Fine Cooking method (issue 84) of producing crispy, crunchy chicken from the oven. I think it works great with halibut and is very adaptable too. You can flavor the mayo anyway you like, and you can play around with the toasted breadcrumbs too. Here's a really loose recipe, feel free to make it your own:

6 oz. piece of halibut per serving
1/8 c of mayo per serving, minced garlic, lemon, maybe some other stuff
Breadcrumbs, fresh, as much as you need to coat the top of each portion, see following

Preheat oven to 400'

For the breadcrumbs, zip some good white bread (or a baguette), crusts removed (I would guess one slice per serving if using plain bread,) in a food processor until you get coarse crumbs. Add a little olive oil to a nonstick skillet, add the breadcrumbs, toss to coat and toast over med. heat until the crumbs until are golden brown. Stir occasionally, so the crumbs toast evenly. Remove pan from heat. Season with salt, pepper, freshly chopped herbs.

For the mayo, flavor the mayo with a squeeze of lemon, minced garlic, salt and pepper. You could also add some prepared horseradish or mustard to liven things up a bit. You know what you like.

Lay out each portion of halibut on a cookie sheet, lined with parchment or foil for easy cleanup.

Season the halibut with a little salt. Give each portion a coat of mayo, don't put too much on, just enough to adhere the crumbs.

Press the toasted breadcrumbs onto the fish. Pop them into the oven for 20 minutes. You should get something that looks like this:

If you are a mayo-hater like me, I promise you won't detect the mayo in the finished product. You will get a moist piece of flavorful fish with a crunchy topping.

This is a great recipe for entertaining. You can have the breadcrumbs and mayo prepared, and just quickly prepare the halibut and put it in the oven, 20 or so minutes before dinner is served.

My fish guy tells me there won't be any fresh halibut for a while since it is out of season now. But this recipe works well with previously frozen, that is what I used here. This is so good, please try it.

Beans

Sometimes it takes a national magazine to tell you about something in your own backyard. Food & Wine had a little blurb about a coffee roaster from Chicago winning Roast magazine's Roaster of the year 2007. I was surprised to see that the shop was located nearby, just a short veer off of my daily route. Now many of you know, I'm a regular patron of Peets for my weekly bag o' beans. But naturally, I had to see and taste this award winning roaster's product for myself.

Metropolis Coffee Company is a student-friendly coffee shop near Loyola U. that does some serious roasting in the back of the house. There are burlap sacks of raw beans stacked up high and an interesting variety of freshly roasted beans from around the world are ready for purchase. The people who work there are happy to discuss the origins of the beans and the roast they give them. And most importantly, the coffee is really good. For the first visit, I chose a pound of Kenyan, because we had just bought Kenyan from Peets and it would be nice to compare. (I would say we enjoyed them equally) On my second visit, I opted for the Costa Rican Terrazo which was outstanding in flavor. For my third visit, I tried one of their medium roast blends, the Spice Islands blend. And it has been very pleasant to wake up to this coffee this week.

The advantages of this shop over Peets are 1. location, as I've mentioned it's in my 'hood 2. localism, it is nice to support a small Chgo. business and 3. price, I think these guys are a little less expensive per lb. than Peets (no airfare, Peet's roasts their beans in SF and flies them in daily to their Chicago stores.) Peets gets some points from me because 1. the knowledgeable people there know me and it's nice to see a friendly face (this will probably hold true for Metropolis, but I've only just started going there,) 2. they do a good job finding interesting, limited varieties and I love their blends (here too, I think Metropolis will prove itself, I just haven't had enough experience with them, yet,) 3. its proximity to Whole Foods makes it convenient (I usually hit WF once a week, for fish, mainly.)

Both coffee shops have extremely good baristas. At Metropolis, each drink is made individually, so it sometimes takes a while to get your cappuccino. But when you get it, it will be so much better than a giganto chain press-a-button cappuccino. The espresso is made just right, smooth as silk, and the foam is thick and creamy. Sometimes they do a little swirly heart in the foam just to show their skill. Now that's a good coffee from a trained, skilled barista. I really like that these people have set up shop in Edgewater (a Wicker Park in the making, I think) and I will be a good regular customer. Next, we could use a really good bakery...

Metropolis Coffee Company

1039 W Granville Ave

Chicago, IL 60660

When we stand at the fish counter, my 3 yr. old scans the case for fish that look like fish - you know, with eyes, heads and fins. He hasn't accepted that the pink and white pieces might be fish too, since it they're missing their required body parts and all. Then he enthusiastically (i.e. in a really loud voice) suggests I "buy the gray fish!" (trout), or "the orange one!" (red snapper.) And sometimes I oblige because dear husband loves to grill whole fish. We season them on the inside and stuff them with lemon slices and herbs and grill them for about 8 minutes. A trout makes a really nice portion.


They don't look quite as pretty once they've been on the grill, but that is just the skin. The meat on the inside is moist and it will taste delicious.

I've been enjoying the new and improved Fine Cooking web site. The site offers access (with a subscription) to the recipes from all the issues. There's a fee but it's not bad. And, if you really enjoy Fine Cooking magazine, being able to search and sort through the recipes makes it worth it. That's how this recipe turned up. I had wild mushrooms and salmon and was looking for something interesting to do with them. A quick search gave me Asian-Style Glazed Salmon with Roasted Mushroom Salad from issue 76. (I'm providing the link but I'm not sure if it will work for everybody.)

The glaze for the salmon was OK, but I've had better sweet asian glazes. What was really outstanding about this dinner was the roasted mushroom salad. It has a little asian vinaigrette and a fresh crunch from red bell pepper and scallion. I will definitely make it again. I also like recipes that are a complete composed dish; so that made this salmon prep good too. I served some sauteed baby bok choy on the side. Gotta have the greens.

Have a Bite's Been Busy

Which is not to say Have a Bite has not been cooking, just that I've been too busy to write about it. So to summarize my recent activites... Firstly, from Simple to Spectacular, I made the Spinach Cannelloni. A cannelloni is an egg noodle pasta sheet rolled around a filling topped with cheese and baked. Sounds good, doesn't it? Truth be told, this recipe was neither simple nor spectacular. I bought the pasta sheets and they were delicious. The cannelloni rolls got slightly crispy on top as they baked but still stayed tender and soft inside. Unfortunately this spinach filling was really dull (pretty much, just seasoned spinach.) I will, however, experiment with the genre of cannelloni again because the dish holds promise. I know I could improve on that spinach filling, it was screaming for some ricotta cheese. This recipe was one of the first major disappointments that I've had with Jean Georges Vongerichten's book.

Another fun thing I've made a whole bunch of times lately is this little portabella number.

All credit goes to Whole Foods for this idea. I saw this simple creation in the deli case for something outrageous like $9.99 lb. The portabella mushroom is roasted or grilled, then topped with goat cheese. The cheese is allowed to warm up (in the oven, or briefly on the grill). Before serving, the mushroom is topped with slow-roasted cherry tomatoes and some garden basil that is still holding strong, thanks to global warming. It is really delicious and makes a lovely presentation when served over a plate of baby spinach dressed with a vinaigrette.

For the brief time that the weather hinted toward fall, I snuck in a chance to braise some Short Ribs with Asian Flavors . The recipe is from issue 77. Molly Stevens of Fine Cooking is the author. It uses a double flavor treatment of a rub and an intense braising liquid (that includes beer) that infuses the ribs with asian flavors and aroma. If you cook this with the windows open, your neighbors will be snooping around trying to find out where that wonderful smell is coming from! I hope the link to the recipe works. Fine Cooking has started a subscription service for access to their complete library of recipes. Some are still free though. Dear husband loves this dish and I do too. The rich meaty short ribs meld with the soy and ginger/garlic flavors. It is a luscious combination. I love to serve sauteed baby bok choy with these tender ribs. If you've never had beef short ribs, they're nothing like other ribs. These are more rich and soft tender like a pot roast, with meat falling off the bone.

Also of late, I've become quite enamored with my panini maker, which I got for a certain, ahem, significant birthday. I'm not much for appliances that take up room on a counter, but this panini maker is worth it. It can transform the most mundane of leftovers and it inspires creativity. Here's a leftover chicken breast transformed into a crusty panini with slow-roasted cherry tomatoes, spinach and provolone (aka the Chicken Pomodori Panini from Corner Bakery)


That will have to be all for now. Have a Bite still has more to catch up on, but this was a good start.