To Cook Is To Heal

Our gone fishin' Wednesday produced another keeper this week. Star of the day was the Sheepshead fish; Sheepshead/Prison fish   As we drooled over the vast assortment of fresh fish this morning, our local fishmonger helped us make our choice for tonight's menu. After looking at a large selection of fresh fish, and other tempting treats. We focused on Sheepshead, or what is know as Prison fish, due to it black and white striped body. We picked out 2 nice fillets, just over a pound and off we went. On the way home I new that I wanted to continue with my experiments with curry. I needed a "strong\flakey fish that would hold up to a medium yellow curry. Last weeks Mahi Mahi fell short, so todays choice was the Sheepshead.  We were not disappointed, the fish was strong enough to handle a curry sauce and had a sweet aftertaste to it. As they are bottom feeders (crustacean  feeders) the meal turned out perfect. Fresh fillets The fillets were prepped by marinating ...

  tonight... Drunken chicken (whole chicken marinated in brown sugar, Kosher salt, Bourbon, filtered water, for 2 days), roasted in the oven for 1 1/2 hours with a Hawaiian coffee/vanilla rub, drizzled with black truffle maple syrup and Marshalla.  Sides were; Twice baked acorn squash with garlic powder, brown sugar, S&P, butter, and a drizzle of black truffle maple syrup. Creamed fresh pink eyed, purple hulled peas, with 1/2 & 1/2, garlic powder S&P and grated Parmesan/Romano cheese, thickened with cornstarch. Homemade gravy from my "Master Stock" (Pork, chicken, ham, mushroom stocks filtered and combined) with diced giblets, Marshalla, butter, 1/2 & 1/2 and parsley. Roasted Savoy cabbage (in Black garlic EVOO, S&P, Tamari, and Marshalla) served with a horseradish sauce made with; prepared horseradish, sour cream, garlic powder, S&P. Well, lets just say, I'm in a food coma right now... W

are not a common ingredient in food preparation. I've used, still use, banana leaves (with pork) and have used grape leaves before. So when this guy I know, no wait his name is "Guy", asked me last week if I wanted some of his fig leaves from the huge tree in his yard, well why not? I did a little research and was pleased to find out that fig leaves work great when poaching fish. As this was our usual " gone fishin' Wednesday ", why not use a new ingredient instead of a new fish?  The fig leaves have a mild flavor with notes of coconut and vanilla and a grassy, herbaceous edge and these flavors will pass through to your poached fish.  Anyway, with a little planning and looking at my pantry resources, I've created a new menu item for tonight's dinner.  Fig leaf wrapped fresh Grouper cheeks poached in Black garlic EVOO, served with Porcini mushroom and fresh pink eyed/purple hulled pea risotto, alongside EVOO/butter/Balsamic vinegar/black pepper/minced...

that their diet lead to the decline of Sparta... Decline of Sparta Read the story through especially,  " Culinary changes and the decline of Sparta " W