Savory Collations

We learned something interesting about the relative freshness of fish this evening. The black cod we’ve been enjoying was off-the-boat fresh on Monday. I picked it up on Tuesday, and cured most of it yesterday for smoking. But there was part of a side that I forgot to make last night, so I pulled it out tonight. It was clean, firm, and had no bad smell. With a simple broil, it was flaky and perfect, and tasted wonderful. If I had bought it this morning we would have been pleased with the quality, and surely bought more. Knowing when the clock actually started on this fish gave me a new appreciation for its durability (properly stored.)

The rest was pure simplicity. Turnip caramelized with a little onion, leftover shiitake from fancy Sunday dinner, leftover triticale from last night, and a few broccoli florets browned with garlic and then steamed with a little water. I took the small amount of duck ham-lemongrass sauce and warmed it up with a little soy sauce, some beer, and a drip of agave nectar, and then glazed the fish with it on the plate.

This was just plain old home cookin’ and it disappeared off all three plates in short order (even Milo, who seems to like oilier fish best, and those broiled.) I opened an Ommegang Hennepin- it’s a Belgian-style saison ale from the esteemed traditional Brewery in Cooperstown, NY. They make a mean beer, even if my preference is for a thinner, more bitter IPA kind of thing. The best beer I ever had was a hand-pulled Abbot Ale in a pub outside a tiny town in East Anglia (in the UK) back in the winter of 1991-92. Barely carbonated, and about 2 degrees cooler than the room. Heaven. These are so thick and foamy, a glass is about all I can take before getting a little cloyed. But, in order to be fair to the ersatz Belgians, I should make moules frites and get back to you after more research.

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12 Comments

  1. Heather
    December 19, 2008

    I love Ommegang. My old NY artist boyfriend turned me on to it, coincidentally. But you also reminded me just now of the flllet of lingcod that I forgot to cook tonight in favor of leftovers.

  2. We Are Never Full
    December 19, 2008

    we love ommegang as well. even more coincidentally, MY old new york artist boyfriend turned me on to it too!!

    heather, maybe he was 2 timing?

    i kid, but i must say, your son has the best palate of a young boy. he prefers oily fish? go milo.

  3. Jen of A2eatwrite
    December 19, 2008

    I never had an old NY artist boyfriend who liked Ommegang. But I did have several old NY theater boyfriends who liked various types of beer. Does that count?

    And yes, young Milo does show good taste with the oilier fish.

  4. cookiecrumb
    December 19, 2008

    Don’t go pulling a Jeremy Piven, all that fish.
    😀

  5. peter
    December 19, 2008

    Heather and Amy: Why don’t you two just get a room, already?

    Jen: Sure, it counts, though I’ve never heard of an artist who likes beer before.

    CC: Isn’t that just a new code for “exhaustion?” Or Chevy Chase’s “back pills?” Props to his publicist for coming up with a new one.

  6. cookiecrumb
    December 19, 2008

    Either way, it’d make a great plotline for Entourage.

  7. Zen Chef
    December 19, 2008

    Black Cod is a great fish and Milo’s got great taste!

    Never had a Ommegang before. I have to investigate! Thanks for the tip.

  8. cook eat FRET
    December 20, 2008

    i wanta be there for the belgium taste trials

  9. peter
    December 21, 2008

    CC: That it would.

    M. Zen: I think you’ll like it, and best of all it’s local.

    Claudia: Absolutely.

  10. maggie
    December 22, 2008

    Looks great—where did you get the fish?

  11. peter
    December 22, 2008

    Maggie: I have a friend in the business; he hooks us up pretty regularly.

  12. Heather
    December 23, 2008

    You sneaky changed the name of this post, and I got all confused that I hadn’t commented. I had to scroll to the cod photo to get it straight.

Comments are closed.