Through a Bowl, Darkly: Garlicky Mussels with Squid Ink Linguine

I was binge watching Hannibal when I got the idea for this dish. I have always been drawn to fiction that intelligently explores the dark side of human nature and the allure of so-called "evil." Visually the show is lush and cinematic, and Mads Mikkelsen, the actor who plays Hannibal, is a brilliantly unsettling mix of charm, charisma, and creepiness.

I must admit that I take a perverse glee in the lovingly detailed shots of Hannibal cooking complicated Escoffier-style meals in his gourmet kitchen, knowing full well that the main course is more than likely composed of one or more of his victims. (Yes, Poppa Trix has told me I'm a bit crazy, but in a good way. He's not worried, so you shouldn't be either.)

Eric Ripert's Clams with Spicy Sausage from The Perfect Protein: The Fish Lover's Guide to Saving the Oceans and Feeding the World

When it comes to the environment, trying to do the right thing can be exhausting. And confusing. So much so, in fact, that I sometimes find myself experiencing what I call "sustainability burnout."

Is this tomato local? Does it matter? (Not always, as it turns out.) Does this beef come from a grass fed cow? Is it okay if it's a cow from California or New York State? Is that organic? Can I recycle this? Are there hormones in that milk? It's enough to make me just give up and subsist on a diet of popcorn. Oh wait ... what if it's genetically modified?

Sriracha Crab Ravigote over Fried Green Tomatoes

In classical French cuisine, a sauce ravigote is a slightly acidic sauce served hot or cold, generally with delicate meats or fish. Not surprisingly, it's a rather different animal in traditional New Orleans cuisine, though it does retain the spirit of the original. Usually served cold with crab meat, typical ingredients of the NOLA version include lemon juice, capers, shallots, mayonnaise, and hot sauce.

The word ravigote comes from the French ravigoter, meaning to invigorate, and the sriracha, cayenne pepper, and paprika in my version of crab ravigote will certainly wake up the old tastebuds. The spicy sauce and sweet crab are just the thing to pair with the tart acidity of a crunchy fried green tomato - especially with a bit of Creole seasoning in the batter.

Tostadas de Atun (Tuna Tostadas), an UnRecipe Recipe

I had a bit of a debate with myself about posting this dish. I mean, it's tuna and a bunch of other stuff on a tostada. Nothing gets cooked. Pretty basic stuff. Tasty to be sure -  but worth blogging about?

Then again ...  things like boxed cake mix, Cool Whip-based desserts, and Jello pudding with a handful of raisins tossed in seem to count as recipes - so why not a tuna tostada?  It's so very Sandra Lee.

Don't get me wrong: I'm not claiming I make a homemade meal from scratch every single night - not by a long shot. The occasional sandwich, grilled sausage, or canned soup is certainly served at Casa de Trix. But when I put a little extra somethin' somethin'  into, say, a sauce I bought at the grocery store, I don't particularly feel compelled to tell you about it.  (Of course the exception proves the rule, like this fabulous doctored cake mix post by my friend Trevor. But then, most people can't pull this off with such aplomb.)

Fish Meatballs in Tomato Saffron Cream Sauce for the January 5 Star Meatball Makeover

The theme for the first 5 Star Makeover of the year - hosted as always by the lovely and talented Natasha of 5 Star Foodie and Lazaro of Lazaro Cooks! - is meatballs. But how to create a gourmet dish centered around a classic - downright messy, even -  comfort food?

So rather than attempt to create something neat and pretty and dainty and perfect, I decided I would work with the meatball's essential nature and present something simultaneously rustic and elegant; unstructured, yet refined. I think I've done that with this dish, a simple fish meatball flavored with shallots, parsley, garlic, and lemon zest, bathed in a rich saffron tomato cream scented with fennel, leeks, white wine, and thyme.

Subtly Spicy Crab Salad with Avocado and Finger Limes, Served Three Ways

As an elegant appetizer ...

An adorable amuse ...

Or homestyle, the way it's likely to be served Chez Trix

Don't you just love it when you're stuck in a dreary coking rut and then an inspiring food item appears in your greedy little hands, unbidden?  I can't think of a better surprise, and that's exactly what happened to me not once, but twice last week. I am not superstitious as a rule, but I think I had no choice but to take this as a sign from the culinary gods (or devils, as the case may be) to get cooking already. And so I did.

Sweet, Juicy, Spicy: Shrimp & Chicken Sausage Jambalaya

 Allright, everybody - show some love for Poppa Trix. He's been wanting to do another post here ever since he ate his way across Manhattan, his home town.  I could go on, but I don't want to be accused of Bogarting a post, so, without further ado ... give it up for Poppa Trix!!

About halfway through a recent spate of 100-degree days Trix declared that she was through with cooking. Hard to believe, but between the sweltering kitchen at home and the even hotter one at the cafe where she works she'd had enough. So it was decided that I would make our next blog-worthy meal and turn in one of my annual guest posts. But by the time I was ready to mise my place, Trix was back in business. It seems that even though she couldn't stand the heat you couldn't keep her out of the kitchen! So the following pile of Creole/Cajun goodness was truly a joint effort.

"Fish & Chips" Makeover: Framboise Lambic Poached Sockeye Salmon, Buttermilk Celeriac, & Minted Mushy Pea Croquettes with Garlic Yogurt Dipping Sauce

 

Thanks to the miracle of modern technology, you're reading this post while I'm off traipsing around Eastern Europe. This is the first of three posts that I've set to go up while I'm gone ... I guess blogging really is a sickness. 

For the March 5 Star Makeover challenge - hosted as always by the talented team of Natasha of 5 Star Foodie and Lazaro of Lazaro Cooks! -  we were tasked with transforming a classical preparation of fish into something new and fresh, using sustainable seafood.  Easy peasy, and extra fun.  I knew right away I wanted to play with fish and chips - a dish that doesn't always go the sustainable route when it comes to the fish. Plus, I wanted to keep the basic flavor components of the dish that I love, but put it all back together in a surprising - and much less greasy, carby, and fattening - way. 

Crab Imperial on the Half Shell with a Blue Cheese & Bacon Wedge Salad for the International Incident Nostalgia Party

I am sure that many of my fellow International Incident Nostalgia Party attendees - hosted as ever by the lovely and talented Penny aka Jeroxie - will share with us their fond memories of family recipes and dishes their their mothers, grandmothers, aunts, uncles, or fathers made and lovingly shared with them,  forever imprinting their little kid brains with Important Culinary Associations and Warm Family Feelings. Alas, as I have documented here before, I have no such memories. I did not stand at my mother's knee and watch in awe while she made a special cake or pastry or pasta dish - other than beans and cornbread, no family recipes were passed down to me, if indeed any ever existed in the first place.

Savory Salmon Mousse Eclair "Hot Dogs" for the International Incident Hot Dogs Party

Welcome to the very first International Incident Party of the year, hosted as always by the effervescent and lovely Penny aka Jeroxie. But before I talk about what I've brought to the party, I'd like to direct you to her post about the Queensland floods. Many of you reading this may have friends or family affected by the tragedy; for those of us in North America this may bring back memories of Hurricane Katrina and the  ensuing devastation to the Gulf Coast. If you'd like to help, Penny's post outlines some things of the things that you can do - no matter where in the world you are. So please make sure to check it out.

And now, on to my dish. You may be wondering what savory eclairs and salmon mousse have to do with hot dogs.  But, when you break it down, what is a hot dog, really? It's simply ground meat with seasonings on a tube-shaped bun. And that is precisely what we have here! Plus, a hot dog is such a summery food, and I think my interpretation brings an element of picnic to what is usually a backyard barbecue kind of dish.

Guest Post for Lazaro Cooks: Whole Roasted Fish in Fennel, Tomato, Olives & Herbs

When Lazaro of the eclectic, fun, and always-inspiring blog Lazaro Cooks! asked me to do a guest post, of course I agreed immediately. Given his passion for sustainability, I  knew I had  to make a sustainable fish dish, and so I decided upon this whole roasted branzino.

Mtuza wa Samaki: Kenyan Curried Fish, for World Africa Day

It's all about the hot peppers ...

... and of course, the fish

When Casey of  Eating,  Gardening, and Living in Bulgaria challenged food bloggers to cook an African dish to highlight the incredible culinary diversity of the continent in honor of World Africa Day, I was eager to participate.  After all, African cuisine - particularly the hot and spicy variety - is one of my very favorite things in the world. (I have the sweat-inducing and curiously addicting West African pepper soup at Sumah's carryout in Washington, DC to thank for it. )

Of course, saying "African cuisine" is a gross oversimplification.  Each region and country has its own signature ingredients, spices, and cooking techniques.  Ethiopian, Senegalese, Tunisian, Ghanaian, Kenyan, South African - these cuisines, and many more I didn't list,  are as different from one another as French is  from Viennese.  I hope that more and more people begin to discover the depth and breadth of flavors this continent has to offer.

Day 10: Fish in Erbage, Whole Snapper Stuffed with Oysters & Herbs in a Red Wine Butter Sauce

He hath eaten me out of house and home; he hath put all my substance into that fat belly of his.

Shakespeare, Henry IV Part I

I have a confession to make: This is likely not the most perfectly historically accurate dish I have presented during the 12 Days of Medieval Feasting.  For one thing, the fish is supposed to be a pike, a popular fish in the Middle Ages, not a red snapper, but a whole pike was nowhere to be found.

The recipe itself is from Eating Like a King: A History of Royal Recipes, by Michelle Brown. The author says that pyke in erbage was served at the coronation feast of Queen Katherine, wife of Henry V, in 1419. That much I've confirmed - the dish was served, in fact, as a first course along with (among other things) "trought," "crabbys," and "tartys." 

Day 5: A Dauce Egre, Fish with a Sweet & Sour Onion Sauce

Tak luces or tenches or fresch haddock, & seth hem & frye hem in oyle doliue. & pan tak vynegre & pe thridde part sugre & onyounnes smal myced, & boyle alle togedere, & maces & clowes & quybibes.  & ley pe fisch in disches & hyld be sew aboue & serue it forth.

Utilis Coquinario, fourteenth-century English culinary manuscript

The above text represents the entire recipe for dauce egre, or fish with a sweet and sour onion sauce, from the medieval culinary manuscript Utilus Coquinaro.  So now that you've got the recipe, what do you need me for? Kidding!  I don't know what I would have done without all the many excellent translations and interpretations that are available in print and online - though I must say that Middle English is starting to look a bit less foreign to me now, and I even rather enjoy reading it. (That said, I do not see historical reenactments in my future, as much as I do love a good wimple.)

I'm not going to lie, some of these dishes I've cooked up for the 12 Days of Feasting have been a little labor intensive, and at times I really have felt like an ancient serving wench or maid. (Or is that "mayde"?) Not that it hasn't been fun and worth it! Sometimes, though, it's nice to make something fresh and flavorful that's also simple. This dish totally fits that bill,  plus it tastes surprisingly modern.

Sole Food: Fish en Papillote

Remember that surreal feeling you got the first time you saw a childhood friend of yours - one you used to crack wise and joke around with -  do something serious ... something grown-up? It's quite shocking, really. This happened to me in my early 20s (practically yesterday, cough) at a birthday dinner for my grandfather.  My mom and I had chosen the restaurant because a friend of mine from high school worked there as a chef.

We ordered the fish in parchment paper, a dish I had never ordered before. Even though I knew my friend worked in the kitchen, nothing could have prepared me for the sight of him dressed in his full chef's whites, cutting open the parchment paper tableside. It made a huge impression on me.  "Whoa, he's a real chef!" I remember saying to my mom.

Shrimp and Red Snapper a la Veracuzana de la Trix, with Crispy Grilled Polenta Cakes

When friend and fellow blogger Drick dedicated a post to me recently, "A Tasty Treat for Tasty Trix, " naturally I was thrilled. Not only has no one ever done that before, but I couldn't wait to make the dish, Red Snapper a la Varacruzana. After, all, the recipe has so many of my favorite things in it: capers, chipotle, jalapenos, olives, garlic, tomatoes, wine (!)  ... just reading it, I could already taste the smoky, tangy heat of the sauce and how it would work with the mild, buttery fish. 

Catfish-n-Greens

The day after eating a pile of yummy shrimp remoulade, you don't just make yourself a sandwich and call it quits. Well, I don't anyway.  And  what, I ask you,  says "Sunday supper" more than  Cajun-style catfish and spicy greens?  

Shrimp Remoulade and Mexican Street-Style Corn

Whenever my husband and I get back from a trip to New Orleans, we're always  inspired to try to recreate some of the many amazing  flavors we've experienced.  (Of course, we're also desperately trying to take our minds off of the fact that we're back in dreary, deadly  Baltimore ...but  that blog has already been done: baltimorecrime.blogspot.com) 

We had a hankering for shrimp remoulade, which neither one of us had ever made before. Don't let the complex taste of this rich, tangy sauce fool you - this is one easy dish to make.  If you can mix a bunch of ingredients together until everything tastes right, you can make this. And holy crap! Is it good. Eye rolling, tummy-rubbing, fight-over-the-last-bite good.